Faculty and Staff

Marjukka Ollilainen

Department Chair, Professor (Sociology)
Bio

Ph.D. (sociology), Virginia Tech, 1999; MA (political science), Virginia Tech, 1992; MSocSc (journalism and mass communication), University of Tampere, Finland, 1991.

Professor Ollilainen teaches Introduction to Sociology, Classical and Contemporary Social Theory and courses in Sociology of Gender, Work, Organizations and Consumerism. Her research explores the intersection of gender, work and organizations and appears in Advances in Gender Research, Gender & Society, Economic and Industrial Democracy and Research in the Sociology of Work. She is currently studying work-life issues in academia in the U.S. and Finland.

Marjukka Ollilainen

Department Chair
Professor (Sociology)
Science Lab, Room 402MC
801-626-6238
mollilainen@weber.edu

Bio
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Belinda McElheny

Administrative Specialist
Bio

Belinda holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Nutrition Education from WSU (2013) and is Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES). In her position as an administrative specialist, she focuses on the intellectual dimension of health and well-being. In addition to managing the department office, she applies the knowledge and skills gained in health promotion studies to assist and advise sociology and anthropology students in their whole educational experience.

Belinda McElheny

Administrative Specialist
Science Lab, Room 402M
801-626-6241
belindamcelheny@weber.edu

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Anthropology

Dr. Brooke S. Arkush

Professor of Anthroplogy
Bio

Brooke Arkush has directed the WSU Archaeological Technician Program since 1990 and received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California at Riverside in 1989. He teaches a large portion of the archaeology curriculum, including Prehistory of North America, Archaeological Field Techniques and Archaeological Laboratory Techniques. Much of Dr. Arkush's research activity concerns the prehistory, protohistory and colonial history of western North America, especially in regard to communal big-game hunting, ancient settlement and subsistence systems and post-contact Native cultural continuity and change.

Brooke S. Arkush

Professor
Science Lab, Room 409M
801-626-7202
barkush@weber.edu

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Dr. Joanna Gautney

Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Bio

Ph.D. Biological Anthropology, Tulane University (2016)
M.A. Biological Anthropology, Tulane University (2012)
B.A. Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento (2007)

Dr. Gautney is a biological anthropologist specializing in paleoanthropology. Her primary research focuses on the phylogenetic relationships between fossil hominin species, and the role interspecific hybridization may have played in human evolutionary history. Other areas of interest include paleoecology, paleodemography, and climate change during the late Pleistocene, and their role in recent human evolution and dispersal.

Joanna Gautney

Assistant Professor
Science Lab, Room 408M
801-626-6650
joannagautney@weber.edu

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Dr. Ron Holt

Professor of Anthropology
Bio

Ron Holt is a sociocultural anthropologist specializing in tribal politics and applied fieldwork. Most of his field work has involved American Indian tribes and tribes in the Middle East and Central Asia.

His research interests include Great Basin Native Americans, counterinsurgency, tribe-state relations, nomadic pastoralism, national policy, martial arts, radical Islam and honors education.

Ron Holt

Advisor, Professor
Science Lab, Room 402MC
801-626-6955
rholt2@weber.edu

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Dr. Mark Stevenson

Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Bio

B.A. Anthropology & Political Science, State University of New York College at Oneonta (1984); Ph.D. Anthropology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA (1996)

In addition to introductory courses (Intro. to Anthropology, Peoples & Cultures of the World, Language & Culture), Dr. Stevenson teaches a variety of electives, including courses on the cultures of contemporary Europe, post-socialism in Eastern Europe, globalization, Celtic culture and history, technology & culture, political and economic anthropology. He has also led numerous study abroad courses to Europe and China. Dr. Stevenson has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Ireland and Germany, including studies of the process of German unification in public broadcasting and film institutions and of the intersection of labor market policies, education reform and professionalization in the non-profit arts sector.

His current research projects and interests include:

Professionalization and the influence of social media in Irish traditional music
Sustainability in the business and non-profit sectors
Cultural heritage, cultural policy and tourism
Anthropology of work
Anthropology of education
Environmental anthropology
Visual anthropology

Mark Stevenson

Assistant Professor
Science Lab, Room 405M
801-626-6244
mstevenson1@weber.edu

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Dr. David Yoder

Professor of Anthropology
Bio

Dr. Yoder is an archaeologist with research interests focused in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau of North America and expertise in hunter-gatherer and early agricultural societies, cultural resource management, and archaeological law. His most current research investigates ideals of personhood in Fremont society through the study of anthropomorphic figurines and rock art; the interplay of historical archaeology and cultural resource management in the Intermountain West; the use of dune environments as foraging localities for prehistoric populations; and collaborative excavations of Fremont habitation sites in Utah Valley with colleagues from Brigham Young University.

Outside of the university system, Dr. Yoder’s career has included work in both the private and public sectors. Since 2011 he has served as the archaeologist in the Utah Governor’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office where he administers the permitting system for archaeological work on state lands and advises state agencies in archaeological law and policy.

Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2009); M.A. Anthropology, Brigham Young University, Provo (2005); B.S. Anthropology/History, Weber State University, Ogden (2003).

David Yoder

Assistant Professor
Science Lab, Room 407M
801-626-6842
davidyoder@weber.edu

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Dr. Rosemary Conover

Professor of Anthropology
Bio

Areas of Specialization and Teaching Focus

Biological anthropology, especially human biological variation in growth and development and in epidemiology
Anthropological linguistics, especially sociolinguistics and discourse analysis connected to ethnicity and gender
Anthropological theory, especially pertaining to the history of anthropology

Rosemary Conover

Professor, Emeritus
Science Lab, Room 403MA
801-626-6641
rconover@weber.edu

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Sociology

Dr. Pepper Glass

Assistant Professor of Sociology
Bio

An ethnographer and qualitative researcher, Dr. Glass’s teaching and scholarly interests include the topics of deviance, social psychology, social movements, race and ethnicity and urban studies.

He is currently researching the effects of immigration and the shifting racial color line on Ogden, Utah.

Dr. Pepper Glass

Assistant Professor of Sociology
Bio

An ethnographer and qualitative researcher, Dr. Glass’s teaching and scholarly interests include the topics of deviance, social psychology, social movements, race and ethnicity and urban studies.

He is currently researching the effects of immigration and the shifting racial color line on Ogden, Utah.

Pepper Glass

Assistant Professor
Science Lab, Room 208M
801-626-6914
pepperglass@weber.edu

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Dr. Huiying Wei Hill

Professor of Sociology
Bio

Huiying Wei-Hill specializes in teaching organizational studies, sociological classical and contemporary theories, research methods and statistics. Her research interests are in organizational studies, Asian Americans, social, political and economical issues and phenomena in present-day China, along with cultural revolution in China.

Huiying came to Utah from New York in 1995 after she received her Ph.D. in sociology in 1994 from State University of New York at Stony Brook. Prior to this degree, she received two master degrees, one in linguistics and the other in sociology. She lived in Long Island, New York for 10 years.

Major Publications

"Film - An Effective Propaganda Tool in Socialist China in the 1950s" in the Selected Papers in Asian Studies, New series #66, 2001.

A Study of Authority and Relations in Chinese Governmental Agencies and Institutional Work Units -- Neo-Partimonialism in Urban Work Units by The Edwin Mellen Press, May 2000.

"The Massive Unemployment in Present-Day China", in The Journal of the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies, Vol. 1, Oct 1999.

Huiying W. Hill

Professor
Science Lab, Room 403M
801-626-7888
hweiarthus@weber.edu

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Dr. RC Morris

Professor of Sociology
Bio

Dr. Morris is an Assistant Professor of Sociology; his major area of interest is Social Psychological Criminology. He is a national paper winner for his work on the collateral consequences of mass incarceration impacting childhood development. He teaches courses in Sociology & Criminology. His most recent work has been published in the Journal of Applied Social Science and Emerald Publishing's series on Sociological Studies of Children and Youth. Outside of academia, he enjoys spending time with his wife and four children, mountain biking, golfing with his father and brother, traveling, and eating good food!

RC Morris

Assistant Professor
Science Lab, Room 406M
801-626-6813
rcmorris@weber.edu

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Dr. Robert Reynolds

Associate Professor of Sociology
Bio

Rob Reynolds received his Ph.D. in sociology from Washington State University in 1993.

His primary research interests are the environment and technology and the part they play in society and religion. He teaches courses in environment and society, statistics, religion and introduction to sociology most often.

Currently, his research focuses on the Atomic West and religious pilgrimage.

Robert Reynolds

Associate Professor
Science Lab, Room 209M
801-626-6237
rreynolds@weber.edu

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Dr. Carla Koons Trentelman

Associate Professor of Sociology
Bio

Professor Trentelman teaches a variety of classes, including classes on environmental sociology, medicine and healthcare, sociology of education and sociology of family, in addition to core classes on classical sociological theory and research methods. She also enjoys teaching introductory classes including both introduction to sociology and social problems.

Her research interests focus on natural resources and the environment, particularly water, and issues related to Great Salt Lake.

Dr. Trentelman considers it a privilege that she has been able to work with some incredible undergraduate student researchers on a number of different projects.

She completed her Ph.D. in sociology at Utah State University in 2009, after working nearly 20 years in addictions counseling. She completed her bachelor's degree at Weber State in 1982.