76 University Drive
Hazleton, PA 18202-8025
Biography
BA Wesleyan, MS Virginia Tech, Doctorate in Sociology from University of Pennsylvania, subsequent work experience at UNC and Washington University in St. Louis.
Research Interests
Families, health, homelessness, disabilities, service-learning. Also the Holocaust and human rights.
Publications
The Holocaust: Remembrance, Respect, and Resilience - January 27, 2023
Camps and Ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust - December, 2022
Introduction - December, 2022
Professional ethics in three professions during the Holocaust , Conatus – Journal of Philosophy - October, 2019
The International Status of Education about the Holocaust - July, 2018
“The Drowned and the Saved” - July, 2018
Holocaust and Human Rights Education: Good Choices and Sociological Perspectives - November, 2018
Cultural Resilience After the Shoah, Our Words, Our Voices: Writings from the TOLI Summer Seminar - December, 2017
Sociological Choices in Holocaust and Human Rights Education, Sociological Viewpoints - December, 2017
Public Mental Health Services Systems for Young Adults: How Can Care Continue?, Internal Medicine Review - February, 2017
Ethno-religious dimensions of Jewish cultures - 2016
Service Learning in Higher Education, International Journal of Education and Social Science - November, 2015
Connections and Transitions in Mental Health Care Organizations and Systems - September, 2015
College (Un)bound, by Jeffrey L. Selingo, Contemporary Sociology - 2014
Stress and Support Among People Caring for Homeless Adult Relatives - October, 2014
Collaborators: Carol North, Co-Author; David Pollio
How Community Organizations Promote Continuity of Care for Young People with Mental Health Problems, Journal of Behavioral Health Sciences & Research - May 17, 2014
Collaborators: Leopoldo Cabassa, Author; Joseph Morrissey, Author
Using a Bicycle-Pedestrian Count to Assess Active Living in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, American Journal of Preventive Medicine - 2012
Collaborators: Michele Schasberger, Author; Jessica Raczkowski, Co-Author; Lawrence Newman, Co-Author
Families Help Homeless and Disabled Relatives, Journal of Applied Social Sciences - March 20, 2011
Social Network Analysis of a Criminal Hacker Community, Journal of Computer Information Systems - December, 2010
Collaborators: Yong Lu, Author; Xin Luo; Yuanyuan Cao
Mental Health Organizations and Systems - 2010
Future Orientation of Adolescents in Foster Care: Relationship to Trauma, Mental Health, and HIV Risk Behaviors, Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma - December, 2009
Collaborators: Peter Cabrera, Author; Wendy Auslander, Author
HIV Prevention for Youths in Foster Care: Understanding Future Orientation and Intended Risk Behaviors, Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services - December, 2009
Collaborator: Wendy Auslander, Author
How People are Empowered to Help a Homeless Relative, Human Organization - December, 2009
Promoting and Developing a Trail Network Across Suburban, Rural and Urban Communities, American Journal of Preventive Medicine - December, 2009
Collaborators: Michele Schasberger, Author; Carol Hussa, Author; Michael Polgar, Author; Julie McMonagle, Author; Sharon Burke, Author; Andrew Gegaris
Student perspectives on homelessness: Contact is related to helpful attitudes, Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless - December, 2009
Parenting Adults Who Become Homeless: Variations in Stress and Social Support, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry - July, 2009
Collaborators: Carol North, Author; David Pollio, Author
Helping young adults with mental health problems: Providers evaluate a regional system of care, Sociological Viewpoints - October, 2007
Collaborator: Leopoldo Cabassa, Author
Family support for individual homeless adults, Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless - November, 2006
Collaborators: David E Pollio, Author; Carol North, Author
Building on family strengths: Service transition points: A study of the mental health service system for young adults - 2002
Collaborator: Leopoldo Cabassa, Co-Author
Organizational Context and Provider Perception as Determinants of Mental Health Service Use, Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research - 2001
Collaborators: Arlene Stiffman, Author; Catherine Striley, Co-Author; Violet Horvath, Co-Author; Eric Hadley-Ives, Co-Author; Diane Elze, Co-Author; Rick Pescarino, Co-Author
Continuity of Mental Health Care for Young Adults, Focal Point - April, 2001
Collaborator: Leopoldo Cabassa, Co-Author
Youths' Access to Mental Health Services: The Role of Providers' Training, Resource Connectivity, and Assessment of Need , Mental Health Services Research - 2000
Collaborators: Arlene Stiffman, Author; Eric Hadley-Ives; Peter Dore, Co-Author; Violet Horvath, Co-Author; Catherine Striley, Co-Author; Diane Elze, Co-Author
Concern, Caution and Care: HIV Risk Perception Among Hospital Nurses, Sociological Inquiry - July, 2000
New Patters of Community Care: Coordinates Services for Dually Diagnosed Adults in North Carolina, Journal of Health and Human Services Administration - July, 2000
Collaborators: Matthew Johnsen, Co-Author; Barbara Starrett, Co-Author; Bruce Fried, Co-Author; Joseph Morrissey, Co-Author
Mental Health Services and Systems - 1999
Collaborator: Jospeph Morrissey, Co-Author
Health Care Workers Perceived Risk of HIV - 1997
Teaching the Sociology of HIV/AIDS: Resources for Instructors and Students - 1997
Collaborator: Eric Wright, Co-Editor
Social Constructions of HIV/AIDS: Theory and Policy Implications, Annual Review of Health Social Sciences - 1996
HIV-risk behavior among lesbians and bisexual women. , AIDS Education and Prevention - 1994
Collaborator: Lena Einhorn, Author
Education
Ph D, Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
MS, Sociology, Virginia Tech
BA, Anthropology & Science Studies, Wesleyan University
Papers and Presentations
May 4, 2025 - May 5, 2025
Papers and Oral Presentations
On Hungarian Survivors: Survivor Narratives Feature Helpers
The Role of Auschwitz in Holocaust Narratives
Toronto, CA
On Hungarian Survivors: Narratives Feature Helpers. In the terms of leading Holocaust scholar Devorah Dwork, there were saints among the liars.
September 23, 2024
Presentations
Advising Honors Program Students at a Smaller Penn State Campus
2024 Penn State Conference on Academic Advising
Online
On Honors Advising. Co-presenter: Megan Hurley-Knight
May 9, 2024
Oral Presentations
OER in Practice: Tips from Holocaust education
Open and Affordable Showcase
Penn State Lehigh Valley, PA, US
Discussed teaching with OER and other free materials, including our own OER on the Holocaust.
April 11, 2024
Webinars
Tools for Making GL
PSU Global Learning Showcase
PA
August 17, 2023
Presentations
Teaching Antisemitism through Holocaust Education Podcasts and OER
ASA Annual Meeting 2023
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Teaching Antisemitism through Holocaust Education Podcasts and OER
August 9, 2023
Webinars
Unlocking the Power of Collaboration: Strategies for Successful Student Group Work
Commonwealth College Instructor Days
Co-presenters discuss challenges and successful strategies used to implement group work in sociology, engineering, and mathematics courses. Strategies include grouping methods, design of tasks and assignments, and methods for individual and group evaluation.
April 18, 2023
Oral Presentations
Antisemitism during the Holocaust: the power of toxic terminology and weaponized words
Yom HaShoah Observance
Carlisle, PA
October 20, 2022
Panels
The US and the Holocaust: Reflecting on Antisemitism and White Nationalism
Online Event
August 9, 2022
Papers
Holocaust Education: What isn’t the Problem?
ASA Annual Meeting 2022
Los Angeles, CA
April 26, 2022
Guest Lectures
Hanna Weschler, Holocaust Survivor
Yom HaShoah
Pennsylvania, US
April 6, 2022 - April 13, 2022
Guest Lectures
Holocaust Education
Sabbatical Presentation Tour by Michael Polgar
North and South Carolina, USA
Five presentations in seven days at schools, centers, and colleges in NC (Winston Salem, Greensboro, Chapel Hill, and Charlotte) and in SC (Columbia).
March 19, 2022
Presentations
University Park PA
TLT Symposium 2022
State College PA
This session supports improvements in teaching and learning, which include free texts for students, adaptable teaching tools, and opportunities to share new forms of Holocaust and human rights education.
August 11, 2021
Oral Presentations
Incremental Learning Strategies
Commonwealth Connections: Instructor Days
Online
August 9, 2021
Papers and Oral Presentations
Holocaust Narrative: Complicated and Distorted
Annual Conference
Virtual
How do we teach students about what happened during the Holocaust? Holocaust narratives get more complicated as we elaborate this tragic and destructive chapter in European history and sociology.
May 12, 2021
Oral Presentations
Designing with integrity
Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology
State College, PA
This presentation guides and discusses blended uses of Canvas and Turnitin. Software and course design methods help us when creating and assigning Canvas-based writing assignments.
August 10, 2020
Papers and Oral Presentations
Expanding Holocaust Education: Critical Perspectives on Nazi-era Professionals
ASA Annual Conference
Virtual (planned for SF, CA)
Incorporating the study of professionals during the Holocaust is an important educational objective that illustrates the sociological and critical study of power, inequalities, and resistance during the criminal work of Nazi genocide in Europe. During the Holocaust, professionals and professional groups, including scientists, doctors, educators, and lawyers, were both harmed and harmful. Some professionals embraced Nazi ideologies, including eugenic antisemitism and racism, becoming more successful and often harmful. Professionals who opposed or resisted, not to mention those in persecuted status groups, were severely harmed, increasingly subject to persecution, and many murdered based often on their religion. Historical records, including survivor-witness testimonies, provides a strong basis for the sociological exploration of professionals during the Holocaust.
August 11, 2019
Papers and Oral Presentations
Justice Everywhere: Bystanders, Upstanders, and Behavioral Classification of People During the Holocaust
ASA Annual Conference
New York, NY
This essay explores systems of classification for people and groups who lived during the Holocaust (1933-1945). We explore how behavioral groupings, in addition to cultural categories, are helpful to insightful and sociological understandings of the Holocaust and genocide.
March 16, 2019
Presentations
We Put Starfish in our Canvas
Symposium: Teaching and Learning with Technology
State College, PA
Our Penn State teaching technologies allow innovative and blended uses of existing technologies. We can use Starfish to improve our Canvas syllabi, hyperlinks to integrate and extend our Canvas modules, and Turnitin can preserve the integrity of our writing assignments. We can engage our students as we engage each other: building collaborative course content through pedagogically informed and innovative uses of core technologies.
March 15, 2019
Demonstrations
One Cool Thing
Canvas Day
University Park
Technological demonstration: incorporation of Turnitin in Canvas Assignments
August 13, 2018
Papers
Holocaust and Human Rights Education: Cultivating Three Rs
ASA Annual Conference
Philadelphia
pre-print: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/e85k7
August 12, 2018
Teaching Symposium
Holocaust and Human Rights Education: Feeling like up-standers
ASA Annual Conference
Philadelphia
Polgar leads a Teaching Symposium at our ASA Conference, helping sociologists provide Holocaust education and become up-standers. Presenting testimonies from survivors and celebrating the military heroes is an excellent approach.
August 12, 2017
Papers and Oral Presentations
Integrating Holocaust Education
ASA Annual Conference, American Sociological Association
Montreal, CA
Abstract. Teaching Holocaust and Human Rights Education (HHRE) in social sciences (including sociology) can and should be an important aspect of multicultural studies of human diversity. HHRE supports our work to sustain cultures, reduce inequalities, and promote social inclusion.
August, 2016
Papers and Oral Presentations
Sociological Choices in Holocaust and Human Rights Education
ASA Annual Conference, American Sociological Association
Seattle
Sociology and other curricula are obligated to advance human rights through multicultural education. This involves studying and teaching about the Holocaust, modern genocides, and promoting other forms of human rights education.
August, 2015
Papers and Oral Presentations
Human Rights Education in Pennsylvania: Helping Us Remember
ASA Annual Conference, American Sociological Association
Chicago
July, 2015
Holocaust and Human Rights EducationUSHMM Educators Summit
Washington DC
August, 2013
Papers and Oral Presentations
Service Learning in Higher Education: Gender Matters
ASA Annual Conference, American Sociological Association
New York
How, when, and why does gender intersect with community service work? Do women have more positive attitudes towards service learning in educational settings? Research traditions in sociology, education, gender studies, and related fields have shown that women and girls are socialized within an enduring gender system to learn and accept lower-status roles and to take more active responsibilities for (spending more time in) unpaid and household labor, including emotion work and child care. How might gender systems also create gendered distinctions in civic education, including service learning? Data from new first year students entering college over the last four years at a small public university campus shows that both men and women are satisfied with experiences that involve community service, but male college students are less enthusiastic about being involved in community service. These gendered distinctions in new college student populations raise many sociological questions. How do gender systems (including those in higher education) more often help women value communities and expect to practice interdependence, while men more often learn to work independently and promote independence civic minimalism? Are patterns in gendered community service attitudes changing over time? Research and discourse in this area has implications for sociologies of education, gender, and altruism, among others.
August, 2012
Papers and Oral Presentations
How is gender related to new college student attitudes towards community service?
ASA Annual Conference
Denver CO
This paper investigates hypotheses that relate gender to community service among incoming college students. Research tests the hypotheses that female first-year college students express more favorable attitudes towards (and more positive responses to) first-year student community service (CS) projects. Summarizing three consecutive years of service learning project data from new undergraduate students, results show that young women are more favorably predisposed to participate in CS. Compared with men, women also feel more satisfied with service learning and more included in the community after this work. After a morning of community service, both new students in general and women in particular are found to be interested in participating in future (subsequent) community service projects. Discussion explores elaborations, explanations, and implications of these links between gender and community service.
September 24, 2011
Oral Presentations
Community Service Learning for First-Year College Students
Developing New Literacies
Macungie, PA
attached
August 21, 2011
Oral Presentations
Reframing disability and dependence in the context of homelessness
ASA Annual Meeting
Las Vegas NV
August, 2010
Oral Presentations
Community Organizations Provide Continuity of Care for Young Adults with Mental Health Problems
2010 Annual ASA Meeting
Atlanta, GA
August, 2010
Oral Presentations
How do students understand homelessness? Contact corresponds with helpful attitudes
2010 Annual ASA Meeting
Atlanta, GA
August, 2009
Oral Presentations
Families Help Homeless and Disabled Relatives: Providing Support is More Stressful with Double Troubles
2009 Annual ASA Meeting
San Francisco
August 10, 2008
Oral Presentations
Teaching sociology of homelessness and poverty in the United States
2008 Annual ASA Meeting
Boston, MA
August 10, 2007
Oral Presentations
Future orientation, mental health, and HIV risk among youth in foster care
2007 Annual ASA Meeting
New York, NY
August 11, 2006
Oral Presentations
Stress and Coping among Members of Families with Homeless Relatives
2006 Annual ASA Meeting
Montreal, Canada
August 11, 2006
Session Organizer
Regular session on AIDS
2006 Annual ASA Meeting
Montreal, Canada
November 18, 2005
Three views of homelessnessSocial Science and Education Division Meeting
State College PA
October 21, 2005
Focus Groups for Academic Research55th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Sociological Society (PSS)
State College PA
August 13, 2005
Oral Presentations
How Organizations Promote Continuity of Care for Young Adults With Mental Health Problems
2005 Annual ASA Meeting
Philadelphia