Ep. 8 - Dr. Karen Hooge Michalka

Episode 8 of “These Are Your Neighbors” features Dr. Karen Hooge Michalka. Dr. Michalka was invited because her studies and teachings focus on the sociology of culture, family, religion, Latino and Latin American studies, immigration, conformity, and deviance. Dr. Michalka is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Program Chair for Social Studies Education at the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND. She also serves as the Vice President of the Board for Bismarck Global Neighbors.Karen Hooge Michalka, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology at the University ofMary. Her curiosity and interest in the lives of those around her developed through growing up inMunich, ND, attending college outside of Chicago, IL, living for two years in central Mexico,and completing her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Michalka has been a fellow ofthe Latino Protestant Congregations Study, funded by Lilly Endowment, and a 2021-2022 publicfellow in the subject of Immigration and Migration Studies for the Public Religion ResearchInstitute (PRRI). At the University of Mary, she instructs students in the sociological imagination– understanding how our lives are shaped by the social structures and institutions that haveconstituted the world before we were born, and how through our individual and collective actionWe can shape our world for the common good. Her research and writing focus on immigrants and communities of reception, especially as it relates to issues of cultural exchange, religiousinfluences, and community trust.