Dr. Margaret Walsh

Degrees/Credentials: BA Sociology, Education, Wheaton College, Massachusetts; MA, PhD Sociology, University of New Hampshire

Professional Interests: Currently immersed in understanding the role of honors in higher education, and the values of global citizenship, equality, and inclusiveness; Research focuses on exploring changes in families in rural and urban communities; Teaching includes experiential learning such as travel, internships, conferences, and service-learning in the United States and in Central America

Professional Background: New England Sociological Association (past president and council member), Eastern Sociological Society (Committee for Undergraduates), Campus Interviewer for Fulbright Teacher Exchange Fellowships. Previously taught at Russell Sage College, Troy, NY

Selected Awards: National Collegiate Honors Council Portz Grant (2011), Campus Compact President’s Good Steward Award (2008), National Society of Collegiate Scholars Distinguished Faculty Member (2008), American Sociological Association Sidney S. Spivack Grant in Applied Research and Community Action (2000)

Key Professional Work:

• Academic presentation: “Global Engagement and the Honors Program,” Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges Conference, University of Alberta, Canada

• Community presentation: “The Culture of Poverty and Stressors Facing Families with Young Children,” with Katherine Feist. Network for Children & Families, Cheshire Medical Center

• Policy analysis: “Update on Working Women’s Economic Status: Understanding the Wage Gap.” Co-authored with Katie Merrow. * New Hampshire Women’s Policy Institute*

• Author: “Out of Wedlock: Why Some Poor Women Reject Marriage,” Chapter in Thinking Straight. Edited by Chrys Ingraham. New York: Routledge

• Author: “Teaching Qualitative Analysis Using QSR NVivo,” The Qualitative Report, 8(2)

• Author: “Race and Poverty in the Rural South,” Chapter in Challenges to Equality. Co-authored with Cynthia M. Duncan. Edited by Chester Hartman. Washington, DC: M.E. Sharpe

• Author: “Doing Good While Doing Well: Professional Black Women in the Mississippi Delta,” Chapter in Neither Separate Nor Equal. Co-authored with Cynthia M. Duncan and Gemma Beckley, Edited by Barbara Ellen Smith. Philadelphia: Temple

Personal: One spouse, one daughter, one son, one dog, one turtle, and a large extended family

Dr. Margaret Walsh, Professor and Director of the College Honors Program, teaches sociology, research methods, and experiential learning for students in the major. She collaborates with community leaders on academic service-learning projects with local impact in Social Problems, Sociology of Families, and Social Stratification courses. Since 2004, Walsh has led study trips to Nicaragua with faculty, staff, and students to learn about social and economic conditions in its post-revolutionary period. Cultural partnerships have also brought Nicaraguan dancers and musicians to New Hampshire. Walsh participates in national educational and professional conferences including the American Association of Colleges and Universities' Engaging Departments Institute in Philadelphia, and a rural poverty research agenda setting in Washington, DC. She researches and writes about rural issues, education, and family well-being. Dr. Walsh is a longstanding member of the New England Sociological Association and has served on its Executive Council, as well as the Eastern Sociological Society's Book Award and Undergraduate Committees. She co-chaired the KSC 100 Centennial's "Creating a World of Possibilities" Campus Celebrations.