Dr. Emily B. Campbell

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Emily Campbell
Department, Office, or School
Department of Sociology
  • Assistant Professor

Dr. Emily B. Campbell earned her B.A. in Sociology with Departmental Honors from Indiana University, Bloomington, her Ph.D. in Sociology from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, and was postdoctoral fellow to the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Campbell is a political and cultural sociologist. Her current research theorizes the sociopolitical role of grief in the drug overdose crisis through a multi-year ethnography of New England. A second project examines efforts to revitalize American democracy–advancing discussions on trust, civility, and social solidarity. Her research has appeared in American Journal of Cultural Sociology, Contexts, Critical Research on Religion, Open Theology, Philosophy and Society, and Teachers College Record, among others.

In the classroom, Professor Campbell encourages her students to take intellectual risks through a mix of research, oral presentation, debate, and artistic expression. She is committed to transformative pedagogy and during the 2025-2026 academic year will serve as a Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Teacher Scholar at Clemson University. In the Department of Sociology, Professor Campbell leads the Honors Committee, which supports year-long undergraduate research experiences through the completion of an honors thesis. Professor Campbell previously taught at College of the Holy Cross, Lehman College, CUNY and, prior to doctoral study, in public bilingual education in Spain.

Professor Campbell stays active internationally and has collaborated with scholars in Europe and Latin America. During her doctoral studies, she was fellow to the Research School of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany and a graduate research fellow in Mexico City. At Â鶹ԭ´´, she serves on the Shinn Committee of the Shinn Study Abroad Fund, which awards scholarships annually for undergraduate study abroad.

Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, SNF Agora Institute
  • Ph.D., City University of New York Graduate Center
  • M.A., M.Phil, City University of New York Graduate Center
  • B.A., Indiana University, Bloomington

Selected Publications

  • Campbell, E.B. (2025). Rehearsing Civility: Bridgebuilding in Polarized America. Philosophy and Society 36(1): 119-138.
  • Campbell, E.B. (2024). Cultivating Trust in the Face of Crisis: Science as Moderator in Collaborative Forest Management. Società Mutamento Politica: Rivista Italiana di Sociologia. 15(30): 119-128.
  • Campbell, E.B. (2024). Grieving Overdose. Contexts. Spring 24(2): 36-43.
  • Campbell, E.B. (2022). The Drug War Turns 50. Contexts. Summer 22(3): 46-48.  
  • Campbell, E.B. (2022). Contesting Deaths’ Despair: Local Public Religion, Radial Welcome and Community Health in the Overdose Crisis, Massachusetts, USA. Open Theology 8(1): 248-260.
  • Campbell, E.B. and E.W. Gordon. (2017). The Role of Family and Home in Children’s Intellectual Development. Strengthening Families, Communities and Schools to Support Children’s Development. Routledge. [Book chapter]
  • Campbell, E.B., Torpey, J., Turner, B. (2015). Religion and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Critical Research on Religion 3(2): 127-147.
  • Gordon, E.W. and E.B. Campbell. (2014). Context and Perspective: Implications for Assessment in Education. Teachers College Record 116: 1-18.

Selected Public Writing

  • Campbell, E. B. (2021). OxyContin created the opioid crisis, but stigma and prohibition have fueled it. The Conversation. September 16. Republished in 36 online and print venues.
  • Campbell, E. B. (2018). As the opioid epidemic continues, the holidays bring need to support those in grief. The Conversation. December 20. Republished in 7 online and print venues.

Courses

  • JSTD 350 Topics in Justice Studies
  • JSTD 554 Topics in Social Problems
  • SOC 200 Introduction to Sociology
  • SOC 302 Social Research Methods
  • SOC 400 Contemporary Sociological Theories
  • SOC 532 Advanced Qualitative Methods