about me
Bobby C. Alexander, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Sociology in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas. From 1999 to 2002 he was College Master/Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the School. Alexander was awarded the Ph.D. from Columbia University. He also was awarded a Ph.D. by Union Theological Seminary in New York. His doctoral degrees are in the field of Religious Studies and Systematic Theology with a concentration in sociology and anthropology of religion. Alexander also was awarded a Master of Philosophy by Columbia and a Master of Divinity by Union Seminary. His Bachelor’s degree was awarded by Baylor University, where he majored in both Religious Studies and English Literature.
Alexander’s two books, both in the catalogue of Oxford University Press, were originally published by the American Academy of Religion’s Scholars Press: Victor Turner Revisited: Ritual As Social Change, and Televangelism Reconsidered: Ritual in the Search for Human Community. His co-authored book, New Challenges for Community Colleges: Transfer Barriers for Hispanics, is under review. The book is based on a grant project funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), for which he was Project Director: “An Ethnographic/Social-Scientific/Community-Based Model to Recruit and Retain Hispanics.” The book is an expanded version of his co-authored paper on barriers to transfer encountered in the FIPSE project selected for presentation by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University at its conference on Latinos in higher education held in 2003 with support from the Pew Hispanic Center.
Alexander is currently working on a book monograph, tentatively titled Transforming Transnational Migration: The Contribution of Religion to Change in Gender Roles for Pentecostal Mexican Women, and related journal articles. His research examines greater degrees of decision making by women within the overlapping social arenas of church, family, and work encouraged by their religion. In addition, he is collaborating with faculty in UTD’s School of EPPS on research and publications examining the criticality of the performance of credibility to successful cases of asylum.
Alexander has published journal articles in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Journal of Ritual Studies, Semeia: Journal for Biblical Interpretation, Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture, for which he was Guest Editor, and the Journal for Hispanic Higher Education. He has published chapters in edited books by Sage Publications, Inc. and Greenwood Press, and entries in two editions of The Encyclopedia of Religion, the Encyclopedia of Protestantism, and the forthcoming edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
For his research, Alexander has received grants from the American Academy of Religion, and from the Southwest Region of the American Academy of Religion, which also presented him its Junior Scholar Award, as well as from Southern Methodist University. The Rockefeller Foundation selected him for the residency program at its Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy, in summer 2004. In summer 2006, CrossCurrents: Association for Religion and Intellectual Life selected him as a Coolidge Fellow in its residency program in New York City at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Alexander teaches courses on the new immigrants and their religions in U.S. society; immigrants and immigration; race and ethnicity; world religions; and professional writing for sociology; among others. He is a two-time recipient of the Student Choice Teaching Award given by students in the School of Social Sciences.
contact info
- E-mail: bcalex@utdallas.edu
- Home Page: http://www.utdallas.edu/~bcalex
- Office Phone: (972) 883-6898
- Fax: (972) 883-6297
- Office: GR 2.124 (Green Hall)
- Home Page: http://www.utdallas.edu/~bcalex
- Mail Address:
- Dr. Bobby C. Alexander
- University of Texas at Dallas
- 800 W. Campbell Rd
- Richardson, Texas 75080-3021
- Dr. Bobby C. Alexander
