Anthropology and Sociology Faculty
Meet Our Faculty
Dr. Monica Edwards
Office: J149
Phone: 847-925-6814
Email: medwards@harpercollege.edu
Dr. Monica Edwards is a Professor of Sociology at Harper College. She received her
M.S. in Sociology from Illinois State University and her PhD in Sociology from Loyola
University Chicago. Dr. Edwards has been at Harper College since 2010, and has been
teaching Sociology since 2000.
Dr. Monica’s areas of sociological interest include: critical and compassionate pedagogies,
food systems, the sociology of the climate crisis, gender, sexuality, intersectionality
theory, and social inequalities. Monica's dissertation focused on how popular culture
is used as a tool/resource in negotiating relationships across sexual differences.
Her current work focuses on social justice pedagogies.
In her free time, Dr. Monica enjoys camping, hiking, biking, travelling, reading and
listening to and playing music.
- Edwards, M., & Grippe, A. (2019). Assimilation in Suburbia? Geographical and Cultural
Barriers to Working With LGBTQ+ Students in Suburban Community Colleges. New Directions
for Community Colleges, 2019(188), 29-41.
- Edwards, Monica. "Left Behind By the Alter: Why Queers and Sociologists Need Materialist
Feminism." Socialist Studies 11.1 (2016).
- Edwards, Monica. "Transconversations: New media, community, and identity." LGBT identity
and online new media (159-172). New York: Routledge (2010).
At Harper College Dr. Edwards regularly teaches:
- Introduction to Sociology (SOC 101) — in person and online sections offered. This
class is taught through the lens of food systems, environmental racism and environmental
sustainability. We will focus on exploring the reciprocal relationships between social
structure, culture, and human agency.
- Family in Contemporary Society (SOC 120) — in person and online classes offered.
This class is taught through the lens of intersectionality (race/class/gender) and
the household division of labor within historical context.
- Sociology of Sex & Gender (SOC 230) — in person and online sections offered. This
class is taught through the lens of gender and the body and policing. We explore multiple
theoretical perspectives: materialist feminism, social construction theories, and
“doing gender” (symbolic interactionism).
Dr. James Gramlich
Office: J-155
Phone: 847.925.6279
Email: jgramlic@harpercollege.edu
Dr James Gramlich is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology
and Sociology. He earned his BA from Oklahoma State University and his MA and PhD
from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Professor Gramlich began teaching in 1998
and has been a faculty member at Harper since 2008.
Dr Gramlich has broad, interdisciplinary interests, but his sociological areas of
focus include social psychology and symbolic interaction, international and comparative
sociology, race and ethnicity, and the role of place and space in social organization.
His PhD thesis focused on adaptation and self-presentation among people experiencing
homelessness in Chicago and London.
He is currently completing an Open Educational Resource — a zero-cost online textbook
— for use in teaching sociological social psychology and symbolic interaction.
- SOC101: Introduction to Sociology (On-Campus/Blended/Online LIVE): The focus of this
course is the development of a sociological imagination, critical reasoning skills,
and an appreciation of empiricism. Students learn how these skills enable them to
take a skeptical stance toward features of the social world normally taken for granted.
Particular attention is paid to exploring the role of stratification and inequality
in shaping social organization.
- SOC205: Social Problems (On-Campus/Blended/Online LIVE/Study Abroad): This class is
organized around assessing the origins and nature of problematic features of society.
Emphasizing how social problems emerge and how they are constructed allows students
to identify and appreciate the role of history, place, culture, and material conditions.
The study abroad version of the course is capped with two weeks of fieldwork and immersion
in London as part of a comparative analysis of social problems.
- SOC215: Social Psychology (On-Campus/Blended/Online LIVE): This course explores the
influence society has on the individual and how interaction impacts social organization.
This relationship is explored through the lens of homelessness and the constraints
on interaction created by social conditions as well as by the design and use of public
space.
- SOC235: Race and Ethnicity (On-Campus/Blended/Online LIVE): The focus of this class
is on intergroup relations in the US and other multi-ethnic and multi-racial societies.
The history, social construction, and consequences of racial and ethnic categories
are explored and contextualized. A broad set of theories explaining prejudice and
discrimination are considered and critiqued.
