Eileen O'Brien
Adjunct Lecturer
Email:
etobrien01@wm.edu
Office:
Boswell Hall 210
Office Hours :
Mondays and Wednesdays 11am -12pm or by Zoom appointment
Phone:
757-784-7718
Research Areas:
Race and Racism, Antiracism, Racial Justice Social Movements, Critical White Studies, Glass Ceiling in Sports and Entertainment Industries
Background
Eileen O’Brien is a W&M Sociology Alumni (BA, ‘94) and past winner of the Jeanne A. Ito Award from the W&M Sociology Department, with MA in Sociology from Ohio State University and PhD from University of Florida. Her research examines racial inequality and antiracism, and she is author of several books, including White Privilege with Ninochka McTaggart (Cognella Press, 2021), The Racial Middle: Latinos and Asian Americans Living Beyond the Racial Divide (NYU Press, 2008), White Men on Race (with Joe R. Feagin, Beacon Press, 2003) and Whites Confront Racism: Antiracists and Their Paths to Action (Rowman, 2001). Her forthcoming book will be on University of Georgia’s Sociology of Race and Ethnicity series, Beautiful Solidarity, Symbolic Impacts: 2020 Racial Justice Uprisings, a multi-method study of the impact of the 2020 events on movement participants themselves, their communities and wider society. O’Brien is involved in community racial justice work, including serving as a longtime Board Member of All Together Williamsburg, a group fostering community dialogues about race; a founding and continuing member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee to the York Poquoson Sheriff’s Department; and member of the Historic Triangle chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).
Google Scholar profile: https://tinyurl.com/y7kasef9
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-eileen-o-brien-2958581a2
Education
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Florida (Joe R. Feagin, Chair) M.A., Sociology, Ohio State University B.A., Sociology, College of William & MaryHonors & Awards
Choice magazine’s Outstanding Academic Book Award, White Men on Race (with Joe Feagin), 2004 Jeanne A. Ito Award, Sociology Department, College of William & Mary, 1994
