Rate My Professor Colter Ellis

Colter Ellis, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Montana State University, contributing to social science through research in trauma, natural resources, animals and society, and rural sociology. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2011) and a B.A. in Sociology from Idaho State University (2003). Ellis joined Montana State University in 2014 as an Assistant Professor and has since advanced to Associate Professor. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Sam Houston State University from 2012 to 2014. His academic career emphasizes human-animal studies, rural sociology, social impacts of oil and gas development, gender in agriculture and animal production, and secondary trauma among victim service providers.

Ellis has published extensively in leading journals such as The Sociological Quarterly, Rural Sociology, Energy Research and Social Science, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Society & Animals. Key publications include 'Boundary Labor and the Production of Emotionless Commodities: The Case of Beef Production in the United States' (The Sociological Quarterly, 2014), 'The Symbiotic Ideology: Stewardship, Husbandry, and Dominion in Beef Production' (Rural Sociology, 2013, recipient of the Rural Sociological Society Best Paper Award for 2013), 'Unconventional Risks: The Experience of Acute Oil and Gas Development in the Eagle Ford Shale' (Energy Research and Social Science, 2016), 'Parental Predictors of Children’s Animal Abuse: Findings from a National and Intergenerational Sample' (Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2014), and 'Reproducing Dominion: Emotional Apprenticeship in the 4H Youth Livestock Program' (Society & Animals, 2010). He has secured NIH-funded grants for projects assessing rural victim needs and developing responses to secondary trauma in victim service organizations. Ellis received awards including the Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (2008), Fellowship for Human-Animal Studies from the Animals & Society Institute (2008), and Distinguished Graduate Student Scholarship Award from the Animals & Society Section of the American Sociological Association (2007). He served as Chair of the Animals & Society Section of the American Sociological Association (2014–2015), Awards Committee Chair (2015–2016), and Book Review Editor for Society & Animals (2013–2015). Ellis also participates in university committees such as the ADVANCE Project Cultural Attunement Committee and Faculty Senate at Montana State University.