Rate My Professor Daniel Morrison

Dr. Daniel R. Morrison serves as Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he also holds the position of Interim Chair of the Department of Psychology. He earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Vanderbilt University in 2012, with a dissertation entitled “Body, Self, Device: Nonhuman Objects and Human Identity.” Prior degrees include an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Virginia in 2006, an M.A. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2004, and B.A. degrees in Sociology (with departmental honors) and Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2002. Morrison's professional career encompasses roles such as Associate Professor at Abilene Christian University (2021-2023), Assistant Professor there (2018-2021), Assistant Professor at Pepperdine University (2012-2015), and Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society (2015-2016), among others.

A sociologist of science, technology, and medicine, Morrison's research interests include empathy, care ethics, biomedical ethics, racism in medicine, interactionist social theory, the sociology of ignorance, race and racism, illness narratives, and care theory. His scholarship has garnered over 540 citations. Notable publications include “Medical Sociology and Technology: Critical Engagements” with Monica J. Casper (Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2010), “Intersections of Disability and Trauma Studies: Lessons from TBI and Obstetric Fistula” with Monica J. Casper (Disability Studies Quarterly, 2012), “Two Large-Scale Surveys on Community Attitudes Toward an Opt-Out Biobank” with Kyle B. Brothers and Ellen W. Clayton (American Journal of Medical Genetics, 2011), and more recent articles such as “Christian Universities as Cisgendered Organizations” with Jonathan S. Coley (Social Currents, 2025) and “Facing Slavery as Saving Face: Racial Cynicism in Student Perceptions of Universities Studying Slavery” with Claire Whitlinger (Sociological Perspectives, 2026). He co-edited a special issue of Sociological Perspectives on Ethnography (2018) and hosts The Annex sociology podcast. Morrison received the Marion T. Loftin Research Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper from Vanderbilt University in 2007 and currently serves as Treasurer of the Pacific Sociological Association (2023-2025).