Rate My Professor Larry Irons

Larry Irons, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. He earned his B.A. in Sociology from Florence State University in 1970, his M.A. in Sociology from Western Kentucky University in 1976, and his Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington University in St. Louis in 1992. His doctoral dissertation, titled "Designing Knowledge: Knowledge Acquisition for Knowledge-Based Systems," reflects his early interests in knowledge systems and sociology. At UMSL, Dr. Irons advises students pursuing the Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and has mentored undergraduate research, including projects presented at the University of Missouri System Undergraduate Research Day. He also participated in a working group on public health messaging and societal impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic alongside colleagues from Psychological Sciences and Sociology.

Dr. Irons teaches courses in key sociological areas such as Technology and Society, Globalization and Social Change, Community-Based Research, Urban Sociology, and Social Problems. He is dedicated to improving student learning outcomes through innovative course design and the use of interactive technologies. His research and publications cover technology's societal implications, distance learning, organizational communication, terrorism prevention, disaster preparedness, and ethnography in market research. Key publications include the books "Catastrophe Preparation and Prevention for Law Enforcement Professionals" (McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008, with C. Baldwin and P. Palin) and "Catastrophe Preparation and Prevention for Fire Service Professionals" (McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008, with C. Baldwin and P. Palin). Notable book chapters are "Consumer Anthropology as a Framework For The Use of Ethnography in Market Research" (Sage Publications, 2012, with J. Gordon) and "The Limits of Anytime, Anywhere Customer Support: Distributed Work and Home-Based Agents" (IGI Global, 2010). Peer-reviewed articles feature "Recent Patterns of Terrorism Prevention in the United Kingdom" (Homeland Security Affairs, Vol. 4, Issue 1, 2008), "Hurricane Katrina as a Predictable Surprise" (Homeland Security Affairs, Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2005), "Blended Learning and Learner Satisfaction: Keys to User Acceptance?" (Journal of the United States Distance Learning Association, 2002, with R. O. Keel and C. L. Bielema), "Interactivity in Distance Learning: The Digital Divide and Student Satisfaction" (Education, Technology, and Society, 2002, with D. J. Jung and R. O. Keel), and "Organizational and Technical Communication: Terminological Ambiguity in Representing Work" (Management Communication Quarterly, 1998). Additionally, he co-authored an op-ed titled "Sociology can help us understand what’s happening" in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (2020, with J. Craig).