Rate My Professor Laura Nichols

Laura Nichols is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Santa Clara University, where she joined the faculty in 2000. She advanced from Assistant Professor (2000–2006) to Associate Professor (2006–2021) and full Professor (2021–present). Additional appointments include Department Chair (Fall 2007; Fall 2008–Summer 2011 and currently), Director of the Undergraduate Core Curriculum (2013–2017), President of the Faculty Senate (2021–2022), President-Elect and Chair of Faculty Elections (2020–2021), and Special Assistant for Academic Initiatives in the Office of the Provost (2022–2023). Nichols holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Akron (2000), an M.A. in Sociology from Western Michigan University (1995), and a B.S. in Sociology with a Communication minor from Santa Clara University (1990).

As an applied sociologist, Nichols focuses on making social science research accessible to organizations and policymakers, with emphasis on education, experiences of first-generation and transfer college students, inequalities, participatory program planning and evaluation, and sociology in non-profit organizations. Her authored book is The Journey Before Us: First-Generation Pathways from Middle School to College (Rutgers University Press, 2020). She co-edited Undocumented and In College: Students and Institutions in a Climate of National Hostility (Fordham University Press, 2017). Selected peer-reviewed publications include 'Pushing and Pulling Emerging Adults through College: College Generational Status and the Influence of Parents and Others in the First Year' (Journal of Adolescent Research, 2016), 'Social Desire Paths: A New Theoretical Concept to Increase the Usability of Social Science Research in Society' (Theory and Society, 2014), 'Addressing Exclusion in Organizations: Social Desire Paths and Undocumented Students Attending College' (Social Problems, 2019), and 'Homelessness and the Mobile Shelter System: Public Transportation as Shelter' (Journal of Social Policy, 2011). Awards include the President’s Award (2016), Brutocao Award for Curriculum Innovation (2008), Support of University Mission Award (2004), and Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research (2001). She chaired the American Sociological Association Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology (2014–2015), served as Commissioner on the Accreditation of Programs in Applied and Clinical Sociology (2012–2015), and has delivered invited lectures such as 'Supporting Aspiring First-Generation College Students' (2022) and 'What Students? Which Mission?' (2021).