Rate My Professor Stephen Poulson

Stephen Poulson is a Professor of Sociology at James Madison University, contributing to the Social Science faculty through his expertise in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Virginia Polytechnic and State University in 2002, M.A. in International Affairs from Florida State University in 1990, and B.S. in Political Science from James Madison University in 1988. Poulson began his academic career with a Visiting Assistant Professor position in Sociology and Anthropology at Washington and Lee University from 2003 to 2004 and served as Adjunct Assistant Professor in International Relations at Roanoke College from 2004 to 2005. He joined James Madison University as Assistant Professor in 2004, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010, and advanced to Full Professor in 2016.

Poulson's research specializations encompass social movements, applied sociology, conflict resolution, political sociology, sociology of sport, and Middle Eastern politics. His scholarly output includes three books: Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Iran: Culture, Ideology and Mobilizing Frameworks (Lexington Books, 2005, reissued in paperback 2006), Why Would Anyone Do That? Lifestyle Sport in the Twenty-First Century (Rutgers University Press, 2016), and forthcoming Racism on Campus: A Visual History of Prominent Virginia Colleges and Howard University (Routledge Press). Key peer-reviewed articles feature 'Racism on Campus: Yearbook pictures from prominent Virginia colleges (1890-1930)' (Contexts, 2020, with Haley McGee and Tyler Wolfe), 'Levels of Combatant Control and the Patterns of Non-Incumbent/Insurgent Violence Experienced by Civilians Living in Sunni-Arab Communities in Iraq (2004-2009)' (Medicine, Conflict and Survival, 2018, with Kelly A. Burke), 'Cooperative Accounts: Avoiding Conflict and Repairing Social Relations' (Symbolic Interaction, 2018, with Timothy J. Carter and Daniel Max Crowley), 'Patterns of Violence Directed Against Civilians in Small Ethnic Enclaves During War In Iraq (2003-2009)' (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, 2017), and 'Institutional Parochialism and the Study of Social Movements' (Social Movement Studies, 2014, with Cory Caswell and Latasha Grey). Poulson has earned the Outstanding Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences from Virginia Tech (2003), a Summer Research Grant from JMU ($4,000, 2010), JMU College of Arts and Letters Educational Leave (2008, reissued 2011), and a Virginia State PEER Grant ($6,543, 2005, with Tim Carter).