Professional Bio

INTERESTS

I specialize in undergraduate teaching at the honors and general level.  My interests center on the institution of the American family, which has changed dramatically in the last 50 years, continues to change, and is a cornerstone of the survival and 200,000 years of evolution of our species, the development of complex groups and societies, and the well-being for adults, children, and society today.  My interests include marital quality, divorce and stepfamilies, and parent/child relationships. I have developed and delivered an online course on the Sociology of the Family and several other classes related family.  I teach small honors courses and particularly enjoy teaching large, general undergraduate courses on the American family.  I also advise and teach the select group of students in the honors program in Sociology and Criminology.

My aim in teaching is to introduce students to inter-disciplinary research ideas that can help them understand the essential nature of family relationships in human evolution and history, and to navigate their unique, liminal position with relation to family and the life course.  Most of my undergraduates are located in the life course space between their families of origin and the families they have yet to create, and they have many questions and concerns. My hope is that ideas and research discussed in my courses can help them make sense of their past, enrich and improve their present family relationships, and give them food for thought as they develop a vision for the families they hope to create.   Topics focus in key aspects of the life course including, the biological and social importance of families, familial and romantic love, hooking up and sexual behavior choices, cohabitation, marriage, parenting, divorce and stepfamilies, and normative and non-normative family stressors and family resilience and thriving in the face of challenges.

COURSES DEVELOPED AND TAUGHT

Senior Capstone Research Seminar (undergraduate)

Honors Thesis Seminar for Juniors (undergraduate)

Honors Thesis Seminar for Seniors (undergraduate)

Honors Sociology of the Family (undergraduate, developed course)

Sociology of the Family (undergraduate)

Sociology of the Family (online, PSU World Campus, developed course)

Sociology of Gender (undergraduate)

Sociology of the Body (undergraduate, developed)

Family Disorganization (undergraduate)

Family Theory and Research (undergraduate/graduate)

Family Diversity (undergraduate/graduate)

Seminar in Social Institutions: The Family (graduate)

Seminar on College Teaching (graduate)

Introduction to Graduate Studies: Module on The Family (graduate)

Family Disorganization (graduate)

Notables

In 2005 I received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Sociology.  In 2013 I was one of the 6 Penn State faculty chosen as ‘The Best Professors at Penn State, as Nominated by Your Classmates’ http://onwardstate.com/2013/10/11/the-best-professors-at-penn-state-as-nominated-by-your-classmates/).

In 2014 and 2015 I  was nominated for the College of the Liberal Arts Malvin E. and Lea P. Bank Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching. In 2016 I received the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award for the College of the Liberal Arts.

Selected Publications

Schoen, Robert, Stacy J. Rogers and Paul R. Amato. 2006. Wives’ Employment and  Marital Happiness: Assessing the Direction of Influence Using Longitudinal Couple Data. Journal of  Family Issues, 27, 506-528.

Rogers, Stacy J. 2004. Dollars, Dependency, and Divorce: Four Perspectives on the Role of Wives’ Income. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 59- 74.

Rogers, Stacy J. and Dee C. May.  2003. Spillover Between Marital Quality and Job Satisfaction: Long-Term Patterns and Gender Differences.  Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 482- 495.

Amato, Paul R., David Johnson, Alan Booth, and Stacy J. Rogers. 2003.  Continuity and Change  in Marital Quality Between 1980 and 2000." Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 1-22.

Rogers, Stacy J., and Danelle D. DeBoer.  2001.  Changes in Wives’ Income:  Effects on Marital Happiness, Psychological Well-Being, and the Risk of Divorce.  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 458- 472.

Rogers, Stacy J., and Paul R. Amato.  2000.  Have Changes in Gender Relations Affected Marital Quality?  Social Forces, 79, 731- 753.

White, Lynn, and Stacy J. Rogers. 2000.  The Economic Context of Relationship Outcomes: A Decade in Review.  Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1035- 1051.