» The Earl Babbie Research Center

Dr. Peter Simi
Peter Simi joins us from the University of Nebraska Omaha where he was an Associate Professor of Criminology and Director of Radicalization and Violent Groups Research in the Center for Collaboration Science.  He has studied extremist groups and violence for the past 20 years, conducting interviews and observation with a range of violent gangs and political extremists. Dr. Simi is a member of the National Consortium in Studies of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) which is a university-based research center committed to the scientific study of the causes and consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, National Science Foundation, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Defense.

Simi is also co-author of an award-winning book manuscript, American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate and frequently serves as an expert legal consultant on criminal cases related to political extremism. He is currently working on a book manuscript under contract with the University of California Press that examines the domestic front in the “war on terror” tentatively titled: Sting: Inside the FBI’s Provocation of Terror.

Dr. Ann Gordon
Dr. Ann Gordon is associate dean of Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and an associate professor of political science. She is the director of the Ludie and David C. Henley Social Sciences Research Laboratory. Dr. Gordon has published three books and numerous articles. She is Co-PI of the ongoing Chapman Survey of American Fears (CSAF), leading the team studying disasters and preparedness. The CSAF has been featured in over 800 print and broadcast media including the New York Times, The Huffington Post, CBS This Morning, Yahoo News, Good Housekeeping, the Washington Post, USA Today and TIME. Dr. Gordon works with emergency managers in Southern California on communicating preparedness to the public.

Dr. Christopher Bader
Christopher Bader is a Professor of Sociology at Chapman University and affiliated with the Institute for Religion, Economics and Society (IRES). He was principal investigator of the first two waves of the Baylor Religion Survey, a nationwide survey of US religious beliefs and the principal investigator of the the first three waves of the Chapman Survey of American Fears. He is associate director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (www.theArda.com), the world's largest archive of religion survey data funded by the Templeton Foundation and Lilly Foundation and supported by Penn State University and Chapman.

Dr. Crystal Murphy
Dr. Crystal Murphy (department of Political Science and Director of the MA in International Studies program) researches the lived realities of foreign assistance in conflict and post-conflict zones. Striving to understand the recipient views, together with Babbie Center student fellows, she studies the effects microcredit and cash transfer program provision in South Sudan. These projects include field interviews, qualitative and quantitative data sorting and analysis.

Dr. Edward Day
Bio coming soon!

Hamid Abdollahyan
Professor of Communications, University of Tehran , Iran and Editor of Global Media Journal-Persian Edition

Ron Anderson
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Founder, Foundation for Compassionate Societies

Aaron Babbie
Director of Engagement, Spoon Foundation

Petras Barsauskas
Rector, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Jennifer Bevan
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Chapman University

Solveiga Buoziute-Rafanaviciene
Quality Director, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania

Yuet-wah Cheung
Professor of Sociology, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Mick Couper
Research Professor, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan

James Dannemiller
President, SMS Research, Honolulu, HI

Rosalind Edwards
Professor of Sociology, University of Southampton, Co-editor, International Journal of Social Research Methods, England 

Weida Fan
President, Chinese Survey Research Association, Professor, Fudan University, Shanghai

Mark Francisco
Executive Sales Representative, Cengage

Ann Gordon
Founding Director (ex officio)

Sally T. Hillsman
Former Executive Officer of the American Sociological Association

Charles Hohm
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, San Diego State University

Raymond Lee
Professor Emeritus of Social Research Methods, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

Jack Levin
Professor and Co-Director, Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence, Northeastern University

Peter Marsden
Edith and Benjamin Geisinger Professor of Sociology, Harvard University

Mike Maxfield
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

Esteban Montilla
Associate Professor of Counseling and Coordinator of Counseling Internship, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX

Jodi O'Brien
Professor of Sociology, Seattle University

John Robbins
Author, social activist, and humanitarian

Ocean Robbins
Author, speaker and movement builder

Dennis Rome
Dean of Arts and Sciences, Columbus State University, Georgia

Allen Rubin
Bert Kruger Smith Centennial Professor in Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin

Steve Rutter
Former Publisher, Routledge / Taylor and Francis

William Ryerson
President of Population Media Center and Population Institute

Dietram Scheufele
John E. Ross Professor of Communications, University of Wisconsin

Arvind Singhal
Samuel Shirley and Edna Holt Marston Endowed Professor, University of Texas at El Paso, and William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow, Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock, AR

Metta Spencer
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Toronto, Canada

Teresa Sullivan
Former President of the University of Virginia

Jiaming Sun
Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Texas A&M (Commerce)

Negussie Teffera
Country Representative Population Media Center, Ethiopia

Thomas Van Valey
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Western Michigan University

Jennifer Waldeck
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Chapman University

Theodore Wagenaar
Professor of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University of Oxford, Ohio, Carnegie Scholar

Jerry Westby
Former Publisher, Pine Forge Press/SAGE Publications

We would like to honor and thank the following people for serving on the Advisory Board

James Davis, (1929 - 2016)
Co-founder, General Social Survey, Principal Investigator Emeritus, National Opinion Research Center

Charles Glock (1919-2018)
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, UC Berkeley, Former and Founding Director, Survey Research Center, UC Berkeley, Former Director, Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia

• Host conferences with internationally acclaimed scholars and practitioners.
• Provide seed grant money to encourage student and faculty research.
• Provide travel funds to students and faculty who need to do field work.
• Host visiting scholars and post-doctoral fellows.
• Develop Courses that support the goals of the Center.