University Directory

Elizabeth M. Lee, PhD

Professor, College of Arts and Sciences
Adjunct - Office of the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences
Inclusive Excellence Faculty Liaison (FGCI)
Assistant Dean for Internships and Experiential Learning

Elizabeth M. Lee PhD

Department

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Elizabeth M. Lee is a sociologist focused on socioeconomic status and higher education. Her primary research is with low-income, first-generation, and/or working-class (LIFGWC) students at selective colleges. Broadly speaking, she is interested in the ways people manage inequality in day-to-day interactions. She is also interested in the ways that race/ethnicity and gender intersect with socioeconomic status in LIFGWC students' campus lives, and the ways that colleges as institutions shape dynamics of inequality. Other work has examined earlier years of education, LGBQ college student life, and faculty from LIFGWC backgrounds.

She joined the Saint Joseph's faculty in the fall of 2019 and lives in East Falls with her wife, two cats, and dog.

    • PhD Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
    • MA Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
    • BA Sociology, Smith College
    • 2019 Lee, Elizabeth M. and Tonya Maynard.* “Faculty Members from Low-Socioeconomic-Status Backgrounds: Student Mentorship, Motivations, and Intersections.” Chapter 7, Intersectionality and Higher Education: Identity and Inequality on College Campuses (C. Byrd, S. Ovink, and R. Brunn-Bevel, editors). Rutgers University Press.
    • 2018 Lee, Elizabeth M. “Low-Socioeconomic Status Students Organizing Around Class on Campus.” Social Currents 9(6): 512–530.
    • 2017 Lee, Elizabeth M. “Where People Like Me Don’t Belong: Faculty Members from Low-Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds.” Sociology of Education 90(3): 197–212.
    • 2017 Lee, Elizabeth M and Tonya Maynard.* “In class, Sharing Class: Faculty Members from Low-Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds and Status Visibility.” Journal of Working Class Studies 9(2): 16-33.
    • 2016 . Lee, Elizabeth M. Class and Campus Life: Managing and Experiencing Inequality at an Elite College. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
    • 2015 Lee, Elizabeth M. and Chaise LaDousa. College Students’ Experiences of Power and Marginality: Sharing Spaces and Negotiating Differences. Routledge.