Ph.D. - Sociology
Harvard University - 1982

M.A. - Sociology
Harvard University - 1975

B.A. - Sociology
University of Chicago - 1973

 Narativi za pravata [Narratives of rights] (I. Dimitrova, Trans.). Kritika i humanisam, 55(2), 51-85. (2021) (with Allison Carey and Pamela Block), (2021).  2021 - Publication

Bulgarian translation of chapter 9 from Allies And Obstacles: Parents of Children with Disabilities and Disability Rights. “Disability Rights Movement” In David Pettinicchio, Michelle Maroto, and Robyn Brown  (eds.), Oxford Handbook on the Sociology of Disability, Oxford University Press,  2021. (with Kara Sutton)  2021 - Publication

 “Married In Texas” In Hui Liu, Corinne Reczek, Lindsey Wilkinson (editors), Marriage and Health:  The Well-Being of Same-Sex Couples. Rutgers University Press. 2020. (with Kara Sutton)  2020 - Publication

 “Women’s Health and Public Policy” in Jillian Duquaine-Watson (ed.), Women’s Health: Understanding Issues and Influences ABC-CLIO. 2020 (with Jennifer Foster).  2020 - Publication

 “American Health Policy” In Reader on American Public Policy, UTD Political Science Program.  2020 (with Kara Sutton).  2020 - Publication

“Parent-Led Organizations and Social Movement Framing” Disability Studies Quarterly 39:1  2019 - Publication

 Evaluation Report on EDT Program, Evaluation of NSF funded project, Department of Mathematics, University of   Texas at Dallas  2019 - Publication

“Disability Reconstructed” Reviews in American History  2018 - Publication

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
University of Texas at Dallas [1989–1993]

Professor
University of Texas at Dallas [1983–Present]

Visiting Instructor
[1982–2018]
College of William and Mary

AAAS Congressional Science Fellow
[1982–1983]

Visiting Instructor
University of Richmond [1980–2018]

Program Analyst
Virginia Division for Children [1978–1979]

Social Science Analyst
U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Rockville [1976–2018]

Research Assistant
Harvard School of Public Health [1975–1976]

Selected Other Professional Positions

•  Editorial Board, Research in Social Science and Disability, 1998-present
• Associate Editor, Evaluation Review, 1991-present
• Editorial Board, Disability Studies Quarterly, 1995-present
• Editorial Board, Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 1988-present
•  Section Committee member, 2008 conference on “Psychiatry & Freedom” of the International Network of Philosophy & Psychiatry
• International Advisory Editorial Board, Encyclopedia of Disability (Sage), 2002-04
• Member, Institutional Review Board, American Foundation for the Blind, 2001-2008
• Member, Advisory Board, Disability History [Online] Museum, 1994-present
• President, Society for Disability Studies, 1994-1995, Program Chair, 1997; Executive Officer, 1997-1998; Board of Directors, 1993-1996
• Member, Advisory Committee on Disability Studies in the Twenty-First Century, National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, 1995
• Member, Committee on Society and Persons with Disabilities, American Sociological Association, 1988-1991; Chair, 1991 

Research Support

• Grant from Ford Foundation in support of new edited volume on activist parents of children with Disabilities under contract with Temple University Press (PI), $25,000, 2022-2023.  
• Grant from UT Dallas to conduct workshop on social factors in rehabilitation (PI), $3000, 2019. 
• Grant from Texas Pride Impact Funds to conduct Texas LGBTQ Community Needs Assessment, (PI), $50,000, 2016-18. 
• Grant from National Science Foundation, “EDT: Team Training Mathematical Scientists through Industrial Collaborations” (Evaluator) (PI Susan Minkoff) $598,805 2015-2018. 
• Contract from CitySquare (Dallas), for evaluation of AmeriCorps program (PI), $10,000, 2014.  
• Contract from Big Thought (Dallas) to support undergraduate honors course on creativity (PI). $4,620. 2012 
• Grant from National Science Foundation, "AOC: Publicly Driven Investment, Neighborhood Change and Household Behavior," (Co-PI) (PIs: James Murdoch, Catherine Eckel, Daniel Griffith,  Margaret Caughy ) $1,000,178, 2008-2011 
• Gift from anonymous donor to fund longitudinal study on long term impacts of early childhood education. (PI)  $253,000 (matched by $50,000 from TRIP program), 2006-2013. 
• Contract with Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense to conduct study of alternative methodologies for qualifying indigent individuals for county-funded defense attorneys, (PI) 2006-2007(with Charles McConnel).  
• Contract with Collin County government to conduct study of indigent health care needs and support citizen task force. (PI) 2005-2006 (with Doug Watson, Brenda McCoy, Kevin Curtin, Charles McConnel) 
• Contract with Rockwall Helping Hands and consortium of North Texas United Way crisis relief agencies for study of crisis relief programs in Dallas area and exemplary programs nationally. (PI) 2004-2005 (with India Stewart) 
• Grant from Kaufman Foundation to develop entrepreneurship education course in social sciences (with Sheila Pineres, et al.) (Project Evaluator) 2003-2004  
• Grant from Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education. Program to promote transfers to four year institutions by Hispanic community college students. University of Texas at Dallas and Dallas County Community College District.  (With Rita Mae Kelly, Bobby Alexander, Laura Gonzalez, et al.) (Project Evaluator) 1999-2004 
• Grant from Community Foundation of Texas and American Foundation for the Blind to support dissertation research by Clenton Winford on educational characteristics of blind students in Texas.  (PI) 2002-2003
• Contract with Dallas Museum of Art to evaluate programs to increase awareness of the museum’s permanent collection, funded by Getty and Marcus Foundations (PI) 2001-2003. Contract with (Dallas) Center on Nonprofit Management to evaluate pilot phase of Nonprofit Entrepreneur Academy. (PI) 2001. 
• Contract with Dallas County Juvenile Department to evaluate outpatient substance abuse programs for juvenile offenders. (co-PI) 2000. (With Simon Fass and James Murdoch)
• Contract with March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation to update maternal and infant health needs assessment for North Texas region (PI) 1999-2000.
•  Contract with Dallas Healthy Start Initiative to serve as local evaluator for Dallas site of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services infant mortality prevention project (PI) 1994-1997.
•  Contract with Center for Nonprofit Management, Dallas Texas to prepare annotated bibliography on program evaluation for local nonprofit organizations (Co-PI) 1996-1997
•  Contract with North Texas March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation to evaluate Hand-in-Hand AmeriCorps program for extending prenatal care to at-risk adolescents (PI) 1995-1996
•  Contract with Waxahachie Community Health Center to conduct Ellis County needs assessment (PI) 1995.  (With Janet Gamble)
•  Contract with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas to conduct community needs assessment surveys in Dallas County. (Co-PI), 1994-1995. (With Wolfgang Bielefeld and Paul Waddell)
•  Contract with Dallas Health Services Planning Council to prepare Comprehensive HIV Services Plan for Dallas Eligible Metropolitan Area (Co-PI) 1994. (With G.S. Thielemann)
•  Grant from Aspen Institute to study Dallas nonprofit sector (Co-PI) 1993-95.(With Wolfgang Bielefeld)
•  Contract with Rockefeller Institute of Government to prepare overview of disability policy issues for New York State Regents Select Commission on Disability (PI) 1992.
•  Contract with National Council on Disability to prepare paper on civil rights policies on people with work disabilities. (PI) 1989
•  Contract with Milbank Memorial Fund to prepare paper on disability rights movement. (PI)  1988.
• Travel grant from World Rehabilitation Fund to study disability policy in Great Britain. (PI) 1986
•  Grant from Harvard Sociology Department to partially fund dissertation research. 1981

Teaching Experience

Undergraduate Courses 

•  Civil Rights Movement  
•  Disability and Society 
•  Health and Human Services in Dallas   
•  Health and Illness
•  Health, Ethics, and Society 
•  Introduction to Sociology 
•  Organizations  
•  Political Economy of Health and Illness
•  Poverty and Unemployment    
•  Professional Writing for Sociologists 
•  Research Methods in Sociology 
•  Senior Honors Seminar
•  Social Change Social Inequality      
•  Social Movements     
•  Sociological Theory 
•  Sociology of Education
• Class, Status, and Power 
• Creativity Across the Disciplines (honors)
• Health Care Narratives
• Public Health and Society (honors and general)  
• Readings in Health Care (honors)
• Readings in Organizational Theory (honors)  
• Readings on Racial Disparities and Health (honors)
• Social Change (separate course from Social Inequality)
• Social Inequality (separate course from Social Change)
• State and Local Government (honors)

  Graduate Courses  

•  Approaches to Public Policy 
•  Capstone Seminar in Public Affairs
•  Domestic Social Policy  Health and Illness 
•  Health Policy Health Policy Research Workshop 
•  Human Services Policy Research Workshop
•  Nonprofit Policy Research Workshop 
• Organizational Theory  
•  Poverty Policy Research Workshop
•  Research Practicum in Public Affairs 
•  Research Seminar on Hispanics in Texas 
•  Social-Economic Theories 
•  Social Stratification
•  Teaching Practicum for Doctoral Students  
•  Urban Community 
• Domestic Social Policy (separate course from Health and Illness)
• Ethics, Culture, and Public Policy
• Health and Illness (separate course from Domestic Social Policy)
• Health Policy (separate course from Health Policy Research Workshop)
• Research Workshop in Applied Sociology 

Doctoral Dissertations Supervised

• Patricia Hutcheson, 2022 
• Nora Hernandez, 2022 
• Marcela Nava, 2021 
• Olgusoltan Arazgeldiyeva, 2021 
• Jeanine Alpert, 2020 
• Jingnan Bi, 2020 
• Danielle Zaychik, 2020 
• Ariel Arguelles, 2019 
• Patricia Chen, 2018 
• Soojin Min, 2018 
• Yingyuan Zhang, 2017 
• Thomas Spencer, 2016 
• Ferzana Havewala, 2016 
• Jacqueline Huggins, University of West Indies, 2016  
• James Scott,  2015 
• Julie Burlingame Percival, 2015. 
• Nana Appiah, 2014 
• Nora Campos, 2014 
• Jacob Irukwu, 2014 
• Kyle Coby Pewitt, 2014  
• Maria Del Carmen Balderas, 2013 
• Christopher Boone, 2013 
• Mark Clark, 2013 
• Malik Dulaney,  2013 
• Heather Flabiano, 2013 
• Malinda Hicks,  2013 
• Michelle Leake, 2013 
• Dawnetta Miller, 2013 
• Kathleen Ryan, 2013. 
• India Stewart, 2013  
• Kara Sutton, 2013. 
• Terry Hockenbrough, 2012 
• Alicia Makaye, 2012 
• Jerry Rutherford, 2012  
• Hubert Sales, 2012. 
• Victor Contreras, 2011 
• Joseph Darmoe, 2011 
• Hilary Evbayiro, 2011 
• Gilbert Gonzalez, 2011 
• Carol Lanham, Lessons in Sobriety: 2011 
• Danny Ledbetter, 2011 
• Robert Woerner, 2011 
• Jason Cooley, 2010 
• DeLawnia Hagans, 2010 
• Jo Anne Hughes, 2010  
• Gerel Oyun, 2010.  
• Karabi Bezboruah, Corporate Philanthropy in Texas, 2008
•  Tom Browning, Three-Share Health Care Plans: One Local-Level Response to Meeting the Needs of the Uninsured, 2009 
• Leigh Hornsby, Transparency in Government: The Unintended Consequences of the Public Information Act on Texas Counties, 2008
•  JoAnne Hughes, The Implementation of the Reading First Program in the Dallas Independent School District, 2010
•  Honsoo Kim, Job Mobility and Pension Participation, 2008
•  Sai Loganathan, Determinants of Technology Diffusion in Hospitals: the Case of Drug-Eluting Stents, 2009
•  Kathy Rowe, Triggers that Affect Changes in Emergency Management at Texas Four-Year Colleges and Universities. 2009
•  Suzanne Rivera, Social Inequalities in Biomedical Research, 2008.
•  Melissa Montgomery, The Impact of Expansions in Children=s Public Health Insurance on Children with Asthma, 2007. (Co-chair with Dr. Paul Jargowsky)
•  Julia Wai-Yin So, The Short Term Consequences of Part-time Employment on the Academic Achievement of High School Students, 2007.
•  Kim Aaron, Fascinating Rhythms: Nonprofit Performing Arts Organizations and Municipal Performing Arts Centers, 2006. (Co-chair with Douglas Watson)
•  Deardra Hayes-Whigham, No Homeless Child Left Behind: The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in Dallas, 2006.
•  Alicia Schortgen, The Face of Donors in America: Who Gives and Why It Matters. 2006.
•  Thomas Wilson, The Texas Charter Schools Movement, 2006.
•  Jeannette Oshitoye, Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Prescribing of Asthma Medication to Pediatric Patients, 2005
•  Steven Wolfson, Racial Profiling in Texas Traffic Stops, 2005
•  Clenton Winford, Benchmarking the Academic Performance of Visually Impaired Texas Public School Students, 2003
•  April Barclay, The Effects of Managed Care on the Utilization of Mental Health Services, 2001
•  Jennifer Kehende, HIV/AIDS and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2001.(Co-chair with Dr. Irving Hoch.)
•  Morris Stein, The Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas: A Case Study in New Institutional Theory,2000.
•  Meryl Nason, Social Movement Organizations and the Mobilization Process: An Analysis of Pro-Choice Organizations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and Tyler. 1994.

Sociology Study Examines Needs of LGBT+ Communities in Texas

Sociologists in UT Dallas’ School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences are conducting an in-depth study to identify the needs and concerns of LGBT+ communities across the state.

Dr. Richard Scotch, professor of sociology, and Dr. Kara Sutton, a sociology lecturer, were selected to conduct the needs assessment for Texas Pride Impact Funds, a Houston-based nonprofit that supports organizations and projects serving LGBT+ communities throughout the state.

Gift Expands Research into Early Childhood Education

The benefits of a high-quality preschool education are being studied with increasing detail, courtesy of a $100,000 gift from an anonymous fund of The Dallas Foundation to the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences (EPPS). The philanthropic organization provided the funding to expand a previous study showing that an accredited preschool education can benefit low-income students well into their elementary years.

The research began in 2006 when Educational First Steps (EFS), a nonprofit Dallas organization, approached Dr. Richard K. Scotch and asked him to study how students with low-income backgrounds fared in school after attending accredited EFS preschools and learning centers. Scotch, a professor of sociology and political economy, used data exclusively from the Dallas Independent School District.

Study of Children from Low-Income Neighborhoods Finds Preschool Programs Can Boost Test Scores

Dallas Independent School District (DISD) students who participated in Educational First Steps (EFS) preschool programs were shown in a recent UT Dallas study to perform significantly higher in elementary math and reading test scores than their peers. 

“The most significant finding is that program quality matters in early childhood education,” said Dr. Richard K. Scotch, a professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, who conducted the study.