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Research Synopsis

I am a family and community ethnographer, on the faculty of sociology at Brigham Young University. My research area is family and community solidarity (I sometimes describe my research interest as "kindness, caring, and cooperation"), and how family and community are connected to each other. I have investigated neighborhood revitalization efforts, narratives about good fatherhood, solidarity in Mormon villages, and helping behavior within families, to name a few of my projects. Starting in 2008-2009, I am going to narrow my research focus a bit around ethnographies of housing -- an area at the intersection of family and community. I usually take a social phenomenological approach to my research and I have applied a range of methods (participant observation, narrative interviewing, virtual ethnography, regression analysis), although qualitative interviews are the most common method I use.

Teaching Synopsis

I have taught a range of courses, from freshman-level Social Problems (Soc 112) to graduate-level Contemporary Sociological Theory (Soc 611), but most of my teaching has been undergraduate Classical Sociological Theory (Soc 310) and Contemporary Sociological Theory (Soc 311). I have also designed and taught the department's undergraduate Qualitative Field Research Practicum (Soc 497R). I am able to teach a range of courses on such topics as family, community, culture, urban, rural, and housing. Basically I teach whatever the department needs me to teach. I am excited out our department's new connections with the university's honors program. Our university also has an emphasis on mentored student learning, in which undergraduates do research with faculty members and many of those students co-author articles with their faculty mentors. I look for ways to involve students in my research projects.

Citizenship Synopsis

I have been a participant in BYU's Scholarship Workshop on faculty writing productivity, and in BYU's Faith & Intellect Seminars, in which faculty and administrators meet to discuss scholarly works on the relationship between faith and academic study. I have participated in various professional development seminars on teaching, especially those based on the teaching and learning paradigm, and use that framework to design and improve my courses. I am currently co-chair of the Qualitative Family Research Network of the National Council on Family Relations, I have served on several department committees, and I have reviewed research proposals and articles for the university, professional organizations, and journals.

Contact Information:
        Address: Department of Sociology, 2008 JFSB, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602
        Office phone: 801-422-3336
        Email: goodsell@byu.edu

Research:

         Family, community, housing

Education:

         Ph.D., Sociology, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, 2004

         M.S., Sociology, Brigham Young University, 1998

         B.S., Geography, Brigham Young University, 1994

Publications:

         Goodsell, Todd L., Ralph B. Brown, Joshua Stovall, and Mark Simpson. Forthcoming. “Globally Embedded Community: Satisfaction and Attachment in Vance, Alabama.” Accepted at Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society.

         Goodsell, Todd L. and Owen Williamson. 2008. “The Case of the Brick Huggers: The Practice of an Online Community.” City & Community 7(3): .

         Goodsell, Todd L. 2008. “Diluting the Cesspool: Families, Home Improvement, and Social Change.” Journal of Family Issues 29(4):539-565.

         Goodsell, Todd L. 2008. “Stabilizing Influence: Cultural Expectations of Fatherhood.” Chapter 12 (265-279) in The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class: Reports from the Field. Edited by Elizabeth Rudd and Lara Descartes. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

         Goodsell, Todd L. 2005. “Fatherhood and the Social Organization of Space: An Essay in Subjective Geography.” Chapter 2 (pp. 27-47) in Situated Fathering: A Focus on Physical and Social Spaces. Edited by William Marsiglio, Kevin Roy, and Greer Litton Fox. Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield.

         Goodsell, Todd. 2000. “Maintaining Solidarity: A Look Back at the Mormon Village.” Rural Sociology 65(3):357-375.

Recent Awards:

         “Understanding the Culture of Family and Marathons.” Faculty Research Grant. Family Studies Center, Brigham Young University. 2008.

         “Solidarity in Escalante, Utah.” Faculty Research Grant. Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. 2008.

         “Solidarity in Escalante, Utah: A Return to Lowry Nelson’s Original ‘Mormon Village’.” John Topham and Susan Redd Butler Faculty Fellowship. Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Brigham Young University. 2007-2008.

         “Urban Pioneers.” College Grant. College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University. 2006-2007.

         “Home Repair: Masculinity, Family, and Community.” New Faculty Grant. College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University. 2005-2007.

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Todd Goodsell

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Research Synopsis I am a family and community ethnographer, on the faculty of sociology at Brigham Young University. My research area is family and community solidarity (I sometimes describe my research interest as "kindness, caring, and cooperation"), and how family and community are connected to each other. I have investigated neighborhood revitalization efforts, narratives about good fatherhood, solidarity in Mormon villages, and helping behavior within families, to name a few of my projects. Starting in 2008-2009, I am going to narrow my research focus a bit around ethnographies of housing -- an area at the intersection of family and community. I usually take a social phenomenological approach to my research and I have applied a range of methods (participant observation, narrative interviewing, virtual ethnography, regression analysis), although qualitative interviews are the most common method I use.
Teaching Synopsis I have taught a range of courses, from freshman-level Social Problems (Soc 112) to graduate-level Contemporary Sociological Theory (Soc 611), but most of my teaching has been undergraduate Classical Sociological Theory (Soc 310) and Contemporary Sociological Theory (Soc 311). I have also designed and taught the department's undergraduate Qualitative Field Research Practicum (Soc 497R). I am able to teach a range of courses on such topics as family, community, culture, urban, rural, and housing. Basically I teach whatever the department needs me to teach. I am excited out our department's new connections with the university's honors program. Our university also has an emphasis on mentored student learning, in which undergraduates do research with faculty members and many of those students co-author articles with their faculty mentors. I look for ways to involve students in my research projects.
Citizenship Synopsis I have been a participant in BYU's Scholarship Workshop on faculty writing productivity, and in BYU's Faith & Intellect Seminars, in which faculty and administrators meet to discuss scholarly works on the relationship between faith and academic study. I have participated in various professional development seminars on teaching, especially those based on the teaching and learning paradigm, and use that framework to design and improve my courses. I am currently co-chair of the Qualitative Family Research Network of the National Council on Family Relations, I have served on several department committees, and I have reviewed research proposals and articles for the university, professional organizations, and journals.
Contact Information: Address: Department of Sociology, 2008 JFSB, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 Office phone: 801-422-3336 Email: goodsell@byu.edu
Research: Family, community, housing
Education: Ph.D., Sociology, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, 2004 M.S., Sociology, Brigham Young University, 1998 B.S., Geography, Brigham Young University, 1994
Publications: Goodsell, Todd L., Ralph B. Brown, Joshua Stovall, and Mark Simpson. Forthcoming. “Globally Embedded Community: Satisfaction and Attachment in Vance, Alabama.” Accepted at Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society. Goodsell, Todd L. and Owen Williamson. 2008. “The Case of the Brick Huggers: The Practice of an Online Community.” City & Community 7(3): . Goodsell, Todd L. 2008. “Diluting the Cesspool: Families, Home Improvement, and Social Change.” Journal of Family Issues 29(4):539-565. Goodsell, Todd L. 2008. “Stabilizing Influence: Cultural Expectations of Fatherhood.” Chapter 12 (265-279) in The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class: Reports from the Field. Edited by Elizabeth Rudd and Lara Descartes. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Goodsell, Todd L. 2005. “Fatherhood and the Social Organization of Space: An Essay in Subjective Geography.” Chapter 2 (pp. 27-47) in Situated Fathering: A Focus on Physical and Social Spaces. Edited by William Marsiglio, Kevin Roy, and Greer Litton Fox. Boulder, CO: Rowman and Littlefield. Goodsell, Todd. 2000. “Maintaining Solidarity: A Look Back at the Mormon Village.” Rural Sociology 65(3):357-375.
Recent Awards: “Understanding the Culture of Family and Marathons.” Faculty Research Grant. Family Studies Center, Brigham Young University. 2008. “Solidarity in Escalante, Utah.” Faculty Research Grant. Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. 2008. “Solidarity in Escalante, Utah: A Return to Lowry Nelson’s Original ‘Mormon Village’.” John Topham and Susan Redd Butler Faculty Fellowship. Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, Brigham Young University. 2007-2008. “Urban Pioneers.” College Grant. College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University. 2006-2007. “Home Repair: Masculinity, Family, and Community.” New Faculty Grant. College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University. 2005-2007.