Professor Beeman’s Bio
I received my Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut, where I taught courses in Sociology and Women’s Studies for 8 years. In addition to Intro to Sociology, I taught women and violence, women’s health, social problems, ethnicity and race, and race, class, and gender. I was also the first person chosen to teach the famous racism course developed by my mentor Noel A. Cazenave. I received two teaching awards at UConn in Sociology and Women’s Studies. I was also very active with the Women’s Center, where I chaired a number of committees. Before coming to Baruch, I taught Intro to Sociology and Ethnic Groups at BMCC and a course on urban sociology at the College of Staten Island.
Through the years, I have chaired numerous student social justice and honors projects. Many of my students have gone onto graduate school pursuing careers in sociology, medicine, political science, law, and psychology. One of my former undergraduate students is now a Professor of Sociology and I continue to mentor her as she progresses through her career. I particularly love working with the students in CUNY, because like many of our students, I came from a working class background. My family lived in a small, coal-mining town in western Pennsylvania, a town with very limited opportunities. The film, “All the Right Moves” is actually about Johnstown, PA, which was 20 minutes from my home. In the film, Tom Cruise plays a teenager desperately trying to get out of the dead-end town. Well, to folks in my town, Johnstown was the closest place to go for better opportunities! The struggles I endured while pursuing a higher education greatly influenced the career path I chose as a teacher and a researcher.
In my research I examine social inequalities in the economic, political, and cultural arenas. I specialize in racism theory, social movements, media, and gender. I recently published a study on predatory lending and racial inequality in lending. I have also published studies on portrayals of interracial relationships in U.S. films and domestic violence. In addition, I have been involved in a number of social justice and community organizations. My dissertation received a national award recognizing a commitment to scholar activism from the Society for the Study of Social Problems. In this study, I examined the strategic use, limitations, and challenges of color-blind ideology in grassroots interracial social movement organizations. I also received an award from the American Sociological Association for my research on racism and film in which I developed the concept of “emotional segregation.” Last semester, I was awarded a partial sabbatical along with the Whiting Award for Excellence in Teaching.
After living a few years in Staten Island, I moved to New Jersey, where I live with my husband, who is a Professor at the College of Staten Island, and my daughters, Justice (7 yrs) and Hope (2 yrs).
