Sandra Loughrin

Associate Professor

Office: COPH 120C   |    Phone: (308) 865-8804   |    Email: loughrins2@unk.edu

Sandra Loughrin

About Dr. Loughrin

A native of Gilroy, California, Sandra Loughrin earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. Continuing with her Sociological roots Dr. Loughrin earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Riverside, with an emphasis in gender and family studies.

Teaching Philosophy

The beauty of Sociology is the ability to take our ordinary social world and examine it from a perspective that challenges previously conceived notions and understandings. As an instructor, my job is to provide students with the necessary tools and resources to be able to accomplish such a task. As such, I encourage students to not only comprehend classroom material through various outlets (textbooks, scholarly articles, assignments, films/documentaries, etc.), but to also reflect on the material as it relates to their own social world.

Courses Taught:

  • Sociology 100, Introduction to Sociology
  • Sociology 188, Generation Me
  • Sociology 369, Sociology of Gender
  • Sociology 237, Sociological Inquiry
  • Sociology 370, Sociological Research
  • Sociology 380, Sociology of Sexuality

Recent Publications

  • Loughrin, Sandra. 2018. "I Felt Like Destroying Something Beautiful." Sociological Images, The Society Pages.
  • Loughrin, Sandra. 2018. Conceptualizations and Operationalization of Love. TRAILS:  Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology.
  • Loughrin, Sandra. 2018. Sex-Ed Story-Time:  Understanding and Applying the Social Construction of Sexuality. TRAILS:  Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology.
  • Loughrin, Sandra. 2018. Queer Chicano Families:  The Importance of Converging Literature on Queer Families, Chicano Families, and Chicano Queers. Sociology Compass--Race and Ethnicity, 9(3), 224-234.
  • Reese, Ellen, D’Auria, Stephanie and Sandra Loughrin. 2013.“Gender” in The Oxford Handbook of the American Welfare State, edited by Daniel Béland, Christopher Howard, and Kimberly J. Morgan. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.
  • Aguirre Jr., Adalberto, Martinez, Ruben & Barboza, Sandra. 2012. "Mexican American Schoolchildren in U.S. Public Schools: A Review of Social Science Research on the Mexican American Family's Cultural Capital," In The Education of the Hispanic Population: Selected Essays, edited by Richard Valencia and Billie Gastic. New York: Information Age Publishing.
  • Reese, Ellen and Sandra Lougrhin. 2012. “Women & Welfare,” in Oxford Companion on American Politics, edited by David Coates. Oxford University Press.