Social Studies Faculty & Staff

Karen Branden grew up poor in Barnesville, Minnesota. She attended Moorhead State Univers...

Karen Branden grew up poor in Barnesville, Minnesota. She attended Moorhead State University (now MSUM) and received her degree in Sociology with a minor in Women Studies. She credits MSU with giving her the opportunity to have a great life and teaching her how to use her strong voice. She loves MSUM and is a proud Dragon. She has been a Professor of Sociology for over 20 years and absolutely loves teaching because of the students. She completed her Master’s in Sociology at North Dakota State University. She received her Ph.D. from South Dakota State University. She has taught at schools around the world including Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Kampala, Uganda. Karen has been involved with diversity and social justice her entire career. She has taught and worked with a number of groups on systemic changes to create equity. She was a consultant for the World Food Program while living in Uganda, Africa. Her work at that time was on refugee camps and livelihood. She completed her Ph.D. working with the White Earth Indian Reservation on Wild Rice. She teaches a number of course but consistently offers Introduction to Sociology, The Sociology of Sexuality, Dominant/Subordinate Group Relations and Society and the Environment. She grew up with white privilege yet found her way to her Metis/Ojibwe heritage where she learned her names and her clan.

Chair and Professor of Geology; Ph.D., Geological Sciences, University of Tennessee; Areas of Interest: Earth science education, experimental petrology, planetary science, and geochemistry

Professor of Anthropology; Ph.D., Anthropology, Indiana University; Areas of Interest: Ant...

Professor of Anthropology; Ph.D., Anthropology, Indiana University; Areas of Interest: Anthropology of the arts (dance, music, and verbal arts), ethnohistory, visual anthropology, ethnomusicology, American Indians of the Great Plains and Prairies (Lakota, Dakota, Assiniboine, and Stoney) and the Great Lakes (Meskwaki).

Chair. Education: Ph.D. in Political Science, State University of New York at StonyBrook; Areas of interest: American politics, public policy and public administration

Education: Ph.D. and Juris Doctorate, University of Minnesota; Areas of interest: American...

Education: Ph.D. and Juris Doctorate, University of Minnesota; Areas of interest: American judicial politics and constitutional law; International relations. Additional experience: MSUM pre-law advisor; Director, International Studies major

Associate Professor of Geology; Ph.D., Geology, Indiana University; Areas of Interest: Sequence stratigraphy, paleoecology and taphonomy, science education

Annette Kleinkauf Morrow, Ph.D. specializes in Ancient and Medieval European History. Her ...

Annette Kleinkauf Morrow, Ph.D. specializes in Ancient and Medieval European History. Her research interests include Ancient Rome, the Medieval World, Church History, and Gender History. She grew up in Texas and received her BA in History from Texas Tech University. She earned her MA and Ph.D. from University of Arkansas. Dr. Morrow teaches in the History Program, in the Women's and Gender Studies Program, and in the Honors Program. She has led the Eurospring program, and has led numerous student tours to Italy, Turkey, and Macedonia. If you are interested in a study-abroad course, just ask.

Professor of Anthropology; Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh; Areas of Interes...

Professor of Anthropology; Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh; Areas of Interest: Ecological anthropology, medical anthropology, economic development and culture change, migration, tourism, Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Tanzania), South Asia (India)

Associate Professor of Geography; Ph.D., Economic Geography, Indiana State University; Are...

Associate Professor of Geography; Ph.D., Economic Geography, Indiana State University; Areas of Interest: Agriculture, railroad and transportation logistics, Latvia and the Baltic Region, Russia and Eastern Europe, geographic information systems, rural America, architecture and American homes, and teacher preparation

I have always loved history. I grew up in New England surrounded by Colonial and Early Ame...

I have always loved history. I grew up in New England surrounded by Colonial and Early American history—several of the houses on my street were built in the 18th century! I went off to Luther College in Iowa as a biology major and after graduation I lived in Norway for three years. Returning to the United States I worked at the U of Minnesota Hospitals in a research lab before deciding to apply to graduate school in history at Northern Illinois University outside Chicago where I wrote my dissertation on the yellow fever epidemics in the new nation’s capital in the 1790s. At MSUM I teach all our courses up through the Civil War as well as a history of disease and medicine course. I strongly believe the purpose of higher education is to equip students with the skill set necessary to succeed in today’s world. My own experience tells me preparing students to engage in life of learning is much more important than filling heads with facts and figures in the classroom. In my classroom you will learn to think critically about the past so you may use it to inform your future—that is the most important skill higher education can give you help you on your way.

Lee Garth Vigilant (Ph.D. Boston College 2001) is professor of sociology at Minnesota Stat...

Lee Garth Vigilant (Ph.D. Boston College 2001) is professor of sociology at Minnesota State University Moorhead. His principal areas of teaching are contemporary sociological theory, qualitative methods for social research, social movements, and social problems. He is a past recipient of the Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award for Sociology at Boston College, the TCU Senate Professor of the Year Award for Tufts University, and the Excellence in Teaching Award at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Some of his peer-reviewed research are in the journals Sociological Spectrum, Humanity and Society, and Deviant Behavior. He is author of several sociological essays, encyclopedia entries, and book chapters. He is co-author with Dr. Joel Charon of the books The Meaning of Sociology (Sloan Publishing, 2016) and Social Problems: Readings with Four Questions, 4/E (CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning 2012). Dr. Vigilant is an Associate Editor of The Encyclopedia of Death and Human Experience (Los Angeles CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 2009).