My research focuses on two broad areas: faculty work and the graduate student experience. I use a critical lens to examine the intersection of individual experiences and organizational culture to interrogate the ways in which gender and other social identities operate on college campuses. At the individual level, I consider how men and women have different experiences, both within the professoriate and in graduate school. At the organizational level, I consider how the practices of various departments and the university as a whole produce a culture that privileges one gender over others. Bringing these two lenses together, I frequently consider how individual experiences are shaped by the culture and practices of the university.

I have spent much of the past decade focusing on work/life balance and the ways in which institutional norms and culture shape parents’ experiences on and off-campus. I am also deeply interested in how gender affects individuals’ experiences and am particularly interested in the role that gender and masculinities play in men’s lives. With my project on faculty fathers, I  combined my two interests to understand how institutional norms and culture shape faculty fathers’ experiences and their ability to be both productive academics and involved fathers. My book Faculty Fathers: Toward A New Ideal in the Research University was published in 2014 by SUNY Press.