Postdoctoral Program

Beginning in 2002, the Department of Sociology at Rice University established a postdoctoral program with the intent of providing two years of research support for promising new and early career sociology scholars. Although the number of postdocs fluctuates on a yearly basis, we will have a minimum of two postdocs in residence each year. At present, we have three postdoctoral fellows in the department for 2006-2008:

Marcus Britton (Ph.D., Northwestern University)
Melanie Heath (Ph.D., University of Southern California)
Kristin Schilt (Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles)
Jason Shelton (Ph.D, University of Miami)

Past Postdoctoral Fellows

Postdoctoral fellows are expected to work closely with one (or more) of our faculty on a research topic that they propose in their application letter. While we expect postdocs to spend the majority of their time engaging in scholarly research, each postdoctoral fellow is required to teach one undergraduate sociology course at some point during their two-year tenure in the department. We also encourage postdocs to participate in our weekly brownbag lecture series, as well as other lecture events sponsored at Rice. We provide a generous level of financial support for each postdoc. In addition to a yearly salary of $45,000, each postdoc receives medical coverage, office space, computer equipment, and a $3,500 yearly research expense and travel account.