William Julius Wilson Graduate Student Summer Health Equity Fellowship

The summer fellowship program was established in 2018 with the aim of creating a mentored research experience focused on the social determinants of health disparities. Fellows work alongside Justin Denney, the William Julius Wilson Distinguished Professor of Sociology at WSU, to produce a publishable manuscript on a topic that matches their interests. Published fellow papers (see below) to date have focused on a wide range of topics important to improving our understanding of the social and economic contributors to health disparities.

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William Julius Wilson earned his doctorate in sociology from Washington State University in 1966 and is widely considered one of the nation’s most influential scholars of race, poverty, and inequality. He is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University.

Fellow Publications

Roth, Adam R., Justin T. Denney, Solmaz Amiri, and Ofer Amram. 2020. “Characteristics of Place and the Rural Disadvantage in Deaths from Highly Preventable Causes.” Social Science & Medicine 245:112689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112689

Amiri, Solmaz, Sandte L. Stanley, Justin T. Denney, and Dedra Buchwald. 2022. “Disparities in Years of Potential Life Lost among Racial and Ethnic Groups in Washington State.” Archives of Public Health 80:211. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-022-00969-1

Ridgeway, Sadie O., and Justin T. Denney. 2023. “A Comprehensive Examination of Discrimination and the Impact on Health in Young Adults.” Social Science & Medicine 320:115728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115728

Stanley, Sandte L. and Justin T. Denney. “All-cause Mortality Risk for Men and Women in the United States: The Role of Partner’s Education Relative to Own Education.” Forthcoming in Health Sociology Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/14461242.2022.2113907

Wilson Fellows

2018 – Adam Roth, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Oklahoma State University

2019 – Sandte Stanley, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Washington State University

2020 – Caleb Cooley, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Washington State University

2021 – Sadie Ridgeway, Assistant Professor at Goucher College, starting Fall 2023.