• Mary Olson

    Mary Olson

    Professor of Sociology


Academic History

  • Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1984
  • M.S. in Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1977
  • B.A. in  Sociology/Philosophy, summa cum laude, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 1975

Current Position

  • Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Cornell College, 2001-present.

Prior Positions

  • Assistant Professor of Sociology, Institute of Social and Management Studies, Antioch College. September, 1989 to June, 1990.

  • Assistant Professor, Division of Social Science, College of Basic Studies, Boston University.  September, 1985 to August 1989.

Courses Taught

  • Sociological Thinking
  • American Indians: Culture, Activism, and Social Justice
  • The African American Civil Rights Movement through Film
  • Women: Oppressions and Resistances
  • Race and Ethnic Relations
  • Sociology of the Environment
  • Religion, Spirituality, and Community
  • Sociological Theory

Select Scholarly Work

Book and Film Reviews

  • Great Falls:  Discovery, Destruction, and Preservation in a Massachusetts Town.  Review of DVD prepared for Bullfrog Films (a U.S. distributor of independent films), 2011.
  • Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun and Josephine Waggoner, With My Own Eyes:  A Lakota Woman Tells Her People=s History. (Edited by Emily Levine).  The Annals of Iowa.  Vol 58, No. 3.  (Summer) l999. 

Conference Papers and Publications:

  • Native Americans, the Law, and Social Change:
  • “Sovereignty and Self Determination:  Building a Native American Studies Course.”  Paper prepared for: The Future of Ethnic Studies- An Academic Summit.  Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.  February 25, 2011.
  • “Restoration and Recovery:  Treaty Fishing Rights in the Pacific Northwest.”  Paper presented at the 2011 annual meetings of the Western Social Science Association.
  • “Habitat and Harvest: Treaty Fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest.” Paper presented at the 2010 annual meetings of the Western Social Science Association.
  • “Jurisdiction and the Struggle for Justice:  Treaty Fishing Rights in the Pacific Northwest.” Paper presented at the 2009 annual meetings of the National Association for Ethnic Studies. "The Legal Road to Economic Development:  Fishing Rights in the Pacific Northwest." Pp. 77‑ll2 in C. Matthew Snipp (ed.) Public Policy Impacts on American Indian Economic Development. Institute for Native American Development, University of New Mexico  l989. 

Awards, Honors, and Grants

  • Campbell McConnell Travel Grants.  2011-2012.
  • Campbell McConnell Sabbatical Fellowships and Sabbatical Grants. 2010-2011.
  • Senior Challenge Honoree. (nominated by Maeghan Anderson), 2011.
  • Senior Challenge Honoree. (nominated by Trisha Williams), 2008.
  • Campbell McConnell Sabbatical Fellowships and Sabbatical Grants.  2003-2004.

Supervision of Student Research

  • Honors in Ethnic Studies.  Member of Honors Defense Team for Mikelle Wortman. “The Role of Race as a Factor in the Adoption and Placement of African American Foster Youth.” 2010.
  • Honors in Ethnic Studies.  Member of Honors Defense Team for Madeline Roche. “State Court Abuse or Discretion?  How State Courts Have Used the Good Cause and Existing Indian Family Exceptions to Preserve the Constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act of l978.”  2010.
  • Cornell College Fellows. Faculty Advisor for Kasun Wijegunawardana, Stumpf International Fellow in Law and Society, Fellowship with D.L.& F. De Saram Attorneys-at-Law, Colombo, Sri Lanka.  Research project: How Eminent Domain Laws Operate in Sri Lanka. 2010.
  • Iowa Sociological Society.  Faculty Advisor for Student Participant Marie Glackin.  “The Indian That’s Not Disappearing:  Native American Images in Past and Present Advertising.” 2009.
  • Iowa Sociological Society.  Faculty Advisor for Student Participant Annie Schneider. “Re-Imagining South Africa:  Feminist Theology and Violence against Women.” (Winner of the Mary Alice Ericson Award for best freshman-sophomore paper.) 2009.

Professional Organizations

  • Western Social Science Association
  • National Association for Ethnic Studies