Contact Information

Associate Professor of Sociology
B.A. Oberlin College                           
M.A., Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
Phone: 406.657.1095
Office: Morledge-Kimball Hall 301
Email: julie.beicken@rocky.edu

Biography

Dr. Julie Beicken graduated with high honors from Oberlin College with a major in Gender and Women’s Studies. After college, she worked as a paralegal for a civil rights law firm in New York City before earning her Masters and PhD in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Beicken’s research has focused on community based participatory research and political sociology. A recipient of an INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence) grant, Dr. Beicken collaborated with Little Big Horn College on a substance abuse prevention project on the Crow reservation. The project enabled RMC students to work with middle school youth through a culturally grounded approach. Dr. Beicken’s research in political sociology emphasized eugenics, social movements, the global war on terror, and torture. Her Master’s thesis, “Eugenics: An Elite Social Movement,” informed the basis for her coauthored book with Sheldon Ekland-Olson, How Ethical Systems Change: Eugenics, The Final Solution, Bioethics (Routledge, 2011). Her dissertation, “Terrorism, Television, and Torture: Post-9/11 Morality in Popular Culture” analyzed government documents and popular media to explore how 9/11 altered the moral stance on torture in the United States. Rooted in both political and cultural sociology, her approach incorporated aspects of media studies through ethnographic content analysis of television and film. Her bibliographic essay, “Torture and the Ticking Time Bomb in the Era of Global Terror” was recently published in Choice . She also frequently contributes book reviews to the field.

Dr. Beicken is passionate about a liberal arts education and enjoys teaching an array of courses in sociology. She is delighted to be a part of the Rocky Mountain College community.

Courses Taught

• SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology
• SOC 225: Sociology of Public Health
• SOC 262: Life and Death Decisions
• SOC 310: Social Stratification
• SOC 324: Sociocultural Theory
• SOC 342: Deviance
• SOC 343: Punishment and Society
• SOC 365: Sociology of Gender and the Family
• SOC 370: Sociology of Sport
• SOC 408: Introduction to Social Research
• SOC 450: Internship
• SOC 477: Sociocultural Analysis of Subcultures: Cults/Sects
• SOC 490: Seminar in Sociology