Fields

Social Stratification, Gender, Social Problems

Courses

• Introduction to Sociology
• Social Problems

Current Research Interests

Health and education disparities

Food, education, and health policy

Rural places and community

Selected Publications

Cistrunk, Kenya, M., Brittany Oliver, Laura Jean Kerr, Maria Trihn, Caroline Kobia, Leslie Hossfeld, Kecia Johnson, and Claudette Jones. 2019. “An ecological approach to understanding program management practices in food pantries in rural communities.” Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 12(1):68-77.

Hossfeld, Leslie H., Laura Jean Kerr, and Judy Belue. 2019. “The Good Food Revolution: Building Community Resiliency in the Mississippi Delta.” Social Sciences: Community and Urban Sociology, 8:1-10.; doi:10.3390/socsci8020057

Johnson, Kecia R., Kenya McKinley, Leslie Hossfeld, Brittney Oliver, Claudette Jones, Laura Jean Kerr and Maria Trinh. 2018 ““God Always Provides”: Challenges and Barriers in Food Assistance Delivery in Mississippi.” Community Development, 49:2-17.

            https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330.2017.1379029

Kastner, Stacy, Shelley Keith, Laura Jean Kerr, Kristen Stives, Whitney Knight, Kiley Forsythe, Kayleigh Few, Jen Gordon, and Jessica Mosely. 2018. “RAD Collaboration in the Writing Center: An Impact Study of Course-Embedded Writing Center Support on Student Writing in a Criminological Theory Course.” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, 15(3):34-53.

Keith, Shelley, Kristen L. Stives, Laura Jean Kerr, and Stacy Kastner. 2018. “The role of academic background and the writing centre on students’ academic achievement in a writing-intensive criminological theory course?” Educational Studies.  Published online: November 14 2018

            DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2018.1541788

Biography

Laura Jean earned a master’s and PhD in Sociology from Mississippi State University. She earned a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi and an associate degree from Meridian Community College. Her areas of interest are education, health, policy, and place. She brings these interests together mostly through food research, including in her dissertation which examined the frequency and duration of food insecurity experiences among Mississippi community college students.