I am Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology at Colby College.
My research uses comparative and historical methods to illuminate the interplay of culture, religion, politics, and law. I am currently working on projects investigating how symbolic conflicts influence the form and visibility of the American state, how local religious and government officials understand and negotiate church-state law, and how historical and comparative methods are actually practiced in social scientific research.
I currently serve as Treasurer of the Social Science History Association, as Secretary/Treasurer for the American Sociological Association's Section on the Sociology of Religion, and on the editorial boards of Contexts, Sociology of Religion, The Sociological Quarterly, and Civic Sociology. My research has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Sociological Theory, and other scholarly journals and edited volumes.