WKU Sociology & Criminology Alumni Profiles

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Kevin Smiley '13

Dr. Kevin Smiley graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2010 with a double major in sociology and history. While attending WKU, he studied abroad in London for the winter term where he took a course focusing on London history during World War II. After graduating from Western, he enrolled in a master’s program in sociology at the University of Memphis, and graduated in 2012. Kevin entered the PhD program in sociology at Rice University in 2012, and graduated in 2017.

 

After graduating, Kevin was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Buffalo from 2017-2020. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University. 

 

Kevin is an environmental and urban sociologist who specializes in disaster research. Being able to bridge his work to the communities along the Gulf Coast is an aspect of his new job that he’s been looking forward to for a long time. He says, “LSU has fantastic resources and a great community of researchers with whom to pursue this type of work, and the challenges we face along the Gulf Coast are highly motivating for me as a researcher.”  Apart from the time he’s spent as a researcher, Kevin has also enjoyed his time teaching the students of LSU as well. While teaching undergraduate sociological theory in the fall, he was impressed with how his students managed to synthesize theory and apply it to current events. Collaborating with the students, as well as with his faculty colleagues, is something he’s appreciative of.

 

Some of Kevin’s favorite memories with the department of sociology come straight from the classroom. He enjoyed the engaging discussions and powerful lectures from the classes he took with professors Kanan, Daday, Faine, Krull, and Pruitt. The experiences he gained are what sparked an interest for him to eventually pursue a career in sociology. The late Dr. Bohlander and Dr. Wozniak were mentors to him, both of whom he misses and mourns. A characteristic of the department that sticks out to him is “there is a palpable joie de vivre in the life among the faculty,” and that spirit empowered and excited students like him.

 

Kevin’s advice for college students that aspire to work in his field, is to start out by thinking carefully about the types of activities you like to do. Some questions he’d tell you to ask yourself are: Would you prefer to work on a collaborative research team or do you prefer to focus on self-guided intellectual work? Does research to you mean crunching numbers from surveys, or being a fly-on-the-wall ethnographer? Does teaching animate your soul? The way you answer questions such as these will help shape your idea of what your own personal path in the sociology field will look like. As Dr. Smiley says, “Match what you love doing on a day-to-day basis to how a degree in sociology can prepare you for that type of work.”