Susan Stall, Ph.D.

I am an applied community sociologist using collaborative learning relationships to organize and foster effective social action.
My education includes undergraduate studies in Social Science and Social Welfare and an elementary credential from Cal Poly, Pomona, CA; an MA in the Sociology of Education from the University California at Los Angeles; and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Sociology. Post-graduate, I was selected to be a Fellow with the Institute for Cultural Studies at the Faculty Summer Institute focused on, “Engaging and Expanding Community Voices through Participatory Research: Developing Curricula,” at the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.
Now Professor Emerita, during my 22 years at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), I leveraged my role as a Professor of Sociology & Women’s Studies, and more recently as Chair of Sociology and the African & African-American, Latino & Latin American Studies, and Women’s Studies Programs, to develop and foster university and academic partnerships with community-based organizations.
To augment civic engagement at NEIU, I helped create and served as the Co-Chair of our university-wide Applied Learning and Engaged Scholarship Committee (ALES). In my coordinating role with ALES, I worked with our interdisciplinary committee to foster university-wide academic and community collaborations, creating skill-based workshops on experiential education. This work included expanding the interest and course content of participants as they were motivated to infuse service-learning, internships, and/or community-based research partnerships into existing or newly developed courses to advance learning outcomes essential for responsible citizenship.
Likewise, the 7 years I worked in a predominantly Latino inner-city community as an elementary teacher in Los Angeles greatly informed the later community-focus of my work. Advocating for, and struggling with the parents and students in our rapidly changing neighborhood on school preservation and transformation efforts was a tremendous learning experience. Also, my leadership partners in our union’s Inner City Committee were great mentors as I participated in staging campaigns to support integration efforts and to increase resources for the lowest-income schools in the metropolitan Los Angeles Unified School District.
Currently, I serve as Board VP of the 16th Street Theater in Berwyn whose mission is “to foster cultural enrichment and education for ALL members of our community through the development and presentation of diverse works and writers for the stage.” I have had the honor of serving on the Executive Board of the Midwest Sociological Society, on the Housing Opportunities for Women Board, and on the editorial board of Contexts—a quarterly magazine that “makes cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers.” I was also honored as a recipient of the Feminist Activism Award, by the national Sociologists for Women in Society (in recognition of work and advocacy to improve the lives of women).
In my community I was a Girl Scout Leader for 7 years, and an early activist in the programming and work of Oak Park’s Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP).
My education includes undergraduate studies in Social Science and Social Welfare and an elementary credential from Cal Poly, Pomona, CA; an MA in the Sociology of Education from the University California at Los Angeles; and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University in Sociology. Post-graduate, I was selected to be a Fellow with the Institute for Cultural Studies at the Faculty Summer Institute focused on, “Engaging and Expanding Community Voices through Participatory Research: Developing Curricula,” at the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.
Now Professor Emerita, during my 22 years at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), I leveraged my role as a Professor of Sociology & Women’s Studies, and more recently as Chair of Sociology and the African & African-American, Latino & Latin American Studies, and Women’s Studies Programs, to develop and foster university and academic partnerships with community-based organizations.
To augment civic engagement at NEIU, I helped create and served as the Co-Chair of our university-wide Applied Learning and Engaged Scholarship Committee (ALES). In my coordinating role with ALES, I worked with our interdisciplinary committee to foster university-wide academic and community collaborations, creating skill-based workshops on experiential education. This work included expanding the interest and course content of participants as they were motivated to infuse service-learning, internships, and/or community-based research partnerships into existing or newly developed courses to advance learning outcomes essential for responsible citizenship.
Likewise, the 7 years I worked in a predominantly Latino inner-city community as an elementary teacher in Los Angeles greatly informed the later community-focus of my work. Advocating for, and struggling with the parents and students in our rapidly changing neighborhood on school preservation and transformation efforts was a tremendous learning experience. Also, my leadership partners in our union’s Inner City Committee were great mentors as I participated in staging campaigns to support integration efforts and to increase resources for the lowest-income schools in the metropolitan Los Angeles Unified School District.
Currently, I serve as Board VP of the 16th Street Theater in Berwyn whose mission is “to foster cultural enrichment and education for ALL members of our community through the development and presentation of diverse works and writers for the stage.” I have had the honor of serving on the Executive Board of the Midwest Sociological Society, on the Housing Opportunities for Women Board, and on the editorial board of Contexts—a quarterly magazine that “makes cutting-edge social research accessible to general readers.” I was also honored as a recipient of the Feminist Activism Award, by the national Sociologists for Women in Society (in recognition of work and advocacy to improve the lives of women).
In my community I was a Girl Scout Leader for 7 years, and an early activist in the programming and work of Oak Park’s Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP).