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Interests
Teaching Philosophy
Anya Peterson Royce, keynote speaker at the 2002 FACET retreat, described good teachers as interpreters who "disappear" in the classroom: "All interpreters perfect their craft, refining their instrument whether it be body or mind, learning all they can about the works they will re-present. In the moment of presentation, the very best of them ‘disappear,’ become transparent so that the audience can come together with the work without the distraction of interpreters who call attention to themselves." Like Royce, I believe that good teachers help students develop the skills, confidence, and experiences they need so that they can inform, create, and inspire. This requires giving students "enough tools and insights and ways of thinking so that they can succeed but not giving them the answers." Royce described how her teachers "pointed out the way and then disappeared so that I could have the joy of discovery." This joy of discovery and learning is, I believe, the best gift I can give to my students.
Research Overview
While my research spans the areas of social movements, mentoring, informal networks, and work, the common thread that runs through all of my published work is that of gender and race stratification. In the early years of my career, I studied the formal dimensions of workplace stratification, such as race and sex differences in employees’ jobs. As my career developed, however, I realized that little was known about the informal side of organizational life, such as the voluntary, social relationships that workers form. I became interested in what Rosabeth Moss Kanter, in Men and Women of the Corporation (1977), called the "shadow structure" of corporate life where employees build alliances, trade favors, and manage their reputations. Most of my subsequent work has focused on gender and race inequality in this informal area of organizational life. I have focused my research on informal networks, or the web of relationships in which workers exchange resources and services, because research shows that such networks help workers obtain jobs, advance in their careers, gain skills, and establish legitimacy. For instance, research indicates that individuals are more likely to job finds using their informal relationships (i.e., friends, acquaintances) than using formal search techniques, such as newspaper adds. Through my research on informal social relationships, I have shed light on why resources are distributed unequally in work organizations.
Courses Taught
- Social Research Seminar
- Quantitative Research Methods
- Social Statistics
- Principles of Sociology
- Sociology of Gender
- Gender Inequality at Work
- Sociology of Work
- Field Experience in Sociology
- Research Conference Practicum
- Gender and Work in the Global Economy
Selected Publications
- Gail M. McGuire. 2007. “Intimacy at Work: A Typology of the Social Support that Workers Provide to Their Network Members.” Work and Occupations 34(2):125-147.
- 2003. With Jo Reger. "Feminist Co-Mentoring: A Model for Academic Professional Development." National Women’s Studies Association Journal 15(1):54-72
- 2002. "Gender, Race, and the Shadow Structure: A Study of Informal Networks and Inequality in a Work Organization." Gender & Society 16:303-322.
- 2000. "Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Networks: The Factors Affecting the Status of Employees' Network Members." Work & Occupations 27(4):500-523.
- 1999. "Do Race and Sex Affect Employees' Access to and Help From Mentors? Insights from the Study of a Large Corporation," in Faye Crosby, Robin Ely, and Audrey Murrell (eds.) Mentoring Dilemmas: Developmental Relationships within Multicultural Organizations, pp.105-120. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
- 1997. With Wayne A. Santoro. "Social Movement Insiders: The Role of Institutional Activists in State Affirmative Action and Comparable Worth Policies." Social Problems 44(4):503-519.
- 1993. With Barbara F. Reskin. "Authority Hierarchies at Work: The Impacts of Race and Sex." Gender and Society 7(4):487-506.
Honors and Awards
- Trustees’ Teaching Award, May 2006.
- Indiana University South Bend Distinguished Teaching Award, November 2005.
- 2002 Indiana University Trustees' Teaching Award
- 2002 Elected to Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (FACET), Indiana University
- 1998 Students Together Able And Respected (STAR) Teacher of the Year Award, Indiana University-South Bend
- 1998 Appointed to the Faculty of the University Graduate School with Associate status, Indiana University
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