Academic CV

Ryan T. Steel, PhD

Curriculum Vitae

September 1, 2023

 

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

2021 –              Visiting Lecturer of Sociology, University of Richmond

2014 –  2022     PhD Candidate—Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota

                                    Dissertation Advisors: Joshua Page & Teresa Gowan

                                    Committee Members: Joe Soss & Arun Saldanha

                                    Dissertation Title: “Making Marijuana Medical: Governing Bodies in                  Minnesota’s Medical Cannabis Program.”  (Defense: 6/22/22)

                           M.A. in Sociology completed in 2017

2012 – 2015      Research Associate II, Wilder Research – Amherst H. Wilder Foundation

2008 – 2012      B.A. Sociology, Economics, & Third-World Studies (3 majors), Bethel University 

                        Graduated Summa Cum Laude

 

RESEARCH FUNDING, APPOINTMENTS, & AWARDS

2022                Research Assistant for Michelle Phelps’ Policing the Progressive City book.

2021                 Research Assistant, Robina Institute of Law and Justice (U of M Law School)

                         CARES Summer Graduate Writing Grant (U of M College of Liberal Arts)

2020                Outstanding Graduate Instructor of the Year Award Winner

                         Research Assistant, Robina Institute of Law and Justice (U of M Law School)

                         Consortium on Law & Values in Health & Environment Research Grant 

                         Research Assistant, Writing Enriched Curriculum (Dept. of Sociology)

                         Teaching Assistant of the Year, Nominee (Social Statistics)

2019                Anna Welsch Bright Research Grant Awardee

                        Graduate Instructor of the Year, Nominee (Sociological Research Methods)

                        Teaching Assistant of the Year, Nominee (Social Statistics)

2018                Summer Graduate Research Partnership Program Grant Awardee

2017                Research Assistant, Ban-the-Box Policy Research (Phil Goodman, U of Toronto)

2016                Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program Grant Awardee

                         Research Assistant, American Mosaic Project

2015-16            Recipient of the Edelstein American Mosaic Project Fellowship

2014                 National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship (3-year)

2012                 Winner of “Friends of Bethel Library” Undergraduate Research Contest 

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Richmond:

SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology/Foundations of Society 

            Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023

SOC 279: Governing Health, Medicine, and the Body

            Fall 2022, Fall 2023

SOC 305: Conformity, Deviance, and Institutional Social Control

            Fall 2021, Fall 2023

SOC 379: On Drugs—Pleasure, Panic, and Punishment

            Spring 2022, Spring 2023“Outstanding Graduate Instructor of the Year” Award)

 

University of Minnesota:

SOC 3801: Sociological Research Methods

            Fall 2018  (Nominated for “Outstanding Graduate Instructor of the Year” Award)

SOC 3811: Social Statistics (Lab Instructor)

            Spring 2019, Spring 2020  (Nominated for “Outstanding TA of the Year” Award)

SOC 4111: Deviant Behavior

            Fall 2019  (Winner of “Outstanding Graduate Instructor of the Year” Award)

SOCC 4246: Sociology of Health & Illness (online)

            Summer 2019, Summer 2020

 

ACADEMIC WORKS

- Steel, Ryan T. 2022. “Medicalizing the Menace? The Symbiotic Convergence of Medicine and Law Enforcement in the Medicalization of Marijuana in Minnesota.” Sociology of Health & Illness 44(8): 1324-1343. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13513. 

              Accepted to present at 2020 International Conference on Sociology & Anthroposociology 

              Accepted to present at 2020 Pacific Sociological Association conference.

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- Steel, Ryan T. Forthcoming. “Painful Subjects, Desiring Relief: Experiencing and Governing Pain in a Medical Cannabis Program.” Journal of Health & Social Behavior.

           Accept for publication decision 1/14/24. 

                        Accepted to present at 2022 ASA Annual Meeting.

                        Presented at the 2020 Law & Society Association annual conference.

                        Accepted to present at the 2020 Pacific Sociological Association conference.

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- Steel, Ryan T. Under Review. “Precarious Participation: A New Materialist Mapping of a Movement Against the Privatization of Public Housing.” City & Community.

              Submitted for review on 6/30/23.

                        Presented at 2015 ASA Annual Meeting.

                        Accepted to present at 2016 Social Science History Association’s annual meeting.

 

- Steel, Ryan T. 2022. Making Marijuana Medical: Governing Bodies in Minnesota’s Medical Cannabis Program. Dissertation: University of Minnesota, Department of Sociology. 

               Successful Dissertation Defense: 6/22/22.

 

- Steel, Ryan T. 2022. “Better Mental and Medical Health through Marijuana: A Review of Kogan & Liebmann-Smith’s (2021) Medical Marijuana.” ASA Medical Sociology Newsletter: pp. 14-15.

 

- Rajaseker, N., and R. T. Steel. April 20, 2018. “A Sociological Look at Marijuana and Its Users.” The Society Pages. 

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ARTICLE MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION

- Steel, Ryan T. Preparing for Submission. “The Social-Spatial Coordinates of Stigma: A New Materialist Reading of Goffman’s Classic Concept.”

                     Plan to submit to Sociological Theory.

                     Presented at ASA 2022 Annual Meeting.

- Steel, Ryan T. Preparing for Submission. “Triangulated Physician Authority and the Medical Rigmarole.” 

                     Plan to submit to Social Science & Medicine.

                     Accepted to present at ASA 2022 Annual Meeting.

- Steel, Ryan T. In Progress. “‘Proper Medicine’ or ‘Dangerous Drug’: Institutional Processes for Making Marijuana Medical.”

                     Plan to submit to Science & Technology Studies.

- Steel, Ryan T. In Progress. “The Embodied Pleasure and Agentic Uses of Medical Cannabis”

                     Plan to submit to International Journal of Drug Policy.

- Steel, Ryan T. In Progress. “Triangulated Drug, Set, and Setting: A New Materialist Model of Drug Effects.”

                     Plan to submit to International Journal of Drug Policy.

- Steel, Ryan T. In Progress. “Whose Health Matters? An In-Class Simulation for Teaching about Ethical Controversies and Social Movements.”

                     Plan to submit to Teaching Sociology.

- Laskorunsky, J., and Ryan T. Steel. In Progress. “How Agency Budget Shapes Probation Officer Attitudes and Practices on Fines and Fees.”

                     Accepted to present at 2021 American Society of Criminology annual meeting.

 

OTHER PRESENTED PAPERS & INVITED TALKS

• Steel, R. “The Politics of Marijuana in Minnesota: Learning Historical Lessons and Imagining Alternatives to the War on Drugs.” Invited Talk (4/7/23): Minnesota State University, Mankato.

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• Steel R. “A Conversation on Cannabis in Minnesota.” Interview for Minnesota Daily’s “In the Know” Podcast, 8/4/23. (Click here to hear the full interview)

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• Steel, R. “Governing Criminality and Health: Discourses and Aesthetics of a Marijuana Biopolitical Economy.” 

                     Presented at 2017 Sociological Research Institute annual conference.

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• Stewart, E., Steel, R. “Symbolic Boundaries and Public Opinion on the Affordable Care Act.” 

                     Presented at 2015 Midwest Sociological Society Annual Conference.

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• Stewart, E., Steel, R., Taborda, C., Edgell, P. “Comparing Public and Private Support for Same-Sex Marriage in the United States.” 

                     Presented at 2016 Midwest Sociological Society annual conference.

                     Presented at 2016 Eastern Sociological Society annual conference.

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• Gerteis, J., Edgell, P., Steel, R. “Context and Community: Volunteering in Religious and Secular Situations.” 

                     Presented at 2015 ASA Annual Meeting.

                     Presented at 2015 Henry Institute Symposium on Religion and Public Life.

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- Steel, R. “Leading and Implementing a ‘Bottom Up’ Community-Level Microfinance Organization in a Developing Country: How Evaluation Research Can Help.”

                     Presented at 2011 Association for Third-World Studies annual conference.

- Steel, R. “Utopia or an Iron Cage? Marx, Weber, Nietzsche, and the Future of Modernity.” 

                     Winner of 2012 “Friends of Bethel Library” Research Contest.

                     Presented at 2012 Bethel Library Colloquium Series.

 

APPLIED RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS (Publicly Available)

June 2014  “Community Engagement in Transit-Related Planning in the Twin Cities” [Final Report & Summary], Wilder Research (St. Paul, MN)

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Mar. 2014  “Corridors of Opportunity Final Evaluation Report” [Report & Summary], Wilder Research (St. Paul, MN)

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Mar. 2014  “Findings from the United Way of the Midlands’ Community Needs Assessment for Douglas, Sarpy, and Pottawattamie Counties” [Final Report, Regional Profile Report, & Summary], Wilder Research (St. Paul, MN)

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Nov. 2013  “Community Engagement in the Twin Cities – 2013 Interim Report on Strategies, Impact, and Potential Sustainability” [Report & Summary], Wilder Research (St. Paul, MN)

 

Dec. 2012 “Community Needs Assessment: Ramsey and Washington counties. Summary of key findings from a survey of low-income residents and Community Action participants,” Wilder Research (St. Paul, MN)

 

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

2015–19           Sociology Tutor – MAC Center for Student Athletes (University of Minnesota)

2013–15           Volunteer GED Teacher – Neighborhood House (St. Paul, MN)

2012–13           Volunteer Citizenship Exam Tutor & Community Justice Circle Participant – Jane                                           Addams Center for Democracy (St. Paul, MN)

2008                Program Development and Research Intern – ImpactLives, Inc. (St. Paul, MN)

2007                Program Evaluation Research Intern – Women’s Trust (Pokuase, Ghana)

                          Rural Development Intern – Students International (Magdalena, Guatemala)

2006–08         Co-Founder & President of Gay Straight Alliance (Bethel University)

                         Head Teaching Assistant – Sociology & Anthropology Department (Bethel U)

                         Head Economics Tutor (Bethel University)

                         Economics & International Finance Teaching Assistant (Bethel University)

2005–06         Director of Intercultural Programs (Bethel University)                

 

ACADEMIC SERVICE

2022                 External Reviewer at Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Forum, Law & Policy

2021                 Department Awards Committee Member – UMN Sociological Research Institute 

2020                 Undergraduate Research Fellowship Advisor – Calista Wery (UMN)

2018                 Undergraduate Research Fellowship Committee– Madeline Brighouse Glueck                                     (Dept. of Sociology, University of Minnesota)

2018                 Master’s Thesis Committee Member – Holly Clark, Master’s of Social Work (St.                                        Catherine’s University, St. Paul, MN)

2018                 Sociology Department Hiring Committee

2015–16           Sociology Department Workshop Committee                              

2014–18           American Mosaic Project graduate researcher & project manager