I am Associate Professor of Sociology at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, where I teach a wide variety of courses that include Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Theory, Social Inequality, Environmental Sociology, Probability & Statistics, and Minority Group Relations. I currently serve as Chair of the Criminal Justice & Sociology Department (which also houses the new Social Work major).
I’m also Chair of the King’s College Institutional Review Board. In 2021, I became a Certified IRB Professional (CIP) to better serve in this important role.
Since 2010, I’ve served as the Global Studies Program Director. In addition to administering the minor program, I’ve led short-term study abroad programs to France, Bulgaria & Turkey, Spain & Morocco, and the former Yugoslavia. Based on these experiences, I’ve worked with a group of colleagues to develop and refine a new model for interdisciplinary short-term study abroad programs. An earlier version of this work was presented at the 2016 AAC&U Global Learning Conference in October 2016, and aspects of this work were elaborated for the International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd ’20).
My current research examines the meanings attached to books, reading, and literacy among participants in a Los Angeles community reading program. This project reveals the limitations of literacy initiatives that foreground the educational value of reading and attempt to elicit parents as co-educators, and yet fail to fully consider how a collaborative and problem-oriented approach may be read as dismissive of both the parenting skills and structural constraints of low-income parents.
On campus, I’ve been actively involved in campus sustainability as co-founder of The Green Initiative at King’s College. I’ve also been involved in several efforts to incorporate high impact practices such as short-term study abroad and learning communities in the curriculum, and recently served on the Core Review Committee as a means of furthering that work.
Last updated: 7/24/2023
Bridget McKenney Costello, Ph.D. 