Meet the Faculty

KathyS. Stolley

Kathy S. Stolley

Professor of Sociology


Degrees Held

B.A., M.A., Old Dominion University
Ph.D., The George Washington University

Office Location: 6 Roop Hall, Allen Village
Phone: 757.233.8768
Email: kstolley@vwu.edu
Department/s:
- Sociology

Kathy Shepherd Stolley is Professor of Sociology at Virginia Wesleyan University, where her emphasis is applied sociology. She received her Ph.D. from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Along her journey to Virginia Wesleyan, she was an organizational consultant supporting NATO, a social science analyst at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, an online Sociology guide, and a Virginia State Police Trooper. Dr. Stolley has published in various professional journals and was editor of the applied journal Social Insight: Knowledge at Work. She has also published six books: The Basics of Sociology (2005), The Praeger Handbook of Adoption, (2006, two volumes, co-edited with Vern L. Bullough), HIV/AIDS (2009, co-authored with John E. Glass), Medical Tourism: A Reference Handbook (2012, co-authored with Stephanie Watson), The Intersection of Star Culture in America and International Medical Tourism: Celebrity Treatment (2016, co-authored with Kathy Merlock Jackson and Lisa Lyon Payne), and Animals and Ourselves: Essays on Connections and Blurred Boundaries (2020, co-edited with Kathy Merlock Jackson and Lisa Lyon Payne). In addition to receiving VWU's Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Teaching Award and the Birdsong Service and Community Engagement Award, Dr. Stolley formerly served as Coordinator of the Women's and Gender Studies program and Virginia Wesleyan's first Associate Dean for Innovative Teaching and Engaged Learning. She has also served as Vice-President of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) and has been recognized by the AACS with the Robert Ezra Park Award for Sociological Practice for demonstrating how sociological practice can advance and improve society.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Grauerholz, Liz, Cameron Whitley, Erin Kidder, Kelley Ortiz, and Kathy Shepherd Stolley.  “Teaching Animal Studies Courses: Who Are Our Students?” Society and Animals. (Forthcoming.)

Toussaint, Jeff, and Kathy Stolley.  2022.  “An Escape Room Project in Three Parts.” Professors at Play PlayBook. Eds. David Thomas and Lisa K. Forbes. Pittsburg, PA, Carnegie Mellon University/ ETC Press: 223-229.

Jackson, Kathy Merlock, Kathy Shepherd Stolley, and Lisa Lyon Payne, eds.  2020.  Animals and Ourselves: Essays on Connections and Blurred Boundaries.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.  

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd.  2020.  “Sociologist in Action: Kathy Shepherd Stolley.”  Social Problems: Sociology in Action.  Maxine Atkinson, Kathleen Odell Korgen, and Mary Nell Trautner, eds.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 13. (Invited item.)

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd.  2019, October 1.  “Does Your Dog Really Want a Trip to the Beauty Parlor?”  Animals and Us, hosted by Hal Herzog, Psychology Today online.  (Invited Item.)
Link to Article

Kathy Stolley.  2019.  “Sociology on Film: Postwar Hollywood’s Prestige Commodity, by Chris Cagle.”  Journal of American Culture, 42 (4/December): 357-358.  (Invited review.)

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd.  2018.  “Jonas Salk (1914-1995) and Albert Sabin (1906-1993): Conquering Polio.”  Shapers of American Childhood: Essays on Visionaries from L. Frank Baum to Dr. Spock to J.K. Rowling.  Kathy Merlock Jackson and Mark West, eds.  Jefferson, NC: McFarland: 103-121.

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd.  2018.  Entries on “Chadwick, Alan,” “Leal, John,” “Public Health Service,”  “Schistosomiasis,” and “Snow, John.” In Environmental Health in the 21st Century: From Air Pollution to Zoonotic Diseases.  Richard Crume, ed., 2 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd, Takeyra Collins, Patty Clark, Diane E. Hotaling, and Robin Cote Takacs.  2017.  “Taking the Learning from Service Learning into the Post-College World.”  Journal of Applied Social Science.  11(2): 109-126.

Jackson, Kathy Merlock, Lisa Lyon Payne, and Kathy Stolley.  2016.  Celebrity Treatment: The Intersection of Star Culture in America and International Medical Tourism.  Lexington Books.

Jackson, Kathy Merlock, Lisa Lyon Payne, and Kathy Shepherd Stolley.  2013.  “Celebrity Treatment: The Intersection of Medical Tourism and Star Culture in American Society.”  The Journal of American Culture.  36 (2/June): 124-134.

Stolley, Kathy S. and Stephanie Watson.  2012.  Medical Tourism: A Reference Handbook.  Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio.

Stolley, Kathy S.  2011.  “An On-Campus Homeless Shelter: The Sociological Imagination, Service-Learning, and Applied Sociology.”  Theory in Action.  4 (2/April): 31-46.

Stolley, Kathy.  2011.  "Personal Biography to Social Policy Implications of the Politics Surrounding Women’s Bodies.  A Review of The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior,” 3rd ed., edited by Rose Weitz.”  Sex Roles. 65 (7-8): 653-655.  (Invited Review.)

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd.  2011.  “Sheltering, Service-Learning, and Applying Sociology on Campus.”  Sectionon Sociological Practice and Public Sociology Newsletter.  Winter.  American Sociological Association: 3-5.

Stolley, Kathy S.  2010.  “Making an Interest in Adoption Matter.”  Sociologists in Action.  Kathleen Odell Korgen and Jonathan M. White, eds.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage: 235-239.  (Invited item.)

Stolley, Kathy S.  2010.  “Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911).”  Encyclopedia of Disaster Relief.  K. Bradley Penuel and Mathew Statler, eds.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference: 692-693.

Stolley, Kathy S. and John E. Glass.  2009.  HIV/AIDS.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Stolley, Kathy.  2008.  “Adoptive Parents.”  Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development.  Vol. 1.  Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA: 5-8.

Stolley, Kathy S.,  Diane E. Hotaling, and Felecia Kiser.  2008.  “An On-Campus Homeless Shelter: A Case Study in Applied Sociology and Service-Learning.”  Journal of Applied Social Science. 2 (2/Fall): 29-38.

Stolley, Kathy S.  2008.  “Census.”  International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, William A. Darity, Jr., ed.  Vol. 1, 2nd ed.  Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA: 476-477.

Stolley, Kathy S. and Vern L. Bullough, eds.  2006.  The Praeger Handbook of Adoption, 2 volume set. Westport, CT: Praeger.  (Includes authorship of 15 entries and sidebars.)

Stolley, Kathy.  2005.  “Is Applied Sociology a New Idea?”  Applied Sociology and Sociological Practice: Questions and Answers page of the Anne Arundel Community College Sociology and Geography Department Web Site.  (Invited item.)

Stolley, Kathy S.  2005.  The Basics of Sociology.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Hauser, William J., Kathryn Feltey, John E. Glass, AnnMarie Scarisbrick-Hauser, Kathy Stolley, and Stephen F. Steele.  2004.  “Through the Looking Glass: An Identity Crisis in Sociology?”  Journal of Applied Sociology/Sociological Practice.  21 (1/Spring)/6 (1/Spring): 51-58.

Stolley, Kathy S.  2002.  “Opium.”  Drugs and Controlled Substances: Information for Students.  Stacey L. Blachford and Kristine Krapp, eds.  Detroit: Gale Group: 363-373.

Stolley, Kathy S.  2001.  Entries on "Cayce Health System," "Diamond Diet," "Iodine," "Iridology," "Osteopathy," “Trichomoniasis,” and “Vaginitis.”  Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine.  Kristine Krapp and Jacqueline L.Longe, eds.  Detroit: Gale Group. 

Stolley, Kathy S2000-2001. Sociology at About.com:  Regular features (2-4 per month) targeted to online audiences covering basic sociology and application of sociological perspectives to social issues.

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd and Maximiliane Szinovacz.  1997.  "Caregiving Responsibilities and Child Spanking."  Journal of Family Violence. 12 (1/March): 99-112.

Hall, Elaine J. and Kathy Shepherd Stolley.  1997.  “A Historical Analysis of the Presentation of Abortion and Adoption in Marriage and Family Textbooks: 1950-1987.”  Family Relations. 46 (1/January): 73-82.

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd and Archie E. Hill.  1996.  "Presentations of the Elderly in Marriage and Family Textbooks."  Teaching Sociology. 24 (1/January): 34-45.

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd and Elaine Hall.  1994.  "The Presentation of Abortion and Adoption in Marriage and Family Textbooks."  Family Relations.  43 (3/July): 267-273.

Stolley, Kathy Shepherd.  1993.  "Statistics on Adoption in the United States."  The Future of Children. 3 (1/Spring): 26-42.  (Invited article.)

Bachrach, Christine A., Kathy Shepherd Stolley, and Kathryn A. London.  1992.  "Relinquishment of Premarital Births: Evidence from National Survey Data."  Family Planning Perspectives. 24 (1/January/February): 27-32, 48.

Marlins Give Thanks
Students and faculty share their thoughts on gratitude in time for Thanksgiving