Simone Ispa-Landa
Associate Professor of Sociology and Human Development & Social Policy
- s-ispa-landa@northwestern.edu
- Office Hours: by appointment only
- Email Becca Kotler to schedule a time
Area(s) of Interest
partnership-oriented, engaged scholarship
Biography
Simone Ispa-Landa is an Associate Professor in Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She also holds the position of Associate Professor of Sociology and is a faculty fellow at Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research. Ispa-Landa's publications cover topics of race and gender inequality and peer status hierarchies in educational settings. She employs qualitative methods to delve into the issues of isolation, exclusion, and violence in K-12 and higher education environments, exploring students’ and teachers’ lived experiences of social policies and potential avenues for change.
Her recent projects include partnership-oriented, engaged studies that focus on high school discipline and student attendance. Her projects have been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Currently, Ispa-Landa is working on a book project that examines accountability policy, race, and gender inequality at a suburban high school. This book is under contract with the University of California Press. She was recently elected as the Incoming Chair of the Sociology of Education section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). In addition, she is a contributing member of several editorial boards, including Sociology of Education, Gender & Society, and AERA Open.
Selected Publications
Ispa-Landa, Simone and Sara E. Thomas. 2023. "Navigating the Risks of Party Rape in Historically White Greek Life at an Elite College: Women’s Accounts." Forthcoming in Sociology of Education.
Ispa-Landa, Simone and Mariana Oliver. 2020. “Hybrid Femininities: Sorority Rankings and Reputation.” Gender & Society 34(6): 893-921.
Ispa-Landa, Simone and Sara Thomas. 2019. “Race, Gender, and Emotion Work among School Principals.” Gender & Society 33(3): 387-409.
Ispa-Landa, Simone and Charles Loeffler. 2016. “Indefinite Punishment and the Criminal Record: Stigma Reports among Expungement-Seekers in Illinois.” Criminology 54(3): 387-412.
Ispa-Landa, Simone and Jordan Conwell. 2015. “Once You Go to a White School, You Kind of Adapt”: Black Adolescents and the Racial Classification of Schools.” Sociology of Education 88(1): 1-19.
Ispa-Landa, Simone. 2013. “Gender, Race, and Justifications for Group Exclusion: Urban Black Students Bussed to Affluent Suburban Schools.” Sociology of Education 86(3): 218-233.
Upcoming Courses
Winter 2023 SOCIOL 403/ HDSP 432 Field Methods (co listed with LRN_SCI)
Winter 2023 SOC-POL 351 The Social Side of College: Understanding the Lived Experiences of Undergraduates (co-listed with Sociology)