Current Sociology MA Students

Patrick Willette Healey

Patrick Willette Healey

Patrick Willette Healey

Sociology: Gender and sexuality; the role of political art in social movements and public sociology; qualitative and quantitative research methods; statistical analysis

Patrick Healey (they/them) is a sociology MA student, currently undertaking thesis research on the causes and processes of political mobilization within higher education.

They have been co-editor of The Sociologist since 2021, where they seek to publish sociological work useful and accessible to audiences outside the discipline. 

As a research assistant to Mason's Director of Faculty Engagement and Wellbeing, they are part of a team assessing qualitative and quantitative data to examine disparities in faculty experience and outcomes due to sexism, racism, and other forms of marginalization.

Healey's research and writing prior to thesis work included:

  • the links between personal and structural constructions of gender and sexuality in the context of power
  • the way sociology produces and measures marginalized subjects, and why this is morally fraught
  • the potential utility of art and aesthetic knowledge to the political projects of public sociology    

They earned a BA in Economics from the College of William & Mary in 2016, where they focused on the intersection of labor economics and gender/sexuality. 

Healey strives to work and write as a queer feminist situated against all forms of oppression. They are skeptical of the liberatory power of academia in isolation, but believe that publicly engaged research and theory can be part of the path to a more just world.

Selected Publications

McCue, Leigh, Girum Urgessa, Tehama Lopez-Bunyasi, Patrick Healey, Patricia Wonch Hill, Jaime Lester, and Milagros Rivera-Sánchez. 2023. “Work in Progress: A Data-Gathering Effort on STEM Faculty Startup Packages for Assessing Equity in Recruitment.” in Promoting Social Sustainability, Cultural Assets, and Assessing Equity and Diversity Index. Baltimore, MD: American Society for Engineering Education.

Education

MA, Sociology, George Mason University (2024)

BA, Economics, College of William & Mary (2016)

Recent Presentations

Rivera, Milagros, Jamie Lester, Patrick W. Healey, Patricia Wonch Hill, Girum Urgessa, Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, Leigh McCue, and Supriya Baily. 2023. “A Playbook for Procuring Faculty DEI Data at a Large Public University.” Presented with Milagros Rivera. ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening (EiSCC), June 6, Durham, NC.