Sociology Undergraduate Lunch with Dr. Mary Nell Trautner

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

This lunch is open to undergraduate students to interact with Dr. Trautner and ask her questions about her career, research, areas of interest, and advice for undergrads in sociology and related disciplines. Join us for lunch and a fantastic conversation.

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About the Speaker

Dr. Mary Nell Trautner, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University at Buffalo

Mary Nell Trautner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University at Buffalo and is spearheading the development and launch of UB’s College in Prison Program, a BA degree program that will be offered at a nearby maximum-security prison. In addition, she is creating an interdisciplinary Prison Studies Certificate to be offered on UB’s main campus that will give undergraduate students the opportunity to gain intellectual depth about issues related to prisons and incarceration on multiple levels. She has also been working to create strong campus supports and networks for formerly incarcerated students. In this work, Trautner works closely with numerous community-based organizations and campus offices to develop best practices for students impacted by the criminal justice system.

Her research centers on social inequality and social justice, which she examines along two primary axes of social life: law and legal institutions, and gender, sexuality, and the body. She is currently in the planning stages of a collaborative project with colleagues Ashley Barr and Veronica Horowitz that seeks to understand the “collateral benefits” of college in prison and is a member of the Justice and Blameworthiness Lab at The College of New Jersey, analyzing prosecutorial decision-making in accidental death cases. She is also working on an NSF-funded project about how families cope with and make decisions about their child’s birth injuries and is collaborating with PhD students on a range of additional projects, including research on juvenile justice, gender and music, gender in the workplace, and gender inclusivity.