Contact Information
Biography
Education
Ph.D., Sociology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1988M.A., Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1985,
B.A., Sociology, University of Alaska, Anchorage, 1981
Goal, Publications & Grants
My goal is to help students develop scholarly practices that engage community problems
and then apply this understanding to the enhancement of academic knowledge. This community
engaged scholarship expands traditional academic approaches by stressing how academic
inquiry and disciplinary knowledge can be applied to pressing public problems. Using
this approach in my classes, as a researcher, and as a thesis advisor, I seek to provide
students with a solid academic foundation that also meets their professional goals
and addresses pressing civic policy issues.
Publications
Irwin, Michael D. Forthcoming 2014. "Evolving communities: Evolutionary analysis in classical and neoclassical human ecology." Ch. 13 in Jonathan H. Turner, Richard Machalek and Alexandra Maryanski (eds.), Evolutionary Analysis in the Social Sciences. Seattle: Paradigm Press.
Irwin, Michael D. and Erin Pishke. Forthcoming 2014. "Socio-spatial holes in the advocacy umbrella and their implications for at risk populations: The spatial diffusion of risk and network response among environmental organizations in the Marcellus hydro-fracturing region." in Frank M. Howell, Jeremy R. Porter and Stephen Mathews (eds.), Recapturing Space: New Middle-Range Theory In Spatial Demography. Volume 1, Spatial Demography Series. Dordrecht: Springer.
Grants
"The Impact of the Marcellus Shale Gas Extraction Industry on Individual Health and Community Well-Being in Rural Pennsylvania. 2013-2015. Duquesne Faculty Development Fund Award. Michael Irwin (PI) and Lenore Resick (co-PI). $10,000.
"Interactive Planning Tool for Sustainable Urban Planning in a Built, Urban Community". 2006-2008. Michael Irwin (PI). EPA P3 Grant. $5,000.
"Rural Civic Community and Population Stability: Linking Civic Structure and Individual Migration Behavior". 2002-2008. Michael Irwin (PI) Charles Tolbert, Thomas Lyson and Troy Blanchard (Co-PIs). USDA NRI. $132,000.