Molly Dingel, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, CLI
Specialty: Sociology
Phone: 507-258-8206
Fax: 507-258-8066
Office: Broadway Hall
Email: dinge016@umn.edu

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship: Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 2005 – 2007.
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Kansas, 2005
M.A., Sociology (with honors), University of Kansas, 2000
B.A., Mathematics and Sociology, Grinnell College, IA, 1998

Background

Though I started my undergraduate program thinking I would major in physics, sociology, with its focus on questions without easy answers, has always been an interest of mine. Sociology provides the tools to help us think through difficult questions, like why there were so few women and minorities in my physics courses. Over the course of my undergraduate education, I came to realize that the questions that I could ask in sociology created a compelling career path, and I chose to pursue a graduate degree in sociology. These questions included not only who was (or was not) doing science, but how scientific communities create bodies of knowledge, what bodies of knowledge were being created, and how that knowledge is understood and used in our social institutions, individuals’ lives, and in our global community.

I believe students learn best when they are engaged in the material and understand how that material relates to their lives and interests. I’m therefore excited to be part of creating a curriculum where the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities are integrated together so that students have a concrete understanding of the importance of social aspects of science and medicine. In every course I have taught, I have learned from my students. I have a strong belief that teachers must spend some time learning from students, and students should spend some time teaching both each other and teachers.

Teaching

Prior to arriving at UMR, I taught a wide variety of sociology and women’s studies courses, including courses on social problems, families, women’s studies, women and science, sociological methods, medical sociology, social theory, and qualitative methods. At UMR, I draw upon these experiences to craft courses that relate to topics of interest for students pursuing a degree in the health sciences. These topics often draw heavily from the sociology of science and medicine.

Research

My research stems from an interest in the social aspects of science and medicine. I am interested in how new technology and research, like new imaging technology, genetic studies, or knowledge of disease transmission, are changing the field of medicine. As a sociologist, behavioral genetics interests me because genetics is sometimes presented as a modern-day holy grail; the implication is that science will be able to see into our soul, see who we are, and why we make the choices we do. Genetic research often focuses our attention within the body, when we also know the importance of social, structural, and contextual factors on our bodies, choices, and behaviors. To explore these issues, I examine how behavioral genetic studies are portrayed in the media and how that portrayal differs from the publications and debates in the scientific community. I also investigate the ethical and social ramifications of characterizing addiction as a disease of the brain, or a trait embedded in our genes, instead of as a complex behavior influenced by an intricate web of social and biological causes. With collaborators, I have interviewed stakeholders in tobacco research and control, as well as patients seeking treatment for addiction, to explore how these individuals understand and act upon a genetic conception of addiction.

My interest in research on education is multifaceted. First, I am interested in critical thinking – what it is, how we measure it, and how we teach it. Second, I am interested in group work and collaborative learning. Much research has demonstrated the value of collaborative learning, and most careers involve working in teams or closely with others. But how do we best teach students the skills they will eventually need in the workplace and beyond? Third, I am investigating what characteristics likely future employers of health science students would like to see in their employees. How can we best keep open lines of communication between educators and the future employers of the students we teach? Is it possible to create a tool that will aid communication between these two groups?

Select Publications and Abstracts

Dingel, Molly J., Katrina Karkazis, and Barbara A. Koenig. Forthcoming. “Framing nicotine addiction as a “disease of the brain”: Social and ethical consequences.” Social Science Quarterly. Accepted for publication on 6/4/2011.

Dingel, Molly J., Ashley Hicks, Marguerite Robinson and Barbara A. Koenig. 2011. “Integrating Genetic Studies of Nicotine Addiction into Public Health Practice: Stakeholder Perspectives on Challenges, Barriers, Opportunities.” Public Health Genomics. DOI: 10.1159/000328861.

Sammie Nguyen, Donald R. Miller, and Molly J. Dingel. 2010. “Traditional Medicine Use in a Vietnamese-American Community.” The Annals of Pharmacotherapy. 44(4):769-777.

Gundle, Kenneth, Molly J. Dingel, and Barbara A. Koenig. 2010. “’To Prove This is the Industry’s Best Hope’: Big Tobacco’s Support of Research on the Genetics of Nicotine Addiction.” Addiction. 105(6):974-983.

Dingel, Molly J. and Joey Sprague. 2010. “Research and reporting on the development of sex in fetuses: Gendered from the start.” Public Understanding of Science. 19(2):181-196.

Dingel, Molly J., and Barbara A. Koenig. 2008. “Tracking Race in Addiction Research.” In Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age. Barbara A. Koenig, Sandra Soo Jin Lee, S. Richardson, eds. Rutgers University Press.

Dingel, Molly J. 2006. “Gendered Experiences in the Science Classroom.” In Removing Barriers: Women in Academic Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics. Sharon R. Bird and Jill Bystydzienski (eds). Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.