Josephine A. Ruggiero completed her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY.  She received her B.A. degree, also in sociology, magna cum laude, from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT.

Dr. Ruggiero has spent her professional life to date as a faculty member at Providence College, where she has taught a variety of courses to students at all levels.  Currently, in addition to teaching Introduction to Sociology both semesters, she also offers Social Change (SOC 321), Social Statistics (SOC 336), and two internships (SOC 450 and SOC/WMS 451).  Her particular areas of specialization include Research Methods and Statistics, Urban Sociology, focusing on women and other minority groups, and using sociology to better understand and help bring about social change, on both the micro and macro levels.

Dr. Ruggiero combines her enthusiasm for teaching with a commitment to research and to applying sociological ideas and explanations to real-world problems and issues.  Trained in suvey research, she has done both primary data collection and secondary analyses.  She has also used a variety of other methods and strategies to collect data on topics of interest.  Dr. Ruggiero brings together her diverse areas of expertise in the classes she teaches so that students learn about the value of sociology through informed discussions, critical thinking activities, and doing practical work.

Dr. Ruggiero is an active member of several professional sociological associations.  To date, she has published numerous teaching-related and substantive pieces.  Her publications include Thinking Sociologically: A Critical Thinking Activities Manual, 2nd ed. (1999), articles, essays. a book chapter, a vignette which appeared in an Intro to Sociology text, and brook reviews.  Since 1997, she has focused her research and writing on international adoption of older children and sibling groups, primarily from Russia and other Eastern European countries.  Currently, Dr. Ruggiero is working on a book manuscript based, in part, on data she collected by surveying adoptive parents.  She has other manuscripts in progress, as well as a follow-up study of adoptive parents and their internationally-adopted children.

For more information about her present and past research and publications, check out her Faculty Research web page.