Deborah J. Cohan, PhD

I am a Professor of Sociology and the author of the sociological memoir, Welcome to Wherever We Are: A Memoir of Family, Caregiving, and Redemption (Rutgers 2020). In 2022, I won the Public Sociology Award given by the Eastern Sociological Society. Alongside my numerous academic journal articles and book chapters for a wide array of anthologies, I am a writer for Psychology Today and a frequent contributor to Inside Higher Ed, Ms. Magazine, and The Good Men Project. My work has appeared in the Modern Love column of The New York Times, Teen Vogue, and Utne Reader.

Regularly featured as an expert for national media on a range of issues, I have been cited in: CNN, MSN, Newsweek, Real Simple, Parents, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, US News & World Report, Cosmopolitan, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides, Elite Daily, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, TODAY, Vox, Slate, Salon, Vice News, Huffington Post, Bustle, Romper, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Christian Science Monitor.

I offer talks and workshops on topics including: public sociology; crafting a more creative life as an academic; self-care and social justice; caregiving, grief, and loss; compassion fatigue and work/life balance; writing and publishing more at a teaching intensive institution; using memoir to teach; gender-based violence and trauma; body image; creative writing; and issues related to the landscape of higher education. 

I have done domestic violence work in four states and worked as a counselor and clinical supervisor at the first abuser intervention program in the United States. I serve as an expert consultant in cases of domestic and sexual violence and sexual harassment.

Prior to arriving at USCB, I taught at Harvard University, University of Connecticut-Storrs, Connecticut College, and Regis College.  After earning my B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I went on to earn a M.A. in sociology at the University of Texas-Austin, a joint M.A in women's studies and sociology at Brandeis University, and a Ph.D. in sociology at Brandeis.