Mary Ellen Brooks, Ph.D.
Researcher, Author, Professor
Teaching and Research Background
Author and Adjunct Professor, Sociology, Department of Behavioral Science, Palomar College. San Marcos, California. Book in progress: Jonas Salk: The Logic and the Magic, a memoir based on experiences working with Jonas Salk as mentor from 1973 until 1995..
Associate Professor, Social Science, Center for Undergraduate Education, Alliant International University, 1992-2010.
Responsibilities: While working in an administrative capacity and reporting to the Dean and the Associate Provost, responsibilities were: To recruit, screen, interview, and hire adjunct faculty; To chair the University-wide Institutional Review Board; To chair and serve on the faculty Promotion, Evaluation, and Retention Committee (PERC), To participate in budget planning and management for the undergraduate program; To manage and regularly update web site content; To plan and schedule undergraduate and faculty classes each semester; To arrange class room assignments and technological equipment in classrooms; To oversee work/study student placements; To plan and conduct research-based seminars for adjunct faculty on methods of teaching effectiveness; To oversee international and domestic student academic advising; To analyze and update student transcripts and organize the program’s transition from a quarter to a semester system.
While working as a Program Director in undergraduate education, responsibilities were: To design, develop and coordinate the undergraduate sociology program; To design and develop the undergraduate social science curriculum; To write content for and update sociology web page on the University web site; To teach undergraduate social science courses, both on ground and online using Blackboard and Moodle platforms.
Adjunct Professor of Education and Dissertation/Thesis Reader, United States International University, 1994- 2001.
Responsibilities: While working in a faculty capacity, responsibilities were: To teach doctoral courses in quantitative research design, qualitative methods of research, dissertation planning and design; To chair doctoral dissertations on topics related to theories of learning, intercultural communication, multi-cultural conflict resolution, and multicultural education, number of doctoral dissertations chaired: 59.
While working as the University’s Dissertation/Thesis Reader, responsibilities were: To establish and maintain standards and regulations pertaining to dissertation/thesis form and style; To review for revision or approval all dissertations and thesis, as required for advanced degrees.
Research Associate to Dr. Jonas Salk, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, under grant from The Certain-teed—Jonas Salk Foundation, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, and the Epoch B Foundation, 1973-1976; 1981-1995
Responsibilities: To assist Dr. Salk, Founding Director of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, To edit Dr. Salk’s personal journals; To assist Dr. Salk in the development and preparation of a book on world population growth, culminating in the publication of World Population and Human Values, under grant from the United Nations Fund for Population Activities.
From 1981 to 1995, to work with Dr. Salk in the development of a sociological curriculum designed to encorporate an evolutionary perspective on human life and the future of human society.
Education
Ph.D., Sociology and Anthropology, with concentration in Social Psychology, United States International University, 1983.
Dissertation Advisor: Herbert Blumer
M.A., English, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 1974.
B.A., English, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, 1971.
Current Research and Scholarly Work
Brooks, Mary Ellen, Jonas Salk: The Logic and the Magic, in progress, a personal memoir and biography of the mind of Dr. Jonas Salk and a study of the sociology of science, based on observations drawn from reading Salk’s personal journals and on experiences working with Dr. Salk from 1974 to 1995, when he died.
Sample Papers and Public Lectures
Brooks, Mary Ellen. “World Population Growth and Human Values, Public Lecture delivered August 10, 2011, Meeting of the Humanist Group, Vista, California. Curve
Brooks, Mary Ellen. “Jonas Salk: The Logic and the Magic.” Public lecture and paper presented by invitation. Evening Lectures series, Palomar Unitarian Fellowship, May 15, 2001.
Brooks, Mary Ellen. “The Role of Liberal Religion in America Today: A Minority Voice.” Public lecture delivered by invitation, Vista, California.
Courses Taught
With expertise in future studies, race and ethnic studies, social science research methods, and issues related to multiculturalism and cultural diversity, I taught the following courses: Cultural Anthropology; Culture Theory; Comparative Kinship Studies; Family and Kinship in a Multicultural Context; Intercultural Relations; Cultural Contact, Conflict and Conflict Resolution; Cultural Diversity in the United States: Ethnicity, Class, and Gender; Kinship in the United States; Interpersonal Interaction; Sociocultural Problems; Deviant Behavior; Collective Behavior in Diverse Contexts; and Perspectives on the Future of Human Society.
Memberships
Member, American Sociological Association
Awards and Honors
Listed in multiple issues of Who’s Who among America’s Teachers
Selected for the Distinguished Alumni Award, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, awarded May 4, 2002.