Brenda Wilhelm, PhD, received her Bachelor of Arts in sociology and mass communication from the University of Minnesota and went on to earn her Master of Arts and PhD in sociology from the University of Arizona, as well as complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the Population Center of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. A professor of sociology, she teaches Marriage and Families, Social Problems, Sex and Gender, Life Course, Racial and Ethnic Relations, Population, Social Movements and Classical Social Theory. Her research interests include virtually all things that have to do with human society, social organization and social change.
Her teaching reflects that wide variety of interests. In all of her courses, she emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between people and the society in which they live as a means of better understanding patterns of human behavior, often as a means for students to better understand their own lives and circumstances.
In her free time, she can be found hanging out with family, friends and pets. She enjoys hiking, traveling, and reading both fiction and non-fiction.