Faculty Biography: Karen Bradley
Professor
Sociology Department Chair
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225-9081
Arntzen Hall 514
Phone: (360) 650-3001
Fax: 360-650-7295
Karen.Bradley@wwu.edu
Dr. Bradley obtained her B.A. in English, along with a secondary teaching certification from Providence College. After teaching middle school, she worked as a university administrator for seven years and a program specialist for the State of Massachusetts, developing employee training programs for profit and non-profit organizations.
She received her M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Boston College, and M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Stanford University in 1994. Her research and her classes blend her interest in organizational processes, education, and gender.
Dr. Bradley's research is international in scope, with a particular focus on women’s participation within higher education by field and by level of attainment. She is currently collaborating with Dr. Charles of the University of California at San Diego on a series of papers examining the ways in which cultural norms concerning women’s status interact with educational structures to enhance women’s enrollment in higher education while enabling considerable sex segregation by field. Dr. Bradley and Dr. Charles have received several research grants to work on this project, including grants from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association. Several Western students have worked with her on this research project.
Recent Publications
Bradley, Karen. 2006. “Cultural Coexistence: Gender Egalitarianism and Difference in Higher Education.” In David P. Baker and Alexander W. Wiseman, eds. The Impact of Comparative Education Research on Institutional Theory. International Perspectives on Education and Society Series. Elsevier Science Ltd., Oxford, UK.
Charles, Maria and Karen Bradley. 2006. “A Matter of Degrees: Female Underrepresentation in Computer Science Programs Cross-Nationally.” In Joanne McGrath Cohoon and Bill Aspray, eds. Women and Information Technology: Research on the Reasons for Underrepresentation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bradley, Karen and Maria Charles. 2003. “Uneven Inroads: Understanding Women’s Status in Higher Education.” Pp. 247-74 in Research in Sociology of Education.
Charles, Maria and Karen Bradley. 2002. "Equal but Separate? A Cross-National Study of Sex Segregation in Higher Education." American Sociological Review. 67(4): 573-599.
Bradley, Karen. 2001. "Gender Inequality in Education: International Comparisons." Pp. 295-300 in Education and Sociology, An Encyclopedia. Edited by David Levinson and Alan Sadovnik. Routledge/Falmer Publishing.
Bradley, Karen. 2000. "The Incorporation of Women into Higher Education: Paradoxical Outcomes?". Sociology of Education. 73(1): 1-18.