College of Arts & Sciences

Profile

An associate professor of sociology, Dr. Adina Nack was the Founding Director of CLU’s Center for Equality & Justice; she has also served as the Director of CLU's Gender & Women's Studies Program and Chair of the Sociology Department. Nack received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado and joined CLU in 2003, after having been faculty at the University of Maine.

She is a medical sociologist whose research has focused on sexual health, social psychology, social inequality, gender, and sexuality. An award-winning teacher, she has also won national research awards, published articles on the stigma of sexually transmitted diseases, and authored a book on women living with genital herpes and HPV infections published by Temple University Press in June 2008.

A proponent of community-based action research, Nack was a Co-Principal Investigator for Ventura County’s two recent studies of Latinos/as receiving HIV/AIDS services. The first study inspired the 2006 countywide HIV & Latinos: A Leadership Summit which led to the creation of the Latino HIV Taskforce. In addition to her work with VCPH, she has also served as a research consultant for the ELCA Sexuality Studies Taskforce, Western Institute of Hearing, United Women's Leadership Council, and AIDS Desk (Chennai, India).

A member of the HIV/AIDS Coalition of Ventura County since 2003, Nack plays a lead role in collaborating with community organizations to organize Ventura County’s annual World AIDS Day events.

Research, Teaching, and Community Service Awards:

2009 Writers Workshop for Feminist Scholars -- Scholarship granted by Ms. Magazine

2009 Diversity Professor of the Year Award -- Granted by California Lutheran University Student Body

2008 Ventura County Community Member of the Year Award – Granted by Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo Counties

2006 Mark Vartanian AIDS Advocacy Award - Granted by Ventura County Rainbow Alliance

2004 Professor of the Year Award - Granted by California Lutheran University Student Body

2001 Herbert Blumer Award - Granted by the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction

1994 Phi Beta Kappa - inducted at the University of California, Irvine

Education

Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder
B.A. in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine: Magna cum laude

Expertise

Medical Sociology
Sexuality
Deviance
Gender
Social Psychology
Popular Culture
Ethnographic Methods

Publications

Books, Journal Articles & Book Chapters

2009. “Mixing Morality with Medicine” in Speaking of Sexuality: Interdisciplinary Readings (Third Edition). Edited by J. Kenneth Davidson, Nelwyn B. Moore, and Terri D. Fisher. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

2008. “From the Patient’s Point of View: Practitioner Interaction Styles in the Treatment of Women with Chronic STDs” Pp. 95-122 in Major Health Problems and Population Health Concerns: Impacts on Patients, Providers and Policy. Edited by Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld. WA, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

2008. Damaged Goods? Women Living with Incurable Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Temple University Press.

2006. “Sexuality over the Lifespan: Social Trends Pose Moral Dilemmas for Communities of Faith.” Intersections (Spring): 16-20.

2002. “Bad Girls and Fallen Women: Chronic STD Diagnoses as Gateways to Tribal Stigma.” Symbolic Interaction 25(4): 463-485. [Reprinted in two anthologies]

2000. "Damaged Goods: Women Managing the Stigma of STDs." Deviant Behavior (21):95-121. [Reprinted in 10 anthologies]

Book Reviews

2007. Review. Gender, Race, Class, & Health: Intersectional Approaches by Amy J. Schulz and Leith Mullings. Gender & Society 21 (2):297-8.

2001. Review. Ideologies of Breast Cancer: Feminist Perspectives edited by Laura K. Potts. Contemporary Sociology 30(3):300-01.

Research/Policy Reports

2008. Latinas Who Access HIV/AIDS Services in Ventura County: Report to HIV/AIDS Service Providers & Educators (co-authored with Lyn Gesch, Ph.D.)

2007. Latino Men Who Access HIV/AIDS Services in Ventura County: Report to HIV/AIDS Service Providers (co-authored with Lyn Gesch, Ph.D.)

Essays, Non-fiction Articles & other Research-Based Publications

2010. “Why Men’s Health is a Feminist Issue: As New Uses are Approved for the So-Called Cervical Cancer Vaccine, Women Learn Once Again how Intimately their Well-being is Tied to Men’s.” Ms. Magazine (Winter):32-35.

2009. "Valentine's Day Fact Sheet on Sexual Health." Council on Contemporary Families: http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/subtemplate.php?t=factSheets&ext=SexualHealth

2007. “A Search for Truth and a Call for Freedom.” CLU Magazine (Summer): 21.

2005. “A Visit from the GLBT Fairy Godmother.” in the ASA Teaching Guide: Teaching Sociological Concepts and the Sociology of Gender. Edited by Marybeth C. Stalp and Julie Childers. Washington, D.C.: American Sociological Association Teaching Resources Center.

2002. “Empathy as a Path to Critical Thinking.” SWS Network News: The Newsletter of Sociologists for Women in Society 19 (4):9-11.

2000. “Out of the Stirrups and into Stigma: Creating a Sociology of STDs.” SWS Network News: The Newsletter of Sociologists for Women in Society 18(2):8-9.

Forthcoming Publication

"From Damaged Goods to Empowered Patients." in Sociologists in Action. Edited by Kathleen Odell Korgen, Jonathan White and Shelly K. White. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.