Alyssa B. Cahoy (she/hers)

Photos taken by J. Schully

Hello, and welcome! I am a Ph.D. student in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. I hold a B.A. in social/behavioral sciences and English literature from Rice University, where I graduated with honors.

My substantive areas of interest include Political Sociology; Sociology of Education; Race, Gender, and Class; Collective Behavior and Social Movements; and Asia and Asia America. My current research project uses multi-level ordered logistic models to examine how ethnic studies and gender studies course-taking during college shapes graduating students’ civic capacities.

My research agenda is motivated by three broad theoretical questions:

1. Under what conditions do social identities, such as race, ethnicity, and gender, become politically salient?
2. How does mass digital and physical media shape how people learn and do politics?
3. What are the stakes of higher education institutions as politically contested sites?

For leisure, I enjoy watching horror-thrillers and Korean variety shows such as Running Man (런닝맨) and Chef and My Fridge (냉장고를 부탁해); doing digital photography; and visiting local bookstores, farmers’ markets, and coffee shops. I live in West Philly with my fiancé and our two large goldendoodles. I am originally from Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, but grew up in Houston, Texas and rural Louisiana.