What makes it a good day to come to work for Dr. Justin Denney, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of the Kinder Institute Urban Health Program? “When I get out of bed in the morning and know I can be helping students see and figure out how the world works–and it is kind of uncomfortable to find the world works in this way–but the message is that inequalities exist, they are real, but we are responsible for them and we can change them. And in this optimistic sense, I tell them, ‘now go out there and change the world. We can do better,’” explains Denney.
Since before he arrived at Rice in 2010, Denney has been enamored by the caliber of undergraduate students on Rice’s campus. When he came to Rice to interview, he was told, “Teaching at Rice is different, different from anything you’ve ever done before. Rice loves their undergraduates.” At the time, Denney was amazed by the types of opportunities undergraduates have to research, publish papers, and learn. Since he started teaching and researching at Rice, Denney has embraced this high standard of undergraduate education and has sought to further improve the experience of undergraduates through his contributions in the classroom and the research field.
One of the first classes Denney taught was Introduction to Sociology (SOCI 101). Afraid of getting blank stares when he tried to engage his classroom, Denney was proactive in developing a stimulating classroom environment. He taught 140 students in Brockman 101, a classroom conducive to professor-student interaction with students seated around tables, the professor standing on a stage, and plenty of whiteboards for students to draw out thoughts. Along with the help of Carlos Solis (Assistant Director for Academic Technology Services), Denney set up a way to obtain anonymous audience responses to his questions. During classes, Denney initially poses a question to which students can silently respond. He then tries to generate conversations within the groups at tables that can develop into a classroom discussion. Denney explains, “I’ve used audience responses from the get go, and not all of the exercises that I have used worked well. I throw those out and create new ones, but I keep the ones that work.” Because Denney frequently uses surveys in his work, he uses these techniques to translate the genuine curiosity about how people think into his classroom. “You don’t just start up a conversation about racism – but if we can create a safe place for students to talk about it, then they engage and don’t necessarily have to worry about what other people think,” he expands.
Dr. Justin Denney discusses a study he performed with Dr. Rachel Kimbro that showed childhood obesity is more prevalent in poorer neighborhoods. Click on the picture to see the Rice News article and video.
To prepare for classes, Denney requires students to read assigned articles to understand diverse and difficult issues. For example, one week, students read a piece on overt and covert racism. The intent of readings such as this one is multifaceted, Denney offers, “Racism is so different than it once was, but it is still pervasive. One of the things I enjoy most about teaching Introduction to Sociology is to–not change their minds–but to expose them to a variety of ideas and opinions and engage them with evidence that may challenge their perspective.” Using his audience response techniques gives Denney a chance to do that and also keeps students engaged.
While SOCI 101 is a large classroom environment, Denney also enjoys the smaller, seminar-style course format. One of his areas of interest is the social determinants of mortality and he teaches SOCI 422 Social Autopsies: How Society Kills Us. In order to adequately portray how well we live, how long we live, and how social and economic disparities are created across groups, Denney realized that this course would need to be hands-on. To help students actually observe these phenomena, Denney and his colleague Dr. Rachel Kimbro applied for and were awarded a Brown teaching grant. This classroom was mobile. Denney rented a Rice bus and took his students to two neighborhoods nearby to Rice University campus: West University and the Third Ward. Students analyzed packets from the City of Houston with health economic statistics as they drove through these two areas. Denney recounts, “We go to a park in both neighborhoods. In the park in West University, we see toys left out for any children who visit the park to share. The grounds and the equipment are in great shape. In the park in Third Ward, we see no equipment at all, the grounds are not kept up, and there is no sign of children. These two very different parks are intended to serve as places where families can connect with each other and share knowledge and information about healthy living and opportunities for their children. There is dire poverty in this city, and that is surprising even for students who are from here. One of the reasons I love teaching at Rice, is that we often talk about inequality but we live in a place where there is no inequality. We can use Houston as a laboratory, to expose students in real time to the causes and consequences of inequality.” And Denney is doing exactly that in this course.
Outside of his courses, Denney also assists undergraduates in research. Having undergraduates contribute to research projects involves extra time because they must be taught to research and mentored along the way. However, Denney finds these aspects rewarding as well as beneficial for progress: “They are coming at it from a unique perspective. There is so much to be gained by working with undergraduates in terms of providing different insights into the particular research project. I’m leading them; here are the steps we will take to get there. It’s a really, really long process to do any of these things, but just learning the process is valuable.”
Clearly, Denney positively impacts Rice University through his passion and dedication for serving students, particularly undergraduate students. From Introduction to Sociology, to Social Autopsy, to his research, Denney is constantly trying to innovate and develop ways to show his students that they can make a difference. What continues to motivate him to do this? Denney replies, “Teaching at Rice University is a joy, not something I have to do.”