Areas of Study: Specialty: Stratification and Inequality; Sociology of Education
Elizabeth Stearns earned her Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her research efforts revolve around the central question of stratification research including who gets what and why do they get it? In her research, she has used this essential question to gain a better understanding of her substantive areas of education and race and ethnicity. In general, she investigates how inequality, particularly racial and ethnic inequality, is generated and sustained in the American educational system. Recently, her work has focused on socioeconomic, gender, and racial inequalities in higher education, particularly with regard to selection of college majors. More information about NSF-funded research can be found at https://pages.charlotte.edu/rootsofstem/. For more information about the SPARC4 scholarship program, see https://sites.uncc.edu/sparc/
Recent Publications:
See Google Scholar Profile for full list
2025. Stearns Elizabeth. Building Collaborations Across Institutions: Lessons From a Multi-Institutional S-STEM Program. CourseSource 12. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2025.6
2025. Masjutina, Svetlana, Elizabeth Stearns, and Martha Bottia. “An analysis of students who represent missed opportunity for diversifying STEM.” Science Education. Link.
2025. Masjutina, Svetlana and Elizabeth Stearns. “Investigating the influences of gender among low-income students’ motivations to study biology.” International Journal of STEM Education, 12(7). Link.
2024. Stearns, Elizabeth, Roslyn Mickelson, Martha Bottia, DeeDee Allen, Melissa Dancy, and Stephanie Moller. “How community college educations generate both science capital and science-specific transfer capital among low-income White women majoring in STEM.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice. Link.