Daniel V. A. Olson
Associate Professor of Sociology
Dept. of Sociology, Stone Hall
Purdue University
700 W. State Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2059
Phone: (765) 496-2436 Fax: (765) 496-1476
dolson@purdue.edu
E-mail is often the best way to reach me. I check it regularly.
Spring 2009 Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:30-11:30
a.m. Other times by appointment.
Contact me by e-mail to arrange a meeting or
phone call.
Classes
Students who want to get to the web pages for my courses should
log into Blackboard Vista
pages for their course and section and click on the link to your course web
pages.
The required books for SOC 367 (springl 2009)
are:
Religion in America Fifth
Edition, 2006, by Julia Corbett Hemeyer, Pearson/Prentice Hall ISBN
0-13-153914-0
Also, students need to have a
eInstruction CPS student response pad (any version). We will use them for
most class sessions. They are available in the bookstores.
Paper Online
RRA Presidential Address Why Do Small
Religious Groups Have More Committed Members?
(revised for
publication in June 2008 issue of Review of Religious Research)
Brief synopsis of items from my CV
Interests
Sociology of Religion
- Religious Contexts/Markets, Geography of Religion
- Religiously Based Social Networks
- Religious Change/Secularization
- Religious Pluralism
- Religion and Politics
- Congregations
Research Methods and Statistics
Social Networks
Sociological Theory
Courses I have taught and will be teaching at Purdue:
- Undergraduate and Graduate Sociology of Religion courses
- Undergraduate Statistics Courses
- Undergraduate Research Methods Courses
Current Research Agenda
- As of January 2009 I plan on starting up a number of related research
projects that will use large scale data analyses to examine the linkages
between characteristics of religious markets/geographies and levels and
types of religious participation. I plan to use data from contemporary
and historical religious markets/geographies in the U.S., England, and
possibly elsewhere to examine questions generated by secularization,
religious economies, and other related theories. If you are a current
or prospective graduate student with good computer, statistical/quantitative
skills, who might be interested in working on these types of projects feel
free to contact me.
Selected Publications
Selected Honors and Awards
- 2008-2011 Elected to Executive Council, Association for the
Sociology of Religion
- 2004-06 Elected President, Religious Research Association
- 2003 Winner, IUSB Distinguished Research Award,
- 2002-04 Elected Council Member, section on sociology of Religion, American Sociological Association,
- 1999-2001. Elected Secretary, Religious Research Association.
- 1999 Appointed, Chair, Distinguished Article Award Committee, Society for Scientific Study of Religion.
- 1998 Full Graduate Faculty Status, Indiana University
- 1997-2000 Elected to Executive Council, Association for the Sociology of Religion.
- 1997-1999 Appointed, Associate editor for Sociology of Religion, journal of the Association for the Sociology of Religion.
- 1997 Elected to Faculty Colloquium for Excellence in Teaching (FACET), Indiana University
- 1992-93 Research Fellow, Center for the Study of American Religion, Princeton University.