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Jacob Church, a sociology doctoral student, was one of thirteen advanced doctoral students awarded the University Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year. Read further to learn more about his research, future goals and Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State experience.

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1. Please give a short overview of your research.
   
   My dissertation examines racial and gender inequalities in North Carolina’s criminal justice system between 2000 and 2018. Specifically, I use theories that explore unwarranted disparities in criminal sentencing to examine North Carolina’s population of felony convicts during that time period. Overall, I envision my dissertation as part of a larger project, which examines how racial and gender inequalities are maintained via the criminal justice system.
    
2. What made you choose to pursue your graduate degree here at Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State?
   
   I chose to pursue my graduate degree at Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State because of its unique history as well as its productive and overall, awesome faculty members like Dr. Tiffany Taylor and Dr. Katrina Bloch, to name a few.
    
3. What do you enjoy most about attending Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State for graduate school?
   
   I enjoy the supportive and collegiate environment at Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State University. Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State University faculty and instructors, particularly in the Department of Sociology, create an environment in which both undergraduate and graduate students are taken seriously and treated like colleagues.
    
4. What are your future goals?
   
   In the future, I hope to become a professor where I can help teach undergraduates, and hopefully graduate students, on how to create knowledge and use it to reduce social inequality.
    
5. What does this award mean to you and how will it aid you?
   
   This award means a lot. This award will help me continue to examine inequalities in sentencing disparities in the criminal justice system and inequalities in welfare organizations. In addition, this award will help me become a better instructor by allowing me to focus on improving lessons and making the course content relate to students’ lives.