Laura Chambers Atkins

Education

• Ph.D., Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• M.A., Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• B.A., Sociology and Women's Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

​Fields Of Study

• Community, Service & Civic Engagement
• Education & Experiential Learning
• Leadership

​Courses Taught

• Social Action Capstone, Speech Intensive (SOC 470) 
• Green Societies, service-learning course (GEOG/SOC/SUST 410) 
• Sociology of Leadership and Organizations, service-learning course (SOC 360) 
• Writing for the Social Sciences (GEOG/POL/SOC 341) 
• Community Sociology (SOC 312) 
• Introductory Sociology (SOC 203) 

​Selected Publications

• Kendall, Diana, and Laura C. Atkins. 2026. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials 13th edition. Cengage Publishers. 

• Atkins, Laura. 2025. Majoring in Sociology: Perspectives and Skills for Career-Readiness. Cengage Blog.  

• Atkins, Laura C. and Grant, Shelley. 2021. Diverse Applications of Sociological Imagination: A Qualitative Study of Service-Learning Mentoring. Journal of Applied Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1177/19367244211021390 

Selected Awards

• Co-PI, NSF STEM Grant, Project-based Service Learning and Career-training to Support Graduation and Career Readiness of Engineering and Computing Science Majors with Mini Zeng (PI), Lee Ann Clements, Emre Selvi and Steven Davis. $943,266. 11/2020-12/2025  

• Community Engagement Educator Award, Florida Campus Compact, 2018 

• Engaged Scholarship Fellowship, Florida Campus Compact, 2010 

Selected Service

• Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences (2032-2024) 

• Director of Service-Learning, Jacksonville University (2008 - 2024)

• Director of Experiential Learning (Quality Enhancement Plan for SACSCOC), Jacksonville University (2013-2017)