University of Maryland

Graduate Student, Urban Studies and Planning

Other Affiliations: Université de Liège, Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies

Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) / Doctorant en sciences politiques et sociales

Thesis Title: “Practicing local culture as an act of integration? Immigrants and Brussels’ Zinneke Parade.”

About

My thesis project website:
http://sites.google.com/site/zinnekestudy2010/

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Way back in the 20th Century I received my master's degree in Applied Demography from Georgetown University (1998) and bachelor's degree in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University (1993).

Throughout my Washington, DC-based professional life (1993 to 2007) I wore many different hats as a Researcher, Analyst, Demographer, Consultant, Survey Statistician, and Acting Chief (of Immigration Statistics and of International Relations) for government agencies and think tanks alike working on issues such as: victims of human trafficking, the redesigned U.S. Naturalization Test, immigrant integration, and estimating illegal migration.

In 2007 I left the civil service to pursue an academic career.

Since January 2010 I have been very happily living in Brussels, Belgium, where I am currently (January 2012) dissertating, writing about dissertation-related topics, guest lecturing at the University of Kent-Brussels (thank you Amanda!) and translating academic texts for pay (thank you Marco).

As for academic areas of interest, although you wouldn't know it from this list, I have "narrowed" my scholarly pursuits to: research design and QUAL/QUAN/MXD methods, immigrant integration, arts and culture, collective actions and movements (protests and parades), hard-to-study events and populations, and the Process (yes, big P) of conducting research. Further, I am always working toward convincing students (everyone really) of the benefits and bliss of doing social science research.

After finishing my degree in early 2012 I plan to teach.



Quotables:
+ "The best advice is: pay attention to the facts, and do not be beguiled by rhetoric and empty promises." N. Chomsky, 2009

+ "You can't spell 'emotional abuse' without 'bus'...which is why I do not take public transportation." S. Colbert - thank you Camille

+ "There's no justice like angry mob justice." Principal Skinner - the Simpsons

+ "Seek dissent. It liberates the discussion." T. Harford on Big Think

+ "easy suppression of one’s own crimes is virtually ubiquitous among powerful states, at least those that are not defeated and forced to acknowledge reality." N. Chomsky, 2011

+ "This is a chor-US, William, and not a chor-ME." King of the Hill

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