Jeff S. Shelton

Jeff is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Georgia. He expects to complete his degree in Spring 2020. Jeff has taught Introductory Sociology (including a section with 150 students), Medical Sociology, Sociology of Health Care, and Gender and Work. He would also be enthusiastic about teaching courses focusing on Public Health, Introductory Sociology for pre-healthcare majors, and the history and future of occupations and professions in healthcare. For the past three years, Jeff has worked as an academic adviser for the Department of Sociology, advising over a hundred students per year.

He has received several accolades for his advising and teaching at the University of Georgia. Recently, Jeff was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award by the Office of the Vice President for Instruction and the Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award by the Sociology Department. He was chosen by UGA's Center for Teaching and Learning to participate in the highly selective Future Faculty Fellows Program during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Jeff’s research interests are (1) medical sociology and (2) work and professions. His research agenda engages both macro and micro-level factors involved in the emergence and maintenance of professions in the field of healthcare. His dissertation uses a mixed-methods approach to explore how nurse practitioners work under restrictions on their practice and how they create both legitimacy and professional boundaries. This research problematizes the traditional view of field expansion as centered on conflict and offers a nuanced perspective that highlights the importance of professional culture on formal and informal rules that can underlie the processes of legitimization of a profession. Upon completion of his dissertation, Jeff plans to submit several manuscripts from this research to peer-reviewed journals.