Education

• Ph.D. Graduate Center of the City University of New York
• M.A. University of Massachusetts Boston
• B.S. St. Joseph's University
• Specialty Areas: Public policy, sociology of education, elite organizations, social inequality.

Courses Taught

• Social Research Methods
• Sociology of Education, Sociology of the Family
• Criminology
• Introduction to Sociology

Selected Publications and Presentations

McDonald, Lauren E. “Think Tanks and the Media: How the conservative movement gained entry into the education policy arena.”  Forthcoming in Education Policy.

McDonald, Lauren E.  2008.  (Encyclopedia Entry). “Think Tanks.”  Encyclopedia of Social Problems.  Sage Publications.   

McDonald, Lauren E.  2005.  (Book Review).  “Unfit Subjects: Educational Policy and the Teen Mother,” by Wanda S. Pillow in Contemporary Sociology, 34(3), Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

McDonald, Lauren E.  1997.  “Boston Public School White Enrollment Decline: White Flight or Demographic Factors,” Equity and Excellence in Education, 30(3), pp. 21-30.

McDonald, Lauren E.  The Rise of Conservative Think Tanks and their roots in Neoliberal and Neoconservative Thought.  Presented at the Eastern Sociological Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA March 2007. 

McDonald, Lauren E.  Research, Advocacy, and the Media: The Role of Think Tank Scholars in Shaping Education Policy Debates.  Presented at the Eastern Sociological Association Annual Conference, Boston, MA, February 2006.

McDonald, Lauren E. The Heritage Foundation and the Rhetoric of the No Excuses Campaign in Public Education.  Presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA August 2005.

Research and Interests

Sociology of Education, Public Policy, Social Inequality, Political Sociology