Kyle Longest

Kyle Longest

Associate Academic Dean; Professor of Sociology

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Kyle C. Longest is Associate Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Sociology. Since joining the Sociology Department in 2009, Kyle has taught courses on the Sociology of Religion, Deviance, Research Methods, including Quantitative Analysis, Youth and Adolescence, Sociology Sports, Sports Analytics, Discovering Greatness and the Sociology of Harry Potter. He also served as the Department’s Chair for 4 years.

While pursuing a variety of research interests, he has spent his career seeking to understand adolescents and how they make the transition into young adulthood. Specifically, he focuses on how factors teens experience impact their religious and academic trajectories into early adulthood. Most recently has examined what shapes young peoples’ perspective on the relationship between religion and science and in turn how that understanding affects the academic path they pursue. He is the author or co-author of several publications, including two books: Using Stata for Qualitative Analyses (now in its 3rd edition) and Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church (Oxford University Press), co-author with Christian Smith, Jonathan Hill, and Kari Christofferson.

As Associate Academic Dean, Kyle ensures that academic regulations are followed, manages students on academic probation, oversees cases involving violations of academic integrity and appeals of academic regulations, and assists faculty, students, and parents with concerns about academic issues. He supervises staff in Furman’s Center for Academic Success and in the Office of Peer Assisted Learning and works closely with a variety of offices in Furman's Division of Student Life.

Longest received his M.A. (2004) and Ph.D. (2009) in Sociology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and his B.A. in sociology and history from Indiana University – Bloomington (2002). He is married to Paige, a Radiologic Technologist. They have two children, Harrison and Hayes.

Honors

  • 2009 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award, American Sociological Association Aging
    and the Life Course Section
    , “Integrating Identity Theory and the Life Course Perspective: The Case of Adolescent Religious Behavior.”
  • 2009 David Lee Stevenson Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award, American
    Sociological Association Sociology of Education Section
    , “Popularity Lost: Identity Status and Its Consequences in the Transition to Young Adulthood.”
  • 2009 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award, American Sociological Association
    Children and Youth Section
    , “Popularity Lost: Identity Status and Its Consequences in the Transition to Young Adulthood.”
  • 2008 Howard W. Odum Award for Excellence. (Awarded to most outstanding graduate student by the UNC Sociology faculty.)

Education

  • Ph.D., Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009)
  • M.A., Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004)
  • B.A. with Highest Distinction, Sociology & History, Indiana University Bloomington (2002)

Publications

Books

  • Smith, Christian, Kyle C. Longest, Jonathan Hill, Kari Christofferson. (2014). Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Longest, Kyle C. 2011. Using Stata for Quantitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • 2nd Edition, 2014.
  • 3rd Edition, 2019.

Peer Reviewed Articles

  • Perry, Samuel, and Kyle C. Longest. 2019. “Who Needs Marriage When You’ve Got Porn? Pornography Use and Marriage Entry During Young Adulthood.” Sexuality and Culture.
  • Longest, Kyle, C., and Jeremy E. Uecker (equal authorship). 2018. “Beliefs about Evolution and Educational Attainment.” Sociological Forum.
  • Longest, Kyle C., and Jeremy E. Uecker. 2017. “Moral Communities and Sex: The Religious Influence on Young Adult Sexual Behavior and Regret.” Sociological Perspectives. 61: 361 – 382.
  • Uecker, Jeremy E., and Kyle C. Longest. 2017. “Exposure to Science, Perspectives on Science and Religion, and Religious Commitment in Young Adulthood.” Social Science Research. 65: 145 – 162.
  • Kolb, Kenneth H., Kyle C. Longest, Alexa J. Singer*. 2015. “Choosing Not to Cheat: A Framework to Assess Students’ Rationales for Abiding by Academic Integrity Policies.” International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. 9(1).
  • Kim, Phillip H., Kyle C. Longest, and Stephen Lippmann. 2015. “The Tortoise Versus the Hare: Progress and Business Viability Among Leisure-Based Founders.” Journal of Business Venturing.
  • Kolb, Kenneth H., Kyle C. Longest, and Jenna C. Barnett*. 2014. “Intellectual Curiosity in Action: A Framework to Assess First-Year Seminars in Liberal Arts Settings.” The Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 25: 131 – 156.
    *Student co-author
  • Kim, Phillip H. and Kyle C. Longest. (In Press). “You Can't Leave Your Work Behind: Employment Experience and Founding Collaborations.” Journal of Business Venturing.
  • Longest, Kyle C., Steve Hitlin, and Stephen Vaisey. 2013. “Position and Disposition: The Contextual Development of Human Values.” Social Forces.
  • Kim, Phillip H., Kyle C. Longest, and Howard Aldrich. 2013. “Can You Lend Me a Hand? Task-Role Alignment of Social Support for Aspiring Business Owners” Work and Occupations.
  • Longest, Kyle C. and Peggy Thoits. 2012.“Gender, The Stress Process and Physical Health: A Configurational Approach.” Society and Mental Health. 2: 187 – 206.
  • Kolb, Ken, Kyle C. Longest and Mollie Jenson. 2012. “Assessing the Writing Process: Do Writing-Intensive First-Year Seminars Change How Students Write?” Teaching Sociology 41: 20 – 31.
  • Longest, Kyle C. and Christian Smith. 2011. “Conflicting or Compatible: Beliefs about Religion and Science among Emerging Adults in the U.S.”Sociological Forum 26: 846 – 869.
  • Longest, Kyle C. and Stephen Vaisey. 2008. “Control or Conviction: Religion and Adolescent Initiation of Marijuana Use.” Journal of Drug Issues 38: 689 – 716.

Additional Professional Activity

  • Associated Colleges of the South - Teaching and Learning Workshop
    Associate Director (2015 – 2017)
    Facilitator (2011- 2014; 2018 - present)
    Participant (2010)
  • Program Review Consultant - American Sociology Association.
  • Editorial Board: American Sociological Review (2015 - ); Social Forces (2014 -  ); Review of Religious Research (2019 - )

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