Mike Walker, MS

Instructor and Coordinator of the Community Development Certificate Program

Mike Walker is an instructor in the Department of Sociology and Social Work, and the Assistant Director of the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University. He currently teaches social research methods, sociology of urban and rural areas, community theory and development, economic sociology and work, and demography. Mike also coordinates the Community Development Certificate Program.

Mike received a master's degree in sociology from Utah State University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in sociology at Kansas State University. He is a member of the Rural Sociological Society, the Community Development Society, the Midwest Sociological Society, and the Population Association of America. Mike is directly involved with the development, coordination, and analysis of survey research for the Docking Institute. Mike also facilitates focus groups, performs strategic planning, and is involved with community development efforts in western Kansas.

Mike's schedule is generally something like this:

• Demography (SOC 435)
• Sociology of Urban and Rural Areas (SOC 475)
• Methods of Social Research (SOC 362)
• Diversity in the US (IDS 350)

Spring Semester

• Community Theory and Development (SOC 679)
• Topics: Economic Sociology and the Sociology of Work (SOC 348)
• Methods of Social Research (SOC 362)
• Diversity in the US (IDS 350)

Summer Semester

• Sociology through Cinema (SOC 320)
• Sociology of Space (SOC 348) (Once in a while)

Prior to coming to FHSU, Mike performed ethnographic work in California, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho; and carried out survey research in California, Colorado, and Nebraska. He also worked on a few archeological digs in southern Utah, worked as a journalist in the Washington, D.C. area, and served in the U.S. Army. While in the military, he received extensive survival and tactical training, and completed month-long training exercises in the deserts of California, the mountains of Utah, and the swamps of Georgia. This training, he says, comes in handy during faculty and staff meetings!  Mike spends his free time with his kids, travels to Garden City to visit Michelle, attends FHSU and Hays High School (Go Gracie!) sporting events, enjoys the latest sci fi and chats with friends on facebook site.  He has posted a few pictures there if you are interested (and if you are, you probably need to get out more).

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Mike is a great college instructor at a college where he instructs. Take his classes or the terrorists win!