The Social Science Research Commons is staffed by a director and several undergraduate and graduate student assistants, as well as consultants from a range of different campus groups.
Dr. Emily Meanwell
Director
Emily Meanwell (she/her) is a sociologist and has been the director of the Social Science Research Commons since 2014. She also serves as the SSRC's qualitative research methods and tools consultant. Her own research has focused on intersections of inequality, culture, and education.
Jessica Williams
Program Management Coordinator
Jessica Williams (she/her) is Program Management Coordinator with the Social Science Research Commons and splits her time with the Irsay Institute. Jessica has worked for the university since 2011 having worked in the Department of Political Science from 2011 until 2023. Jessica earned a BA in Telecommunications from IU-Bloomington, with a concentration in video production & design, content programming, and a minor in history. As a student, she was a member of the IU Marching Hundred and Big Red Basketball band. Jessica is married to fellow IU alumnus, Eric Smedley, Jacobs’ Faculty and Director of Athletic Bands. Jessica and Eric live in Bloomington with their daughter Ella, and Bedlington Terriers, Piper and Finn.
Pei-Jung Li
SSRC Front Desk
Pei-Jung Li (she/her) came from Taiwan and is a Ph.D. candidate in the Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodology (QQRM) program at IU. She cares about international students' experiences in the U.S., issues with research ethics, and researcher-participant relationships. In her leisure time, she loves cooking (in her words: "I love feeding people!") and is a figure-skater wannabe. She also works as a qualitative methodology consultant at the School of Education since 2021.
Robert Gallagher
SSRC Front Desk
Robert is a third year graduate student in the sociology program and he is also pursuing a Masters in Applied Statistics. His research interests center around gender, sexualities, and mental health. Research methods is one of Robert's favorite parts about being a sociologist, so he's excited to work for the SSRC!
Lauren Johnson
SSRC Front Desk
Lauren is an undergraduate student here at IUB and is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology! Her career goal after graduation is to become a Pediatric Psychiatrist. She is also a member of IU's Run Club!
John Stanko
SSRC Front Desk
John C. Stanko (thon/thon’s) is a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science. John’s broad research area is the use of non-coercive influence by authoritarian regimes to achieve foreign policy objectives. More specific interests include Russia-China geopolitical relations, international higher educational cooperation and policies within Eurasia, and the application of network analysis to understanding soft power resources. John earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Texas Tech University and a master’s degree in Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies from the University of Kansas before spending 2 years working in Moscow. Thon has previously been a Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia (MSSR) Fellow, an IU Russian Studies Workshop Fellow, and has also received FLAS funding for studying both the Chinese and Kazakh languages.
Woodburn Hall 200
1100 E. 7th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405-7110
By appointment
