Jan Thomas specializes in health and gender issues. Before coming to Kenyon in 1996, Thomas worked as a counselor, educator, and administrator at women's health centers in Chicago and Denver and operated her own health counseling practice in Denver. Thomas teaches courses on gender, health and illness, social movements, and research methods. She is particularly interested in service-learning and connecting the life of the College with the life of the greater Gambier community.

The focus of Professor Thomas' scholarly work has been primarily in the area of women's health. She has published articles on the legacies of feminist women's health centers, midwifery, and childbirth. Most recently, she has been engaged in collaborative research projects on maternity care in the US and Sweden.

Professor Thomas spent her sabbatical (2005-2006) in Stockholm, Sweden. She also co-directed a study abroad program for 10 years which took students to Sweden and Finland for 2 weeks in the summer to learn about the health and social welfare systems. Professor Thomas is currently serving as an Associate Provost at Kenyon. She has served as chair of the Sociology Department and the chair of Women and Gender Studies. Her most recent sabbatical was spent teaching at Colorado College.

Education

Ph.D. University of Colorado
M.A. University of Chicago
B.S. Cornell College

Selected Publications

Hildingsson, I and Thomas, J. 2012. "Perinatal Outcomes and Satisfaction with Care in Women with High Body Mass Index." Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health.

Thomas, J., Bonér, A.-K., and Hildingsson, I. 2011. "Fathering in the First Few Months." Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 25(3):499-509.

Thomas, Jan E. and Ingegerd Hildingsson. 2009. "Who 's Bathing the Baby? The Division of Domestic Labour in Sweden." Journal of Family Studies 15(2).

Karlstrom, Annika, Engström-Olofsson, Regina, Nysted, Astrid, Thomas, Jan and Ingegerd Hildingsson. 2009. "Swedish caregivers' attitudes towards caesarean section on maternal request." Women and Birth.,Vol. 22(2):57-63.

Thomas, Jan E. and Mary K. Zimmerman. 2007. "Feminism and Profit in American Hospitals: The Corporate Construction of Women's Health Centers." In Gender & Society, Vol. 21(3):359-383.

Thomas, Jan E. and Annis Kukulan. 2004. "'Why Don't I Know About These Women?' Classical Theory and the Inclusion of Women." Teaching Sociology, Vol. 32(3):252-263.

Cartwright, Elizabeth and Jan E. Thomas. 2001. "Risk, Technology and Malpractice." Pp. 218-228 in Birth by Design, edited by Raymond DeVries, Hilary Marland, Edwin van Teijlingen and Sirpa Wrede. NY:Routledge.

Thomas, Jan E. 1999. "Everything About Us is Feminist:The Significance of Ideology in Organizational Change." In Gender & Society, Vol. 13(1):101-119.

Courses Taught

SOCY 107 Institutions and Inequalities
SOCY 224 Health and Illness
SOCY 229 Social Movements
SOCY 271 Methods of Social Research
SOCY 372 Research Practicum: Doing Social Research
SOCY 464 Women in Sociology
SOCY 489 Senior Seminar
SOCY 492 Women, Health, and Medicine
WGS 111 Intro to Women's and Gender Studies
WGS 391 Gender and the Welfare State

Also:

Global Women's Health
Gender Inequality
Qualitative Methods
Healthcare in the U.S. & Sweden