About

Tracy Vargas received her BA in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, her MA in Sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and her Ph.D. in Sociology from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 2018. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at UNC Pembroke in the department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and also part of the Maynor Honors College Faculty. Dr. Vargas regularly teaches courses on theory, poverty, technology, and gender. She is a qualitative researcher who's ongoing (10+ years) ethnographic project examines the precarious conditions of low-wage service work at U.S. dollar stores. She also enjoyed mentoring students' research projects and served on the IRB for three years. Trained at the UNC Systems Office, Dr. Vargas became a certified Penn Resilience Program Trainer in 2023 and now teaches courses and workshops to certify UNC Pembroke students in resilience. In addition to serving on numerous committees at UNC Pembroke, Dr. Vargas' wider services to the discipline include Vice-Chair of the Society for Social Problems (SSSP) Labor Studies Division, Editor for the UNC System Learning and Technology Journal, a New Scholars Research Grants Committee member for the Labor Action Research Network (LARN), and the Outreach Committee for the Working-Class Studies Association (WCSA).