Joyce Kramer
Joyce Kramer
Ph.D. ‘80
I am gratified by the education that I received in Sociology, since receiving the Ph.D. at UNC, I have had a rewarding career in academia. At first I was on the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, Department of Health Education, at UNC. Then I became Director of American Indian Projects in the School of Social Development at the University of Minnesota Duluth. (My heritage on my mother’s side is Omaha and Pawnee; my mother grew up on the Omaha Reservation and attended Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools until she met my father while she was working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.)
I finally retired in 2003 as a full professor. During the interim, I published extensively in two principal areas: (1) American Indian well-being (including health, education, and economic conditions) and (2) sustainable development. With regards to the latter, I have lectured within scholarly exchange programs at universities in China (five trips) and Pakistan. I have also presented papers in Finland, Scotland, Russia, South Africa, Cameroon, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Australia, and Canada (where I had a year’s position as a visiting scholar). I have made multiple trips back to East Africa (where I had taught prior to obtaining the Ph.D. and where I conducted my dissertation research). Most significantly, I mentored University of Minnesota students doing practical internships in Kenya.
While I am personally feeling some of the infirmaries of old age, but my quality of life remains good.
Submitted August 2015