Bachelor of ArtsSociology & Anthropology

Frank Hutchins, Ph.D.
Frank Hutchins is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Bellarmine. He earned his BA from the University of Kentucky, his MA from the Patterson School of Diplomacy at UK, and his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on cultural change among indigenous peoples in the Amazonian and Andean regions of Ecuador. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador and continues to do research and work there as director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Summer Field School in Ecuador for the Study of Language, Culture, & Community Health. At Bellarmine, he teaches Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; Introduction to Human Geography; Anthropology of Mind and Body; Anthropology of the Supernatural and Sacred; Anthropology and the Environment; and Theory and Methods in Anthropology. Dr. Hutchins also serves as coordinator of the IDC 301 courses. He is the co-editor, along with Dr. Patrick Wilson, of Editing Eden: A Reconsideration of Identity, Politics, and Place in Amazonia (University of Nebraska Press, 2010). He is a native of Bardstown, Ky., and he and his wife, Christine, have a daughter, Anna.

Office: Pasteur Hall 110A • 502.272.8393 • fhutchins@bellarmine.edu

Dr. Ainsley Lambert-Swain
Originally from Louisville, Ainsley Lambert-Swain earned her B.A. in sociology from Morehead State University, followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Cincinnati. She joined the faculty at Bellarmine University as an assistant professor of Sociology in 2018. She teaches several sociology courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Social Inequality, Contemporary Social Problems, Race and Ethnicity, and the introductory course for the African and African American Diaspora Studies Minor. Her research interests include racial and ethnic inequality in the U.S., critical race theory, and racial identity processes, including how racial identities are negotiated in interaction. Her current research examines how partners in interracial relationships understand and navigate racial meanings across racially segregated spaces. At her previous institution and during her time here at Bellarmine, she has dedicated herself to creating an inclusive campus, serving on university committees and leading workshops on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. When she is not teaching or doing research, she enjoys traveling to new places, trying new foods, and spending time with her family.

Office: Pasteur Hall 108C • 502.272.8172 • alambert-swain@bellarmine.edu

Heather Pruss, Ph.D.
Heather Pruss earned her BA and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University. She has taught courses on a wide variety of topics, including (Introduction to) Criminal Justice, Criminological Theory, Research Methods, Courts, Capital Punishment, and Law & Society. At Bellarmine, she hopes to develop new courses focused on pertinent social/criminal justice issues, such as wrongful conviction or defending the accused. Broadly speaking, Heather’s research focuses on how oft-marginalized individuals experience the United States court system. She has done work on how capital jurors make life or death decisions, how indigent clients perceive their public defenders, and how family members and friends of homicide victims navigate case adjudication. Heather looks forward to engaging with students and community members through her research agenda and has a strong interest in experiential approaches to pedagogy.

Heather enjoys spending time outdoors, especially with her partner and their animal pack. She grew up in nearby Santa Claus, Indiana.

Office: Pasteur Hall 108A • 502.272.8241 • hpruss@bellarmine.edu

Kaitlyn Selman, Ph.D.
Kaitlyn Selman is a sociologically trained critical criminologist, having received her BA in sociology from the University of Michigan, her MA in sociology from the University of South Florida, and her Ph.D. in criminology from Old Dominion University. In the fall of 2020, Kaitlyn will be teaching courses aimed at introducing the criminal (in)justice system and explaining crime and punishment through various criminological theories. Her research unearths the ways in which the logics of racial capitalism ensnare marginalized people in webs of carceral control and social and economic precarity. Specifically, it focuses on how the conditions of differentiation and dispossession work to reproduce oppressive conditions for young people, as well as the strategies of opposition and transformation that marginalized youth have developed in response. Her current research project maps the terrain of freedom being carved by abolitionist youth justice organizations across the US, and she intends to highlight the transformative work being carried out by youth organizations in and around Kentucky. When not in the classroom or glued to the computer, she spends her time with her husband Justin, baby Jack, and their dogs Winston and Sadee.

Office: Pasteur Hall 164 • kselman@bellarmine.edu