Faculty Profile for Dr. Joseph Kotarba
Biography Section
Biography and Education
My interest in sociology can be traced back to high school in Chicago, where it served as an intellectual context for the fascinating social and cultural changes taking place in the 1960s. I majored in sociology all the way through my doctorate at the University of California at San Diego. My wife, Polly, and I raised three children while I taught at the University of Houston for 30 years and chaired the Department of Sociology. We moved to Wimberley in 2010 to engage in the rich intellectual fervent being generated at Texas State University and to enjoy the peaceful, small town/country lifestyle of the Texas Hill Country.Teaching Interests
I love to teach qualitative research methods, the sociology of everyday life, social theory, and the sociology of culture at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. I teach graduate seminars in the classroom, and my undergraduate popular music in society course online.Research Interests
I am conducting studies of music experiences across the life course, with special attention given to the elderly. I am also examining the relationship of music and science, the social organization of translational bio-medical research, and storytelling as lay ethnography.Selected Scholarly/Creative Work
- Kotarba, J. A., & Melnikov, A. (n.d.). Existential Sociology. In Routledge Handbook of Existential Human Science. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
- Kotarba, J. A. (2022). Music in the Course of Life. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003180357
- Kotarba, J. A. (2022). Teaching the Sociology of Popular Music: It’s All About Family. Journal of Popular Music Education, 6(1), 117–130.
- Kotarba, J. A. (2021). Norman Denzin: the Power of the Special Issue. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 53, 165–169.
- Kotarba, J. A. (2020, September 1). Art of Memories: Curating at the Hermitage: A Review. Contemporary Sociology. Thousand Oaks, U.S.A.: Sage Publishing.
Selected Awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: "Teaching and Learning through a Pandemic", "From The Hill" Texas State University publication. December 14, 2020
- Award / Honor Recipient: The oH Project: Oral Histories of HIV/AIDS in Houton..., The Woodson Research Center at Rice University. May 2019
- Award / Honor Recipient: Fulbright Specialist Fellowship, Fulbright. January 1, 2014 - January 1, 2018
- Award / Honor Recipient: Honorary Professor of International Studies, Center for International Studies. September 2017
- Award / Honor Recipient: Keynote Address, European Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. July 2017
Selected Grants
- Kotarba, Joseph A (Principal). Analysis of the 2-1-1 Texas Information and Referral Network Website and Area Information Center data, The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, State, $52000. (Funded: 2014). Grant.
- Kotarba, Joseph A. Toward a Vision of Diversity in Science and Society, Committee for Equity and Access, Texas State University, $5000. (Funded: April 25, 2018 - May 3, 2018). Grant.
- Kotarba, Joseph (Principal), Wyvagg, Jonathan (Co-Principal). A Needs Assessment Study for the Texas Veterans Commission, TVC, State, $95000. (Funded: August 2015 - June 2016). Grant.
- Kotarba, Joseph (Principal). Symbolic Interactionist Takes on Music: The Couch-Stone Symposium, The Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $20000. (Funded: 2014). Grant.
- Kotarba, Joseph A (Principal). John Johnson Lecture, Texas State University, University Lecturers Committee, $3500. (Funded: 2013). Grant.
Selected Service Activities
Reviewer / Referee
The Fulbright Scholar Program
2016-Present
Member
Athletic Advisory Council
2010-Present
Member
Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects
2010-Present
Reviewer / Referee
Houston Arts Alliance
January 1, 2022-Present
Reviewer / Referee
Texas Commission on the Arts
November 3, 2021-Present