Academic Interests: Sociology of Education, Health and Aging, Work and Family

Courses Taught: Sociology of Aging, Sociology of Gender, Minority and Ethnic Groups, Social Problems

Dr. Burge received her doctorate in Sociology from Florida State University in 2006.  Her main research interests fall into two distinct areas, focusing on opposite ends of the life course.  First, her dissertation considers various aspects of inequality in educational institutions by examining cohort changes in the gender segregation of intended college majors and earned degrees from the 1970s to the 1990s.  Specifically, she investigates the hypothesis that there has been a significant shift in how young women’s and men’s family attitudes affect their plans to major in STEM (Science, Technology, Math, and Science) programs and their later achievement of STEM degrees.  The second component of her research agenda concerns the examination of frail elders’ experiences in long-term care setting, such as assisted living facilities.  This stems from her involvement with the Florida Study of Assisted Living FSAL project, a large-scale data collection/analysis effort funded by the State of Florida.

Dr. Burge has published work on the gender cross-over in educational expectations, the effect of mastery on adolescents’ achievement of their occupational expectations, the role of internal relationships with staff and other residents in shaping residents’ adjustment to assisted living, and factors that underlie the rise in adolescents’ achievement expectations.  Her work has appeared in Social Science Research, Social Psychology Quarterly, Journal of Gerontology: Series B, and Sociology Compass.