Liora O'Donnell Goldensher
lodg@vt.edu
Education
2020 Ph.D., Sociology and Humanistic Studies, Princeton University
2017 M.A., Princeton University
Exam Fields: Political Sociology (Paul Starr), Sociology of Knowledge (Kim Scheppele), Sociology of Science, Technology, and Medicine (Elizabeth Armstrong and Janet Vertesi)
2010 B.A. Smith College, Magna Cum Laude
Majors: Sociology, Study of Women and Gender (concentrations: Historical Perspectives; Women, Race and Culture)
Academic Positions
2023 - Virginia Tech // Blacksburg, VA // Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology; Contributing Faculty, Department of Science, Technology, and Society
2020 - 2023 Virginia Tech // Blacksburg, VA // Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Department of Sociology
Grants, Fellowships, Honors, and Awards
2022 Pathways Curricular Development Grant, Virginia Tech
2019 William G. Bowen Merit Fellowship, Princeton University
2018 Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, Law and Society, National Science Foundation
2017 Research Award, Program in US Health Policy, Center for Health and Wellbeing, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
2015, 2016, 2017 Fellow, West Street Schoolhouse Artists-in-Residency Program
2017 Marvin Bressler Undergraduate Teaching Award, Princeton University
2017 Doctoral Fellowship, Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Princeton University
2016 Research Prize, Program in American Studies, Princeton University
2015 Summer Research Grant, Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Princeton University
2010 Phi Beta Kappa
2009-10 Wahrsager Scholarship, Samuel Bowles Paper Prize, and Arthur Shattuck Parsons Memorial Prize, Smith College Department of Sociology
Publications
Current Book Project
Goldensher, Liora O'Donnell. Birthing New Expertise: Counterprofessional Midwifery. Under contract at MIT Press, Labor and Technology series.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Goldensher, Liora O'Donnell. 2023. "Problems of Knoweldge, Problems of Order: The Open Science Field Site." In "Ethnography in the Open Science and Digital Age," Colin Jerolmack, Alexandra Murphy, and Victoria Reyes, eds . Frontiers in Sociology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1149073
Goldensher, Liora O'Donnell. 2022. "'Mimicked Winks': Criminalized Conduct and the Ethics of Thick Description." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912416221094653
Goldensher, Liora O'Donnell. 2021. "'Cooperation without Consensus': Midwives’ Collaborations across Political Distance." Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spab017
Working Papers
Under Review at Midwifery Matters. Plavin, Sianna and Liora O'Donnell Goldensher. “Best Practices for Shared Decision-Making: Incorporating Decision Sciences with Insights From the Field.”
In preparation. Goldensher, Liora O'Donnell. "What A Price Can Do: Valuing Care."
In preparation. Goldensher, Liora O'Donnell. "Realism, Relativisms, and Minimization: The Limits of Epistemic Flexibility and Political Pluralism in Homebirth Midwifery During COVID-19."
Edited Collections
Aggrey, John, Liora Goldensher, Marie Stettler Kleine, Christine Labuski Jane Lehr, Cora Olson, Desen Ozkan, and Kari Zacharias, eds. “Critical Pedagogy”. Special Issue forthcoming at Science, Technology, and Human Values.
Other Writing
2018-19 Contributing Writer, Synapsis: A Journal of Health Humanities
Invited Talks
2021 "Discretion and Normative Inflection in Homebirth Midwifery's Emergent Pricing Norms." Women's and Gender Studies Program, Virginia Tech. December 2021.
2021 “Homebirth After COVID: Was 2020 A Turning Point for United States Homebirth Midwifery?” Center for the Humanities, Virginia Tech. April 2021.
2019 "Professionalizing Informed Choice." Health Studies Program, Haverford College. Haverford, Pennsylvania. November 2019.
Academic Presentations
2023 “Solidarity in Critical STS: Can Productive Tensions Create Sustainable Collaboration?” Open Panel session organized with Cora Olson, John Aggrey, and Christine Labuski at 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) Annual Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. November 2023.
2023 “Another Expertise: Informing Choice in Homebirth Midwifery.” Roundable presentation at American Sociological Association Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. August 2023. (Missed due to illness).
2023 Teaching Under Abortion Bans: A Pedagogies Conversation with Allison Kafer. Organizer and respondent in collaboration with the Virginia Tech STS Department Critical Pedagogy group (Cora Olson, John Aggrey, and Christine Labuski) at the Gender, Bodies, and Technologies Conference, Blacksburg, VA. March 2023.
2022 "Critical Curriculum?" Panel presentation at 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science)/ESOCITE Annual Meeting, Puebla, Mexico.
2022 "I assume you've read Robbie Davis Floyd!" Panel presentation at American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
2022 "What a Price Can Do: Valuing Care." Panel presentation at American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, California.
2022 "Realisms, Relativisms, and Agnotology: Limits of Epistemic Flexibility and Political Pluralism in COVID-19 Homebirth Midwifery.” Panel presentation at Eastern Sociological Society Mini-conference: Sociology of Reproduction, Boston, Massachusetts.
2020 "Authorizing a Counterprofession: Social Science for Midwifery." Panel presentation at American Sociological Association Annual Meeting.
2019 “Experts of Subjective Thought: Producing Knowledge, Setting Standards.” Open Panel sessions co-organized with Leah Reisman at 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana.
2019 “Cooperation without Consensus: The Midwives’ Model of Care as Boundary Object.” Roundtable presentation at American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, New York, New York.
2019 "Managing the Border Between Alternative and Mainstream." CHCI Health Humanities Summer Institute, Paris, France.
2017 “Illegal or Alegal Practice and Jurisdictional Contests: The Case of Homebirth Midwifery.” Panel presentation at Eastern Sociological Society Mini-conference: Sociology of Reproduction, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2016 “Childhood Vaccination: Were American Parents Successfully Politicized in 2015?” Aage Sorensen Memorial Conference. Stockholm, Sweden.
Research Assistantships and Fellowships
2016 Research Asst., Erin Johnston, Department of Sociology, Princeton University
2015 Research Asst., Ghetto, Prof. Mitch Duneier, Department of Sociology, Princeton University, Warsaw, Poland
2009, 2011 Research Asst., Liberative Pedagogies Project, Prof. Donna Riley, Department of Engineering, Smith College
2009-10 Undergraduate Fellow, Kahn Institute for Liberal Arts Research, Wellness and Disease group, Smith College
2009 Research Asst., Understanding Healing, Prof. Eeva Sointu, Department of Sociology, Smith College
Teaching
2024 SOC/WGS 5984 Reproduction and Society, Virginia Tech
2023, 2024 SOC 4704 Medical Sociology, Virginia Tech
2022, 2023 LAHS 2982 Introduction to Queer Studies, Virginia Tech
2022 SOC 4454 / WGS 4984 Special Topics in Sociology: Abortion in Society, Virginai Tech
2021, 2022 STS 3314 Medical Dilemmas and Human Experiences, Virginia Tech
2020, 2021, 2023 STS/WGS 4334 Sexual Medicine, Virginia Tech
2017
Graduate Fellow, McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, Princeton University
2016
SOC 213: American Minorities, teaching team member (East Jersey State Prison/Princeton Prison Teaching Initiative
SOC 107: Sociology of Inequality, teaching team member (East Jersey State Prison/Princeton Prison Teaching Initiative)
SOC 302: Sociological Theory, teaching assistant (Professor Patricia Fernandez-Kelly)
2015
SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology, teaching assistant (Professor Paul Starr)
Service
2023 Award Committee, Adele E. Clarke Book Award for Influential Scholarship on Reproduction
2022-2023 Planning Committee, Program Committee, and Fundraising Committee, Gender, Bodies, and Technology Conference, Virginia Tech
2021-Present Critical Pedagogy Group, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Virginia Tech
2017-2019 Co-organizer, with Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in the Humanities, of “Practice/Product/Process” colloquium series; host: Karin Knorr Cetina, “‘Practice’ and Time: Unfolding Effects of a Concept’s Success”