Heidi Lyons is looking for eager and engaged minds of graduate and undergraduate students alike to contribute to research projects within Oakland University’s Department of Sociology.
After earning her Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University, Lyons began working at Oakland University as an associate professor of sociology. Lyons’ search for engaged students stems from her experience of once being an undergraduate sociology student, having found her niche early.
“As soon as I took Intro to Sociology, I was like I love this, I can do that and be happy. I also like that sociology makes me a better person, helped me understand social issues and explain social issues,” Lyons said. “[It] helped me gain skills and perspectives to understand and engage with a diverse range of individuals. I feel like that, it is a skillset, that I can go out and use in the world.”
Lyons’ research spans numerous topics. Family, sex and gender, social demography and life course are just a few of Lyons’ research interests.
Lyons expanded on what her research entails currently.
“I professionally study sexuality across the life course. I’ve continued that vein of research in casual sex. I currently look at sexual expression among older adult married couples and how that influences later marital qualities,” Lyons said. “There is a lot of stigma around older people and sexual behavior, I would like to squash that stigma.”
Sexual behavior is not the only stigma that Lyons is looking to dissipate. Sexual norms and behavior are also interesting areas of research for Lyons.
“I have a second project looking at ethical nonmonogamy and consensual nonmonogamy, the outside nonnormative sexual behavior. I want to break the stigma and have people have healthy relationships however they try to do it,” Lyons said.
Lyons is always looking for student involvement in her disciplinary research. She also is happy to mentor students looking to conduct their own research.
“Undergraduates usually come to me through the honors college, and they do their own type of research, or come to me because they’ve had me in class and want to become a research assistant,” Lyons said. “I am always open to having graduate students and undergraduate students who are highly motivated and interested in the topics and want to understand how to do all research.”
When asked what that looks like, Lyons inferred it comes with stochasticity and depends on the circumstances of the project and the student.
“Depends on the project and depends on the student, it can be a student helping us with research questions, looking at the test questions,” Lyons said. “It’s based on the student’s skill set and their experience and the relationship to the data [and] how far they are.”
If students find themselves needing aid outside of contributing to research, Lyons is still the person to go to.
“I’m also the faculty advisor for the sociology program, anybody who has any questions about a sociology major or sociology minor, what research is going on in the sociology department, feel free to reach out to me, I can help make connections,” Lyons said.
Lyons’ contact information can be found on her OU staff profile page.
