This fall, the University of Minnesota Morris welcomes Michelle Janning as its Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Liberal Arts.
Janning is a sociology professor and endowed chair of social sciences at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She will deliver two public lectures as well as participate in other campus events including classroom visits and discussions.
Janning’s first public lecture will be on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in room 109 of Imholte Hall. This event is the first in a series of lectures in fall semester sponsored by the Honors Program called, "Of Family." The lecture is open to all and will be followed by a question and answer session.
Her second lecture is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 6.
ABOUT JANNING
In addition to her frequent public speaking and applied consulting projects with local Walla Walla organizations, Janning has done interdisciplinary research on how family roles connect with home and neighborhood design, the role of digital and physical objects and spaces on intimate relationships, the impacts of COVID-19 on families and schools, and the social meaning of vacation homes and investment properties in the sharing economy. Janning has received a Fulbright for teaching and assessment projects with DIS-Study Abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she has also taught courses in family and childhood studies in the Scandinavian context. She has written or edited several books, including The Stuff of Family Life: How our Homes Reflect our Lives (2017), Love Letters: Saving Romance in the Digital Age (2018), Contemporary Parenting and Parenthood: From News Headlines to New Research (2019), and A Guide to Socially-Informed Research for Architects and Designers (2023).
A native Minnesotan who spent part of her childhood living in Germany and part of her adulthood living in Denmark, Janning received her B.A. from St. Olaf College, and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame.
ABOUT THE DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSORSHIP
The University of Minnesota Morris Distinguished Visiting Professorship in the Liberal Arts was established through the generous support of a private donor.