Kyle C. Longest

College of Arts and Sciences Dean and Professor of Sociology

Kyle C. Longest is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Sociology. Before joining Stetson University, he was the Associate Academic Dean at Furman University. 

  • PhD, Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009)
  • MA, Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004)
  • BA with Highest Distinction, Sociology & History, Indiana University Bloomington (2002)

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Biography

While pursuing a variety of research interests, Longest has spent his career seeking to understand adolescents and how they make the transition into young adulthood. Specifically, he focuses on how various factors teens experience then impact their religious and academic trajectories into early adulthood. Most recently he has examined what shapes young peoples’ perspective on the relationship between religion and science and in turn how that understanding affects the academic path they pursue. He is the author or co-author of several publications, including two books: Using Stata for Quantitative Analyses (now in its 3rd edition) and Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church (Oxford University Press), co-author with Christian Smith, Jonathan Hill, and Kari Christofferson.

As a Professor of Sociology, Longest has taught several courses, including the Sociology of Religion, Deviance, Research Methods, including Quantitative Analysis, Youth and Adolescence, Sociology of Sports, Sports Analytics, Discovering Greatness and the Sociology of Harry Potter. He also served as the Chair for the Department of Sociology at Furman University Department for 4 years.
Longest received his M.A. (2004) and Ph.D. (2009) in Sociology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and his B.A. in sociology and history from Indiana University – Bloomington (2002). 

More About Kyle C. Longest

Areas of Expertise

  • Life Course / Adolescence      
  • Sociology of Religion          
  • Quantitative Analysis/Statistics
  • Research Methods & Statistics        
  • Social Psychology

Course Topics

  • Sociology of Religion
  • Methods of Social Research 
  • Analysis of Social Data 
  • Muggles & Mudbloods - The Sociology of Harry Potter 
  • What if I Told You?: The World through ESPN Films
  • Deviance and Social Control 
  • Youth, Adolescence and Young Adulthood 
  • Sociology of Sport 
  • Beyond Moneyball – Applied Study of Sports Analytics 
  • Discovering Greatness – On Being and Becoming Extraordinary

Books

  • Smith, Christian, Kyle C. Longest, Jonathan Hill, Kari Christofferson. (2014). Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
  • Longest, Kyle C. 2011. Using Stata for Quantitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 
    2nd Edition, 2014.
    3rd Edition, 2019.  

Peer Reviewed Articles 

  • Knouse, Stephanie M., Marianne Bessy, and Kyle C. Longest. 2021. “Knowing Who We Teach: Tracking Attitudes and Expectations of First-Year Postsecondary Language Learners.” Foreign Language Annals. 54: 50 – 72. 
  • Longest, Kyle, C., and Jeremy E. Uecker. 2020. “It All Depends on What You Want to Believe: How Young Adults Navigate Religion and Science.” Review of Religious Research. 61: 1 – 21.  
  • Perry, Samuel L., and Kyle C. Longest. 2019 “Examining the Impact of Religious Initiation Rites on Religiosity and Disaffiliation Over Time.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 58:891 – 904.
  • Culclasure, Brooke, Kyle Longest, and Troy Terry, T. 2019. “Project-based Learning (PjBL) in three Southeastern Public Schools: Academic, Behavioral, and Social-Emotional Outcomes.” Journal of Problem Based Learning. 
  • Longest, Kyle, C., and Jeremy E. Uecker (equal authorship). 2018. “Beliefs about Evolution and Educational Attainment.” Sociological Forum. 33: 950-973. 
  • Longest, Kyle C., and Jeremy E. Uecker. 2017. “Moral Communities and Sex: The Religious Influence on Young Adult Sexual Behavior and Regret.” Sociological Perspectives. 61: 361 – 382.
  • Uecker, Jeremy E., and Kyle C. Longest. 2017. “Exposure to Science, Perspectives on Science and Religion, and Religious Commitment in Young Adulthood.” Social Science Research. 65: 145 – 162. 
  • Kolb, Kenneth H., Kyle C. Longest, Alexa J. Singer. 2015. “Choosing Not to Cheat: A Framework to Assess Students’ Rationales for Abiding by Academic Integrity Policies.” International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. 9(1). 
  • Kim, Phillip H., Kyle C. Longest, and Stephen Lippmann. 2015. “The Tortoise Versus the Hare: Progress and Business Viability Among Leisure-Based Founders.” Journal of Business Venturing.
  • Kolb, Kenneth H., Kyle C. Longest, and Jenna C. Barnett. 2014. “Intellectual Curiosity in Action: A Framework to Assess First-Year Seminars in Liberal Arts Settings.” The Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. 25: 131 – 156. 
        
    Longest, Kyle C., Steven Hitlin, and Stephen Vaisey. 2013. “Position and Disposition: The Contextual Development of Human Values.” Social Forces. 91: 1499 – 1528. 
  • Longest, Kyle C. and Peggy Thoits. 2012. “Gender, The Stress Process and Physical Health: A Configurational Approach.” Society and Mental Health. 2: 187 – 206. 
  • Kolb, Ken, Kyle C. Longest and Mollie Jenson. 2012. “Assessing the Writing Process: Do Writing-Intensive First-Year Seminars Change How Students Write?” Teaching Sociology 41: 20 – 31. 
        
    Longest, Kyle C. and Stephen Vaisey. 2008. “Control or Conviction: Religion and Adolescent Initiation of Marijuana Use.” Journal of Drug Issues 38: 689 – 716.