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Tierney, Kathleen

Person

Research Areas

• Collective Behavior
• Disasters
• Social Movements

Research

research overview

• Dr. Tierney is the director of the Natural Hazards Center at CU Boulder. The Center serves as a clearinghouse for social science knowledge on hazards, disasters, and risk; conducts research on a variety of topics in those areas; and provides training for the next generation of hazards and disaster research. Dr. Tierney's research focuses on the sociological dimensions of hazards and disasters and on disaster loss reduction policies and practices. She also engages in collaborative projects in which researchers from different disciplines explore disaster- and hazard-related topics. Dr. Tierney teaches an undergraduate course entitled 'Hazards, Disasters, and Society' and graduate courses on disaster research, qualitative methods, and qualitative data analysis.

keywords

• Societal dimensions of hazards, disasters, and risk, qualitative and field research

Publications

selected publications

• book

  • Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government.  Ed. Tierney, Kathleen.  2007
  • Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United States.  Ed. Tierney, Kathleen.  2001
  • Disasters, Collective Behavior, and Social Organization.  Ed. Tierney, Kathleen.  1994

• chapter

  • Hazards and Disasters.  427-436. 2014
  • Critical Disjunctures: Disaster Research, Social Inequality, Gender, and Hurricane Katrina 2012
  • L’Analyse des Risques et Leurs Dimensions Sociales 2011
  • Disaster Preparedness Among Community-Based Organizations in the City and County of San Francisco: Serving the Most Vulnerable 2010
  • Disaster as War: Militarism and the Social Construction of Disaster in New Orleans. 2010
  • Evaluating the Effectiveness of Countywide Mental Health Care Systems. 2010
  • Businesses and Disasters: Vulnerability, Impacts, and Recovery 2009
  • Recent Developments in U. S. Homeland Security Policies and Their Implications for the Management of Extreme Events 2009
  • Social Inequality, Hazards, and Disasters 2006
  • Businesses and Disasters: Empirical Patterns and Unanswered Questions. 2004
  • The Field Turns Fifty: Social Change and the Practice of Disaster Field Work 2003
  • DISASTER BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONAL INTERESTS: RECYCLING DISASTER MYTHS IN THE AFTERMATH OF 9-11.  Research in Social Problems and Public Policy. 33-51. 2003
  • Modeling Earthquake Impact on Lifeline Systems: Advances and Integration in Loss Estimation 2001
  • Earthquake Vulnerability and Emergency Preparedness Among Businesses 1998
  • Impacts of Recent Disasters on Businesses: The 1993 Midwest Floods and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake 1997
  • Foreword.  Advances in neuroimmunology. 93-96. 1995
  • Property Damage and Violence: a Collective Behavior Analysis 1994
  • Aspectos Socioeconomicos de la Mitigacion del Peligro 1994
  • Emergency Preparedness and Response 1994
  • Making Sense of Collective Preoccupations: Lessons from Research on the Iben Browning Earthquake Prediction 1994
  • The Social and Community Contexts of Disaster 1989
  • Models of Local Mental Health Delivery Systems 1986
  • Exploring Intra-Familial Child Sexual Abuse: A Systems Approach 1983
  • Developing a Community Preparedness Capability for Sudden Emergencies Involving Hazardous Materials 1982
  • A Model for Studying Community Preparedness for Acute Chemical Disasters 1981
  • Emergent Norm Theory as Theory: An Analysis and Critique of Turner's Formulation 1980

• journal article

  • Return on investment analysis and its applicability to community disaster preparedness activities: Calculating costs and returns.  International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 2019
  • Post-tsunami recovery in Tamil Nadu, India: combined social and infrastructural outcomes.  Natural Hazards. 1327-1347. 2016
  • Is This America? Katrina as Cultural Trauma.  American Journal of Sociology. 625-627. 2016
  • Resilience and the Neoliberal Project: Discourses, Critiques, PracticesAnd Katrina.  American Behavioral Scientist. 1327-1342. 2015
  • A bridge to somewhere: William Freudenburg, environmental sociology, and disaster research.  Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. 58-68. 2012
  • Disaster Governance: Social, Political, and Economic Dimensions.  Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 341-363. 2012
  • Temporary Housing Planning and Early Implementation in the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake.  Earthquake Spectra. S487-S507. 2011
  • Catastrophe in the Making: The Engineering of Katrina and the Disasters of Tomorrow.  Contemporary Sociology: a journal of reviews. 660-663. 2010
  • Hurricane in New Orleans? Who knew? Anticipating Katrina and its devastation.  Sociological Inquiry. 179-183. 2008
  • Benefit-Cost Analysis of FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grants.  Natural Hazards Review. 97-111. 2007
  • From the Margins to the Mainstream? Disaster Research at the Crossroads.  Annual Review of Sociology. 503-525. 2007
  • Testimony on Needed Emergency Management Reforms.  Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. 2007
  • Foreshadowing Katrina: Recent sociological contributions to vulnerability science.  Contemporary Sociology: a journal of reviews. 207-212. 2006
  • Metaphors matter: Disaster myths, media frames, and their consequences in Hurricane Katrina.  Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 57-81. 2006
  • Social and Public Policy Issues Following the 2003 Bam, Iran, Earthquake.  Earthquake Spectra. S513-S534. 2005
  • The 9/11 commission and disaster management: Little depth, less context, not much guidance.  Contemporary Sociology: a journal of reviews. 115-120. 2005
  • A social autopsy of disaster in Chicago.  Urban Affairs Review. 514-517. 2004
  • A framework to quantitatively assess and enhance the seismic resilience of communities.  Earthquake Spectra. 733-752. 2003
  • Market-Focused and Open-Systems Approaches to Earthquake Loss-Reduction: Contextualizing Role of Engineering Research.  Natural Hazards Review. 48-54. 2002
  • Predicting long-term business recovery from disaster: a comparison of the Loma Prieta earthquake and Hurricane Andrew1.  Environmental Hazards. 45-58. 2002
  • Businesses and Disasters: Empirical Patterns and Unanswered Questions.  Natural Hazards Review. 83-90. 2000
  • Rebounding from disruptive events: Business recovery following the Northridge earthquake.  Sociological Spectrum: official journal of the Mid-South Sociological Association. 121-141. 1998
  • Business Impacts of the Northridge Earthquake.  Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. 87-97. 1997
  • Social aspects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  167-173. 1992
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of countywide mental health care systems.  Community Mental Health Journal. 3-20. 1989
  • Which community mental health services are most important?.  Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. 3-16. 1989
  • The Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake of October 1, 1987��Social Aspects.  Earthquake Spectra. 11-23. 1988
  • Models of Local Mental Health Delivery Systems.  American Behavioral Scientist. 685-703. 1985
  • Social Bonding and Community Adjustment of Chronically Mentally Ill Adults.  Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 49-49. 1985
  • Relative Deprivation and Social Movements: A Critical Look at Twenty Years of Theory and Research.  Sociological Quarterly. 33-47. 1982
  • Community and organizational awareness of and preparedness for acute chemical emergencies.  Journal of Hazardous Materials. 331-342. 1981
  • Initial findings from a study of socio-behavioral preparations and planning for acute chemical hazard disasters.  Journal of Hazardous Materials. 77-90. 1979

editor of

• book

  • Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government 2007
  • Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United States 2001
  • Disasters, Collective Behavior, and Social Organization 1994

Teaching

courses taught

• SOCY 7121 - Qualitative Analysis
  Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
  Drawing on data gathered through participation, observation and in-depth interviewing, students focus on developing theoretical analyses and exploring classical and post-modern ethnographic writing formats. Students present and revise their papers as well as review journal articles. Department enforced prerequisite: SOCY 6121.

Background

education and training

• Ph.D., Ohio State University 1979
• M.A., Ohio State University 1974
• B.A., Youngstown State University 1972

International Activities

geographic focus

• Australia and New Zealand  Continent
• New Zealand  Country