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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
  ... more

• 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
  ... more

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