KC V. Cunningham | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

KC V. Cunningham

PhD Candidate

Graduate Instructor

KC V. Cunningham is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Kentucky. Her research considers how environment, place, and gender shape experiences of sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing. Her dissertation project examines socio-sexual relationships and behaviors among wildland firefighters and their partners, placing intimate social interactions in context of evolving human-environment relationships. Prior to graduate school, KC managed the education and outreach arm of a nonprofit HIV clinic in Alabama and held various professional and volunteer roles with civic engagement, rural organizing, and public health organizations.

Contact Information

kc.vick@uky.edu

1549 Patterson Office Tower

859-257-4420

Education

PhD in Sociology - Expected 2025
MPH (2015) in Behavioral, Social, and Community Health, Indiana University-Bloomington
BA (2012) in Interdisciplinary Studies: Transnational Gender and Race Studies, University of Alabama

Research Interests

Environmental Sociology
Gender and Sexuality
Place and Space
Rural Sociology
Public health
sociology of health and illness

Affiliations

Sociology
Appalachian Center
Rural Sociological Society (http://www.ruralsociology.org)
American Sociological Association
Southern Sociological Society
Pacific Sociological Association

Service:

KC currently serves as the Teaching Corner Editor for The Southern Sociologist newsletter; Graduate Representative to the Rural Sociological Society Publications and Communications Committee; Co-chair for the Community, Health, and Family RIG for the Rural Sociological Society; and Graduate Committee Chair to the UK Sociology Graduate Student Organization. She has held past roles as Secretary for the UK Graduate Student Congress, Assistant to the Historian of the Rural Sociological Society, and Professional Development Chair for the UK Sociology Graduate Student Organization.

Classes Taught:

Introduction to Sociology; Inequalities; Sociology of Health and Illness; Sociology of Sex, Sexualities, and Sexual Health

Selected Publications

Selected Publications:

Robinson, Margaux S.C.*, KC V. Cunningham*, Jeffrey A. Young, Nicole Breazeale, Kenneth R. Jones, and Julie N. Zimmerman. Forthcoming. “The New American Farmer – Extension Engagement with Urban Agriculture and Food Systems.” Journal of Extension.

Vick, KC, and Loka Ashwood. Forthcoming. “Towards a Social Ecology of Rural Public Health.” In Race and Racisms in Rural America, edited by Kenneth Robinson, Mark Harvey, Angie Carter, and Keiko Tanaka. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Ashwood, Loka, KC Vick, Christy Hiett, Ming Kuo Lee, and Natasha Dimova. 2023. “Rural and Community-Based Cancer Cluster Research.” Environmental Justice 16(4): 272-285. http://doi.org/10.1089/env.2021.0118

*Shared first author