Department of Sociology professor and interim chair James Hawdon and faculty member Ashley Reichelmann received a National Science Foundation grant to study the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on university solidarity.

The team, which includes doctoral student Whitney Hayes, is gathering data in real time to assess the best ways to protect the community and to help the university prepare for such a situation in the future.

The grant will allow the team to compare current data with data gathered by Hawdon and John Ryan in 2007 for a study of university solidarity following the April 16 tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus.