Megan Nanney

Megan (Maggie) Nanney ’13 is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Women’s & Gender Studies at Virginia Tech and a visiting lecturer in the Smith College Department of Sociology. During 2019, Nanney will be working on a dissertation and other manuscripts in progress as a visiting research associate with the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center located at Mount Holyoke College. 

Nanney's research focuses on diversity and inclusion in gendered spaces, with a particular focus on trans* collegians and educational policy. Their dissertation examines transgender inclusive admissions policies through a multimethod collaborative ethnography at two women’s colleges. Of particular interest, their research questions how these policies construct exclusive discourses and experiences for non-normative gender expression and embodiment, as complicated by the intersections of race, class and sexuality. This research recently received a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant for $16,000. Nanney has additional projects on trans exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) and gender critical perspectives, and women’s experiences within craft beer culture. 

Nanney’s research can be found in Gender & Society, Advances in Gender Research, Food, Culture and Society, Journal of LGBT Youth, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and Research and Higher Education, and is forthcoming in Intersectionality and Higher Education, Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies, and Sexualities. 

Additionally, Nanney co-chairs the Sociologists for Trans Justice Advancing Trans, Non-binary, and Intersex Scholarship Committee and authored the 2018 edition of the #TransJusticeSyllabus. They further consult for the Campaign for Southern Equality’s Southern LGBTQ+ Health Survey and previously served as the founding managing editor of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and news editor for Sociology Lens.