Michael D Gillespie

Michael D Gillespie serves as Dean of Student Success and Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Criminology at Eastern Illinois University, while also holding roles as Interim Director of the Center for Student Innovation (CSI) and GIS Faculty member. His leadership bridges academic administration with hands-on sociological research focused on regional community engagement.

His educational background includes:

• PhD in Sociology from Western Michigan University (2010)
• MS in Social Work from the University of Michigan (2003)
• BA from the University of Michigan - Dearborn (2001)

Dr. Gillespie's research centers on poverty, food insecurity, and social inequalities through historical and contemporary lenses, with concentrated regional focus on East-Central Illinois. As a scholar-activist, he employs government data and GIS mapping techniques to analyze Coles County conditions, establishing the Coles County Poverty Data Project as a critical resource for stakeholders. His work systematically examines how policies perpetuate social stratification while developing practical interventions for food-insecure populations.

His 23 research outputs (2013-2024) reveal consistent thematic threads: sociological education methodology (particularly data visualization in textbooks), survey research pedagogy, and localized poverty analysis. The publications demonstrate progressive application of mixed-methods approaches to document regional socioeconomic conditions while advancing teaching practices in social sciences.

No scientific awards are documented in available materials.

Dr. Gillespie mentors students through four core sociology courses: Family and Society, Statistical Analysis of Social Data, Sociology of Poverty and Social Welfare, and Current Issues in Sociology. His current grant activity includes Co-Principal Investigatorship on the OER@EIU project (Illinois State Library, 2024-2026), converting commercial course materials into free open educational resources to enhance student accessibility.

He directs the Coles County Poverty Data Project repository and leads the Center for Student Innovation initiatives, while leveraging GIS faculty expertise to integrate spatial analysis across campus curricula.