William MacDonald

William MacDonald is an Associate Professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University Newark, where he has served since 1992. He held administrative roles as Dean and Director (2004–2024) and Executive Dean of Regional Campuses (2010–2019). During his leadership, the campus secured over $50M in scholarships and completed $80M in capital projects. He co-secured awards for collaborations like the SciDome planetarium and the Alford Center for Science and Technology. Returning to faculty, his research focuses on social forces influencing religious beliefs and supernatural phenomena.

Education: PhD in Sociology from Bowling Green State University (1992). His research spans religion, family dynamics, bioethics, and paranormal experiences. Recent interests include interdisciplinary studies of supernatural belief persistence.

Awards: 2017 Impact Award (Best Collaboration), 2019 STEM Business of the Year Award (for campus partnerships).

Advocacy & Grants: Led initiatives in community partnerships and STEM education. Collaborations include The Works (SciDome) and Central Ohio Technical College.

Labs/Teams: Active in interdisciplinary research groups focusing on religion-society interactions and applied sociology projects.