Shannon N. Davis

Shannon N. Davis is Professor of Sociology at George Mason University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She served as Chair of the George Mason University Faculty Senate (2019-2021) and as Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs at George Mason University - Korea (2021-2025). She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville (1997) and a PhD from North Carolina State University (2004), with postdoctoral training at the Carolina Population Center.

Her research explores gender inequality in family and educational contexts, including:

• Negotiation of paid/unpaid work in families
• Reproduction of gender inequality
• Gender ideology formation
• Undergraduate research's role in shaping academic careers
• Intersectional analyses of higher education systems

Her publications demonstrate strong methodological diversity, blending quantitative cross-national comparisons with qualitative explorations of family dynamics and academic socialization, consistently focusing on structural barriers to gender equity.

Awards:

• 2019 OSCAR Mentoring Excellence Award
• 2018 Kathleen S. Lowney Mentoring Award
• 2013 Teaching Excellence Award
• 2012 OSCAR Mentor Award

She has supervised 8 PhD dissertations examining themes including immigrant families, work-family conflict, and community policing. Funded projects include:

• Corporation for National and Community Service grant ($370,110, co-PI)
• Multiple American Sociological Association grants for research on career prioritization and undergraduate research competency
• George Mason University faculty development awards