Research and Teaching Interests

Dr. Ruel joined the sociology faculty at Georgia State University in the Fall of 2005, after a two year postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago where her research focused on new methods for analyzing occupational segregation by sex and race.

Much of Dr. Ruels research has been spent applying newer research methods to addressing old research issues and problems in stratification and social inequality. She is currently addressing issues of health disparities as a function of racial residential segregation. Another research agenda focuses on the cumulative advantage or disadvantage of wealth accumulation and intergenerational transfers on health outcomes.

Dr Ruel teaches social research methods, sociology of health and illness, and a special topics course: Sociological perspectives on the HIV/AIDS pandemic.