All People

Timothy O'Brien

  • Associate Professor, Sociology
  • Department Chair, Sociology

Education

  • PhD, Sociology, Indiana University
  • MA, Sociology, Indiana University
  • BS, Sociology/Psychology, University of Wyoming

Office Hours

  • Bolton Hall, Office #714B (Department Office)
  • Tuesdays 1:00-3:00pm

Teaching Schedule

Course Num Title Meets Syllabus
SOCIOL 342-001 Sociology of Law TR 10am-11:15am Syllabus

Courses Taught

  • SOCIOL 101: Introduction to Sociology
  • SOCIOL 261: Introduction to Statistical Thinking in Sociology
  • SOCIOL 342: Sociology of Law
  • SOCIOL 750: Research Methods in Sociology

Research Interests

  • Institutions
  • Culture
  • Social cognition

Selected Publications

O'Brien, T. L., Hawkins, S. L. (2026). Litigant status, judicial ideology, and the gatekeeping of expert evidence. Law & Society Review. 1-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/lsr.2026.10097 . 
O'Brien, T. L., & Johnson, D.R. (2025). U.S. State Lawmaker Support for COVID-19 Vaccine Policies During the Pandemic. Vaccines. 68: 127930
O'Brien, T. L. & Noy, S. (2025). Religion, Perceptions of Scientists' Moral Culture, and Support for Science in the United States. American Sociological Review. 90(2) 257-290.
O'Brien, T. L. (2025). Ethnicity, Imprisonment, and Confidence in Police and Courts: Evidence from an International Survey. Social Problems 72(1):207-225.
O'Brien, T. L., & Johnson, D.R. (2025). Partisan identity, scientific and religous authority, and lawmaker support for science policy. Social Forces. 104(1)1-20.
Johnson, D. R., & O’Brien, T. L. (2024). Morality policy at the frontier of science: legislators’ views on germline engineering. Science and Public Policy. 56(6)1062-1074.
Noy, S. & O'Brien, T. L. (2024). Science and the Pulplit: Clerical Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 63(3): 716-737.
Massey, G. and O'Brien, T. L. (editors) (2023). Readings for Sociology, 10th Edition. 2023. New York, NY: WW Norton.
O'Brien, T. L., Hawkins, S. L., & Loesch, A. (2022) Scientific Disciplines and the Admissibility of Expert Evidence in Courts. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. 8: 1–14. 
Noy, S, & O'Brien, T. L. (2021) Learning Right from Wrong: A Cross-national Analysis of Education, National Scientific Investment, and the Morality of Science. Science, Technology, & Human Values. 1-29.
O'Brien, T. L., & Noy, S. (2020) Political Identity and Confidence in Science and Religion in the United States. Sociology of Religion, 81(4), 439-461.
O'Brien, T. L.(2020) Racing justice: Mass Incarceration and Perceptions of Courts. Social Science Research. 90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2020.102443.
Gauchat, G. W., O'Brien, T. L., & Mirosa, O. (2017) The Legitimacy of Environmental Scientists in the Public Sphere. Climatic Change, 143(3-4), 297-306.
O'Brien, T. L., & Noy, S. (2015) Traditional, Modern, and Post-Secular Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States. American Sociological Review, 80(1), 92-115.