Timothy O'Brien

  • Associate Professor, Sociology
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Sociology

Education

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

Office Hours

  • 744 Bolton Hall
  • Tuesdays 12:30-2:30pm

Teaching Schedule

Course Num Title Meets Syllabus
SOCIOL 101-001 Introduction to Sociology TR 10am-11:15am

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., & Johnson, D.R. (2025). "Partisan identity, scientific and religous authority, and lawmaker support for science policy." Social Forces. soae188, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soae188.
Johnson, D. R., & O’Brien, T. L. (2024). Morality policy at the frontier of science: legislators’ views on germline engineering. Science and Public Policy, scae048.
Noy, S. & O'Brien, T.L. (2024) Science and the Pulplit: Clerical Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States. Jounral for the Scientific Study of Religion. http://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12917
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. 
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.
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.

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.