Higher Education Investigations, Gender Equity in Higher Ed

After my university investigated me, I decided to speak out about the experience. This ultimately led me to edit an anthology of faculty investigation memoirs (Faculty Speak Out: The Truth About Campus Investigations, 2025, Academica Press).

In my other life, I'm a primarily quantitative social scientist who writes books about marriage and divorce, and how family interacts with our larger social institutions. One of these books, Do Babies Matter? Gender & Family in the Ivory Tower (2013, Rutgers University Press), looked at gender equity in higher education, and found that family formation--marriage and childbirth--was a big reason why women don't become professors. I've also had a longstanding interest in viewpoint diversity because of a long collaboration with a prominent conservative sociologist, W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia, that culminated in the 2016 book Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love, & Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos (Oxford University Press).

Engagement as an HxA Member:
Presented at HxA Virtual Event, Summit, or Conference
Author of essay in inquisitive magazine or HxA: The Blog
Guest on HxA Podcast
HxA Writers Group Member or Veteran
Active Member of an HxCommunity
Active Member of an HxA Campus Community
Member of a formal HxA member advisory committee
Faculty Fellow at HxA's Segal Center for Academic Pluralism
Speaker's Title and Institutional/Organizational Affiliation: Professor, University of Utah
Event Type :
Lecture/Presentation
Fireside Chat
Book Talk
Constitution Day Event
Classroom Visit
Workshop
Podcast
Debate, Forum, or HxConversation
Speaking Topics - List up to 5 specific topics or titles, each separated by a semicolon: faculty investigations, Title IX, academic careers
Blackout Dates (Dates speaker is unavailable, Days/Month/Year): I teach in the fall, so I'm busier then
Distance Willing to Travel: Any/No Limits to Travel Radius
Scholarly Area: Social Sciences
Modality of Event : In Person and/or Virtual
Willingness to be recorded: Willing
Speaking Fee (Not including travel/lodging expenses): Other (Contact Speaker for Fee)
Recent Appearance (1 of 5) -title, host institution, year: "When University Investigations of Faculty Go Off the Rails." Heterodox Academy, 2025.
Recent Appearance (2 of 5) -title, host institution, year: "Professors Speak Out." University of Southern California, 2025.
Recent Appearance (3 of 5) -title, host institution, year: "Thanks for Nothing: The Economics of Single Motherhood since 1980." University of Virginia, 2019.
Recent Appearance (4 of 5) -title, host institution, year: "Do Babies Matter? Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower." Columbia University, 2012.
Recent Appearance (5 of 5) -title, host institution, year: "The Effects of Parental Divorce on Marriage Timing and Partner Selection." University of Antwerp, 2009.
Link to Speaker's Professional Website (to include sample writings and more extensive bio): www.nicholaswolfinger.com