Ryan Gabriel attended Utah State University and earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2011. In 2016, Dr. Gabriel earned his PhD from the University of Washington then joined the BYU sociology department at the beginning for the 2016–2017 school year. He was eager to be a part of the wonderful faculty in BYU’s sociology department. Dr. Gabriel specializes in urban sociology, residential segregation, residential mobility and attainment, and race/racism and has taught courses pertaining to those interests—such as Sociology of Race and Ethnicity—since coming to BYU. Recently, Dr. Gabriel was able to participate in a seminar which involved traveling to the Southern United States with other students and faculty to visit key sites for the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 60s.
Though his personal experiences gave Dr. Gabriel an early fascination with how race functions in the United States, it was when he was studying race in a sociological context in college that the issue really captured his attention. “I was gripped,” he said. “Since then, all of my work, in one way or another, has traversed the geography of race and its enduring power to influence our lives.” [1] Dr. Gabriel openly invites all students to take his classes and learn things for themselves. He asks his students to think critically about the world and as a result, they often leave with new perspectives and greater compassion for all their brothers and sisters.
Though Dr. Gabriel remains busy with researching these important topics and teaching them to his students, he always makes time to be with his wife, Erin. Additionally, “Dr. Gabriel enjoys watching and reading about basketball, cooking, baking, eating new and interesting foods, and spending quality time with his family.” [2]
[1][2] Jacob Healey, “New Faculty: Dr. Ryan Gabriel, Traversing the Geography of Race,” September 2016.
