Professor
(719) 502-3495 | sharon.bjorkman@pikespeak.edu
Box C17, Centennial | PCE-F322
Sharon Bjorkman
Ph.D., Loyola University
Dr. Bjorkman is passionate about quality instruction and student success at Pikes
Peak State College (PPSC). Her teaching prioritizes engaged learning where students
are actively involved in the learning process. Dr. Bjorkman is committed to equity
in education, bringing past and current marginalized groups to the center of the curriculum,
and by interrogating teaching practices that continue to marginalize the marginalized.
Dr. Bjorkman serves as the chair of the Curriculum Committee and Coordinator for The
Equity Project. In the past she has also served at the Co-director of the Center for
Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Bjorkman has supported El Paso’s 4th Judicial District's Minority Over-Representation
Committee by collecting data on youth incarceration.
For her dissertation, Bjorkman researched the intersections of spirituality and home
birth midwifery, The Lord Decided for Me: An ethnographic study of the daily work
and spiritual language of midwives.
Bjorkman has researched low-income housing for elderly in Chicago resulting in the
Master's thesis: The Rebecca Walker Project and the Perils of Funding Acquisition.
She also served as a contributing researcher for Making End Meet by Kathryn Edin,
which inspired welfare policy changes.
Additional research projects included:
Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners, by Nancy Ammerman- contributing
researcher.
Chicago Institute on Urban Poverty at Heartland Alliance
Park Ridge Research Center and Advocate Health Care Systems
Introduction to Sociology I
Introduction to Sociology II
Sociology of Death and Dying
Sociology of Deviance
Sociology of Gender
Sociology of Religion
Environmental Sociology
“Doing Church: The Active Creation of Worship Style.” In Richard Schaefer, Sociology.
The Lord Decided for Me: An ethnographic study of the daily work and spiritual language
of midwives. - Dissertation
"The Rebecca Walker Project and the Perils of Funding Acquisition" - Master's Thesis
Disproportionate Racial Incarceration
Equity
Death & Dying
Religion
Gender
Ethnographic Research