My name is Jonathan Coley, and I am Associate Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University and Editor-in-Chief of The Sociological Quarterly. I completed my PhD in sociology at Vanderbilt University.

My research examines social movements, politics, religion, education, work, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity. My major lines of research to date have focused on LGBTQ activism and inequalities at Christian colleges and universities, student activism at U.S. colleges and universities, and occupational activism among professional workers in the United States.

I have also contributed my expertise to collaborative projects on biography and history in the Nashville civil rights movement, culture and the early U.S. labor movement, environmental politics in the United States, and local-level religion-state relations in the United States.

My first book, Gay on God’s Campus: Mobilizing for LGBT Equality at Christian Colleges and Universities, was published by The University of North Carolina Press in 2018. My co-edited volume, LGBTQ Religious Activism: New Perspectives (with Golshan Golriz), is forthcoming from the University of North Carolina Press in 2026. My research has also been published in journals such as American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Mobilization, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and Work and Occupations.

My research has been recognized through awards from the American Sociological Association, Society for the Study of Social Problems, and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, among others. My research is funded through grants from the National Science Foundation, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Association for the Sociology of Religion, and more.

Interested readers can learn more about my research and teaching at the links above. For a full list of my published work, please see my CV. Finally, click here to view my department webpage.