Education

Ph.D. Sociology, Brandeis University

B.A./M.A. Religious Studies, Brown University

Areas of Specialization

Sociology of the family, religion, pilgrimage, & therapeutic culture

Honors and Awards

The Arts & Sciences Award for Faculty Governance, 2020

Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, 2015

Alumni Fellowship Award, 2010

Engaged Scholar Fellow, Congressional Studies Team 2005

Background

Kathleen Jenkins came to W&M in 2005. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from Brandeis University and her BA/MA in religious studies from Brown University. Her main areas of interests are sociology of religion, sociology of families, pilgrimage, and the relationship between therapeutic culture and religion. She is the Co-Director of the Institute for Pilgrimage Studies at William & Mary.

Research

Professor Jenkins’ most recent ethnography is Walking the Way Together: How Families Connect on the Camino de Santiago. Her current ethnographic project addresses Ending Long Term Partnerships and Extended Walking Pilgrimage. Her second book, Sacred Divorce: Religion, Therapeutic Culture, and Ending Life Partnerships, was published in 2014 with Rutgers University Press. Her first ethnography, Awesome Families: the Promise of Healing Relationships in the International Churches of Christ, was published with Rutgers University Press in 2005.  Jenkins has published articles in The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Teaching Sociology, Qualitative Sociology and Social Forces and recently co-edited a collection of articles in the 2024 volume of ad limina, titled “Pilgrimage in a Globalizing World: Cross-Disciplinary Research and Social Implications.”