Department of Sociology Faculty

Paula B. Fernández (Assistant Professor) received her B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Florida International University (FIU), and her Masters and Ph.D. in Comparative Sociology from FIU in Miami, Florida. Her areas of concentration are methodology, race and ethnicity, gender, and quality of life indicators for minority groups in the United States. She is coordinator of the MOST program.

Before joining the faculty at William Paterson University, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Stempel School of Public Health at FIU. She taught graduate-level courses for the Masters of Public Health in the College of Health and Urban Affairs on theories of health behavior, social epidemiology, and cultural competence for public health practice. She also taught undergraduate courses as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in the College of Arts and Sciences at FIU, such as Race and Ethnic Minorities, Sociology of Gender, and Social Problems.

Dr. Fernández was the Director for Research and Evaluation for REACH 2010 (Racial and Ethnic Approaches for Community Health by 2010) at FIU from December 2000 to August 2004. REACH 2010 is a CDC-funded HIV/AIDS prevention program for minority groups in Broward County, South Florida. From September 1999 to September 2000, Dr. Fernández was a Supervisory Survey Statistician for the American Community Survey at the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Atlanta Regional Office. Previously, she had been a Research Associate at the Immigration and Ethnicity Institute at FIU from 1995 to 1999, and a Survey Supervisor at the Institute of Public Opinion Research also at FIU from 1994 to 1999.

Prof. Fernández has delivered papers on her research on African American adolescents’ education in Miami to professional meetings such as the American Anthropological Association, American Sociological Association, and the Society for Applied Anthropology. She has co-authored and published a scientific paper published in the journal Ethnicity & Disease based on her work at the REACH 2010 project.