department of
Sociology,
Social Work & Anthropology
Peg
Petrzelka
Old
Main 216E
(435) 797-0981
peggy.petrzelka@usu.edu
 Peggy
(Peg) Petrzelka, Associate Professor, joined Utah State University in 2001.
She received her M.S. in Rural Sociology and PhD in Sociology from Iowa
State University. Her BA is in Political Science from College of St.
Thomas, St. Paul, MN.
Peg’s research and teaching interests include environmental sociology,
community and rural sociology, and social change and development.
She spent several years in the Atlas Mountains of Southern Morocco,
first as a Peace Corps Volunteer and later as a Fulbright Scholar. In
her Fulbright research she examined the social relations of two diverse
rural Imazighen communities, and how the social dynamics within each
community affect the respective communities’ common property management.
The results are found in a co-authored article, “Rationality and
Solidarities: The Social Organization of Common Property Resources in
the Imdrhas Valley of Morocco” (Human Organization. 2000. Vol.
59, No. 3, pgs. 343-352). While in Morocco she also researched and documented
the indigenous environmental knowledge of the Imazighen people, as well
as the interplay between gender and development.
Her work with Iowa State University focused on issues related to sustainable
agriculture and integrated crop and pest management, a holistic approach
to agricultural management that emphasizes reduction of chemicals.
This research has resulted in the following recent co-authored pieces:
“The Role of Sociologists in Evaluation of a Pest Management Tool.”
(Journal of Applied Sociology. 2002. Vol. 19, No.2, pgs. 68-80) and
“Integrated Crop Management: The Other Precision Agriculture”
(American Journal of Alternative Agriculture. 2001. Vol. 16, No. 1,
pgs. 16-22).
In her dissertation, “The Loess Hills: Power and Democracy in
a ‘New’ Landform” she examines in-depth the social
dimensions of scientific proclamations upon place, specifically the
Loess Hills, a landform located in seven counties of Western Iowa.
She recently received the Rural Sociological Society’s Early
Careers Award and will use the award to conduct research on volunteer
tourism work in rural communities, examining how rural tourism development
impacts men and women in host rural communities and the policy implications
of rural tourism.
Additional research interests include (1) continuing the examination
of place and the sociological issues which are embedded in it and (2)
a return to Morocco to revisit the women and development question.
She also enjoys attempting to catch cutthroat trout with fake flies,
hiking, gardening, and hanging out with her nieces and nephews.
Vita for Dr. Petrzelka
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