Erin Hudnall

Erin is a doctoral candidate of Sociology focused on rural community and organizational research. Her perspective is informed by her Appalachian heritage and growing up in southern West Virginia. She is an applied, community-engaged researcher working to advance public sociology in West Virginia and within the discipline. Her dissertation research focuses on the processes of community development and place-making in rural contexts. 

Erin is passionate about youth development and engagement. Her work in this area began at West Virginia Wesleyan College as an undergraduate where she created and led an after-school program for healthy lifestyle education. Since then, Erin has expanded her knowledge about youth engagement through research and partnerships around West Virginia. She continues this work as a Co-Founder of Glimmer Collaborative, LLC.

When she’s not working, Erin enjoys kayaking and hiking, hanging out with friends and family (which includes her sassy rescue chihuahua named Fizzie), reading, and creating art.