Dr. Waity's research focuses generally on food insecurity and food access, public sociology, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is currently working on research that examines the impact of COVID-19 on college student food access as well as the impact of hurricanes on food insecurity.

Selected Journal Articles

Waity, Julia, Amelia Huelskamp, Rebecca Hagedorn-Hatfield, Ronald Harding, Adam Hage, Lanae Hood, Avril Rowerdink, and Jessica Soldavini. 2023. “The COVID-19 Pandemic and College Student Food Access: Perspectives from Students at Four North Carolina Universities” Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition

Waity, Julia F., Mitchell Farrell, Jennifer Vanderminden, Jean-Anne Sutherland. 2023. “Mentoring students through disruption: The case for community-engaged research.” Perspectives on Undergraduate Research & Mentoring (PURM) special issue on Continuity of Mentoring Undergraduate Research in the Face of Uncertainty

Waity, Julia, Emily Crumpler, Jennifer Vanderminden, and Stephanie Crowe. 2023. “Using Community-Based Research to Teach Information Literacy”. Currents in Teaching & Learning

Moser, Samantha, Julia Waity, and Kirsten Kinzer. 2023. "Dealing with Disappointment in the Community Engaged Classroom." Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice

Olfert Melissa D., Rebecca L. Hagedorn, Bailey Houghtaling, Monica K Esquivel, Lanae B Hood,  Lillian MacNell, Jessica Soldavini, Maureen Berner, Mateja R Savoie Roskos, Melanie D Hingle, Georgianna R Mann, Julia F Waity, Linda L Knol, Jennifer Walsh, Valerie Kern-Lyons, Christopher Paul, Keith Pearson, Jeannine R Goetz, Marsha Spence, Elizabeth T Anderson-Steeves, Elizabeth D Wall-Bassett, J Porter Lillis, E Brooke Kelly, Adam Hege, Mary Catherine Fontenot, and Patty Coleman. 2021. “Struggling with the Basics: Food and Housing Insecurity Among College Students Across Twenty-Two Colleges and Universities.” Journal of American College Health https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1978456

Hagedorn, Rebecca L., Melissa D Olfert, Lillian MacNell, Bailey Houghtaling, Lanae B Hood, Mateja R Savoie Roskos, Jeannine R Goetz, Valerie Kern-Lyons, Linda L Knol, Georgianna R Mann, Monica K Esquivel, Adam Hege, Jennifer Walsh, Keith Pearson, Maureen Berner, Jessica Soldavini, Elizabeth T Anderson-Steeves, Marsha Spence, Christopher Paul, Julia F Waity, Elizabeth D Wall-Bassett, Melanie D Hingle, E Brooke Kelly, J Porter Lillis, Patty Coleman and Mary Catherine Fontenot. 2021 “College Student Sleep Quality and Mental and Physical Health are Associated with Food Insecurity in a Multi-Campus Study”. Public Health Nutrition: 24(13): 4305-4312 doi:10.1017/S1368980021001191

Waity, Julia, Mitchell Farrell, and Von Eaton. 2021. “A Case Study Assessing the Feasibility of a Local Food Label among Producers and Consumers.” Sociation 20(1).

Huelskamp, Amelia, Jaime Russell, and Julia F. Waity. 2021. “Effects of Campus Food Insecurity on Obesogenic Behaviors in College Students.” Journal of American College Health https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2019.1684298

Vanderminden, Jennifer, Julia F. Waity, and Caroline Robinson. 2021. “The ‘Eyes’ Are Watching You: Social Control in an Introduction to Sociology Classroom.” Humanity and Society: 45(1): 82-98 doi/10.1177/0160597619876300

Waity, Julia, Amelia Huelskamp, and Jaime Russell. 2020. Collaborating to Assess and Address Food Insecurity on a College Campus: A Case Study at a Mid-sized Regional University Innovative Higher Education https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09512-y

Waity, Julia F., Jennifer Vanderminden, and Kristin Robeson. 2020. “I think the fact that the author was male instead of female provided for an objective opinion”: Uncovering implicit bias in the classroom International Journal of Innovative Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. DOI: 10.4018/IJITLHE.2020070103

Waity, Julia F. and Stephanie Crowe. 2019. “The Context of Authority and Sociological Knowledge: An Experiential Learning Project.” Communications in Information Literacy 13: 61-74. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2019.13.1.5

Hagedorn, Rebecca L.; Laura H. McArthur, PhD, RD; Lanae B. Hood, PhD; Maureen Berner, PhD; Elizabeth T. Anderson Steeves, PhD, RD; Carol L. Connell, PhD, RD; Elizabeth Wall-Bassett, PhD; Marsha Spence, PhD, MPH; Oyinlola Toyin Babatunde, PhD, MPH; E. Brooke Kelly, PhD; Julia F. Waity, PhD; J. Porter Lillis, PhD; Melissa D. Olfert, DrPH, RDN. 2019. “Expenditure, Coping and Academic Behaviors Among Food Insecure College Students at 10 Higher Education Institutes in the Appalachian and Southeastern Regions” Current Developments in Nutrition DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzz058

Waity, Julia F. 2018. "Geographic Variation in Barriers to the Usage of Food Assistance in Indiana" Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2018.1434100

Hossfeld, Leslie, Brooke Kelly, Erin O’Donnell, and Julia Waity. 2017. “Food Sovereignty, Food Access, and the Local Food Movement in Southeastern North Carolina.” Humanity and Society 41:446-460. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0160597617733619

Waity, Julia F. 2016. “Spatial Inequality in Access to Food Assistance in Indiana.” Sociological Inquiry 86:103-126. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12098

Hossfeld, Leslie, and Julia Waity. 2015. “Building Community in Hard Times: Food Insecurity, Food Sovereignty and the Development of a Local Food Movement in Southeastern North Carolina.” Sociation Today 13:2

Selected Books and Book Chapters

Hossfeld, Leslie, Brooke Kelly, and Julia Waity, editors. 2018. Food and Poverty:  Food Insecurity and Food Sovereignty among America’s Poor. Vanderbilt University Press.

Waity, Julia and Jennifer Vanderminden. 2023. “Incorporating the community into Sociology courses through community-engaged research”. The Teaching Sociology Playbook, edited by Stephanie Medley-Rath and Gregory T. Kordsmeier, Sage.

Vanderminden, Jennifer and Julia Waity. 2021. “Methodological Considerations in Doing Public Sociology in Undergraduate Courses.” Routledge International Handbook on Public Sociology, edited by Leslie Hossfeld, E. Brooke Kelly, and Cassius Hossfeld.

Hossfeld, Leslie, E. Brooke Kelly, and Julia Waity. 2021. “Finding Class in Food Justice Efforts.” The Handbook of Working-Class Studies.

Hossfeld, Leslie, Brooke Kelly, and Julia Waity. 2016. “Solutions to the Social Problem of Food Insecurity in the United States.“ Muschert, Glenn W., Brian V. Klocke, Robert Perrucci, and Jon Shefner (eds).  Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions 2016. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.

Hossfeld, Leslie, E. Brooke Kelly, Amanda C. Smith, and Julia F. Waity. 2015.  “Towards Economies That Won’t Leave: Utilizing a Community Food Systems Model to Develop Multi-Sector Sustainable Economies in Rural Southeastern North Carolina.” In Place-Based Perspectives on Food in Society. Edited by Kevin Fitzpatrick and Don Willis. Macmillan/Palgrave Publishers.

Current Research

Dr. Waity's current research includes: 

Community engaged research lab

Disaster food security

Food insecurity on college campuses

COVID-19’s impact on college student food access

Food insecurity and food access

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research on applied learning