Suzanne Shanahan, Ph.D.
Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director
Professor of the Practice
Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director
Professor of the Practice
Suzanne Shanahan is the Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director at the Institute for Social Concerns and professor of sociology. She also leads the Virtues & Vocations Initiative—a national forum seeking to cultivate character, purpose, and meaning in pre-professional and professional education.
Shanahan’s research focuses on understanding the refugee experience in East Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia with special attention to how displaced persons construct moral boundaries around what is right, just, and fair. Her current research also examines the causes and consequences of domestic child sex trafficking for children and families in the United States.
Before joining the institute, Shanahan led the Kenan Institute for Ethics and DukeEngage, Duke University’s signature civic engagement program. At Duke she also founded the Kenan Refugee Project, a six-country, community-engaged research project on forced migration, and received the Robert B. Cox Distinguished Teaching Award and the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award.
Shanahan has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in sociology from Stanford University and a B.A. in international studies from Johns Hopkins University.