Louwanda Evans

BA, MA, University of Texas-Arlington; PhD, Texas A&M University

Louwanda Evans joined the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in 2012. In the program, Louwanda teaches Introduction to Sociology, Research Methods & Statistics, The Many Dimensions of Poverty, and numerous other courses that focus on social inequality and criminology. Her newest course on poverty is directly connected to the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty, an interdisciplinary program housed at Washington & Lee University that focuses on the eradication of poverty. This course also serves as the gateway course through which several Millsaps students enter a summer internship housed throughout the nation.

Louwanda joined Millsaps because of the great opportunities it offers students to learn and grow though community engagement. Her teaching philosophy is one in which everyone takes responsibility for learning. Her courses center on conceptual discussions in which students engage the material in a way that creates deeper connections between sociological concepts and the real world. At Millsaps, “I have the opportunity to bring students into the local community to understand the connections between our social lives and our social outcomes.” In the classroom, Louwanda believes in the reciprocity of learning and that all students have a voice. “I believe that everyone has a responsibility in the classroom and that all perspectives and voices are valued, not just my voice.”