Department

• Cultural and Social Studies

Position

• Assistant Professor

Secondary Appointment

• Medical Humanities

• Health Administration and Policy

Kevin Estep completed his undergraduate education in his home state of Oklahoma. He began his career in higher education at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, where he worked in Student Affairs and developed a passion for mentoring and teaching undergraduate students. After deciding his skills were better suited for a faculty role than an administrative one, he chose to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology at the only place in the world that cares more about football than Oklahoma—Notre Dame. Kevin’s research focuses on the consequences of residential sorting processes—what some have called “the Big Sort”—on public policy and public health. His most recent project investigates why an increasing number of parents are opting out of childhood immunizations and why those parents tend to be clustered in particular communities. Kevin began is appointment in the Health Administration and Policy program at Creighton University in 2017. He moved to Omaha with his wife, Erica, and four energetic children age 9 and under. As a result, he has no hobbies to report here…and no regrets either.

Research and Scholarship Interests

• Vaccination policy, vaccine exemptions; political polarization; the consequences of residential sorting 

Current Research Projects

• Opting Out: Individualism and Vaccine Refusal in Pockets of Socioeconomic Homogeneity
  The Partisan Polarization of Compulsory Childhood Vaccination Laws
  The Long-term Consequences of Participation in a Justice-Oriented Study Abroad Program