Timothy Shortell
Professor
Sociology
Location: 3612 James Hall
Phone: 718.951.5314
Fax: 718.951.4639
Email:
Timothy Shortell's Web site
Timothy Shortell is a visual social psychologist who studies group identities and belonging. His current research examines the framing of religious group identities using quantitative discourse analysis. He has published widely and is active in the International Visual Sociology Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. He is also a visual artist and musician. Shortell has been at Brooklyn College since 1997.
Education:
Ph.D., Boston College - 1992 (Psychology, Social)
B.S., Washington State University - 1987 (Psychology)
Areas of Expertise:
Timothy Shortell's research interests include spatial and social semiotics, American public discourse, visual sociology, place-making, and identity. His teaching interests include statistics, data analytics and visualization, visual sociology, social interaction, sociology of religion, and the sociology of science and technology.
Books and Publications
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Storymaking and Photography: The Visual Essay and Migration." Visual Methods in Migration Studies. Edited by K. Nikielska-Sekula and A. Desille. Springer. 141-159. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2021
Williams, R. and T. Shortell. "Eyes Upon the Street: Visual Social Scientific Approaches to Religion and the City." Routledge Handbook of Religion and Cities. Edited by K. Day and E. Edwards. Routledge (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2021
Shortell, T. 2019. "Social Type (Simmel)" Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd edition, edited by G. Ritzer and C. Rojek. Wiley Blackwell. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
Everyday Globalization: A Spatial Semiotics of Immigrant Neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Paris. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2016
"Introduction: Walking as Urban Practice and Research Method." Walking in Cities: Quotidian Mobility as Urban Theory, Method, and Practice. Eds E. Brown and T. Shortell. Temple University Press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2015
"Preface." Culture and Visual Forms of Power: Experiencing Contemporary Spaces of Resistance. Ed L.K.C. Manzo. Common Ground Publishing. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
"Visual Methods in the Study of Power." Culture and Visual Forms of Power: Experiencing Contemporary Spaces of Resistance. Ed L.K.C. Manzo. Common Ground Publishing. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
Brown, E. and T. Shortell. Walking in Cities: Quotidian Mobility as Urban Theory, Method, and Practice. Temple University Press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2015
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Seeing Islam in Global Cities: A Spatial Semiotic Analysis." Seeing Religion: Toward a Visual Sociology of Religion. Ed R. Williams. Routledge. 61-84. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2015
Shortell, T. and E. Brown. Walking in the European City: Quotidian Mobility and Urban Ethnography. Ashgate. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2014
Shortell, T. and K. Aderer. "Drifting in Chinatowns: Toward a Situationist Analysis of Polyglot Urban Spaces in New York, London and Paris." Walking in the European City: Quotidian Mobility and Urban Ethnography. Eds. T. Shortell and E. Brown. Ashgate. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2014
Krase, J., and T. Shortell. "Seeing New York City's Financial Crisis in the Vernacular Landscape." Crisis and Cities: New Critical Urban Theory. Ed. K. Fujita. Sage. 188-217. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2013
"Brooklyn and Belleville: On the Spatial Semiotics of Ethnic Identity in Immigrant Neighborhoods." The World in Brooklyn: Gentrification, Immigration and Ethnic Politics in a Global City. Eds J. DeSena and T. Shortell. Lexington Books. 259-88. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2012
Election Polls, Expertise, and Empirical Thinking. Clarion, December. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
DeSena, J. and T. Shortell. The World in Brooklyn: Gentrification, Immigration, and Ethnic Politics in a Global City. Lexington Books. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2012
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "On the Visual Semiotics of Collective Identity in Urban Vernacular Spaces." Sociology of the Visual Sphere. Eds. R. Nathansohn and D. Zuev. Routledge. 108-28. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2012
Shortell, T., and J. Krase. "Global Cities." Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Eds. W.C. Roof and M. Juergensmeyer. Sage. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
"African-American Abolitionism as a Human Rights Discourse." Human Rights and the Media 6, Studies in Communications. Ed. Diana Papademas. Emerald. 121-37. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"The Conflict Over Origins: A Discourse Analysis of the Creationism Controversy in American Newspapers." Mass Communication & Society 14.4: 431-53. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "On the Spatial Semiotics of Vernacular Landscapes in Global Cities." Visual Communication 10.3: 371-404. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
"The Decline of the Public Sphere: A Semiotic Analysis of the Rhetoric of Race in New York City." Race and Ethnicity in New York City. Research in Urban Sociology, Volume Seven. Eds. Jerome Krase and Ray Hutchinson. New York: Elsevier. 159-77. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2004
"The Rhetoric of Black Abolitionism: An Exploratory Analysis of Anti-Slavery Newspapers in New York State." Social Science History 28.1: 75-109. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2004
Creative Work
E. Granby Granby. Cold. Cassette. Regional Bears #16. 2019
Windows. Book/CD. 2011
"SemioCode: Content Coding Software for Quantitative Text Analysis." 2007
Urban Birds. Photographs and music. Book/CD. 2007
Lambkin, G. and T. Shortell. Motion Painting. DVD. 2007
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Leonard and Claire Tow Faculty Travel Award, to study multiethnic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Paris. (Awards and Honors) 2010
PSC-CUNY 41, for "Brooklyn and Belleville: Spatial Semiotics of Collective Identity in Urban Neighborhoods." (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
PSC-CUNY 40, for "Seeing Difference: The Visual Semiotics of Urban Neighborhoods." Timothy Shortell and Jerome Krase, co-recipients. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
PSC-CUNY 38, for "Mapping the Contentious Public Sphere." (Grants and Fellowships) 2008
National Science Foundation grant application, for "Modeling the Contentious Public Sphere: Extending Network Science to the Study of Public Discourse." T. Shortell and John A. Velling, co-principal investigators. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
PSC-CUNY 36, for "The Network Properties of Public Discourse." (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
CUNY Institute for Software Design and Development, for "SemioCode: Proposal for the Development of Content Coding Software for Quantitative Text Analysis." (Grants and Fellowships) 2002
PSC-CUNY 32, for "Land, Labor & Liberty: The Anti-Rent Movement in New York State, 1830-1870." Timothy Shortell and Mary Howard, co-recipients. (Grants and Fellowships) 2001
PSC-CUNY 31, for "Land, Labor & Liberty: The Anti-Rent Movement in New York State, 1830-1870." Timothy Shortell and Mary Howard, co-recipients. (Grants and Fellowships) 2000
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Shortell, T. 2017. "Seeing Conflict & Cooperation in Public Discourse." Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Washington, DC, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Shortell, T. 2017. "Seeing Conflict & Cooperation in Public Discourse." Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Washington, DC, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Shortell, T. 2016. "Seeing Religion Inside and Out: Spatial Semiotics and Group Boundaries." Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Atlanta, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"Seeing Religion in Public Spaces: Some Methodological Considerations." Annual meeting of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. Chicago, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "Everyday Mobility as a Method of Seeing Contested Identities." Annual conference of the International Visual Sociology Association. Tinos, Greece, June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"The Politics of Visibility: Gentrification and Immigration in East London." 68th Annual Conference of the New York State Political Science Association. New York, April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Seeing Islam in Global Cities: A Spatial Semiotic Analysis." Annual conference of the International Visual Sociology Association. Pittsburgh, PA, June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "Seeing Islam in Global Cities: A Spatial Semiotic Analysis." Annual meeting of the International Visual Sociology Association. London, July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Aderer, K. and T. Shortell. "Drifting in Chinatowns: Toward a Situationist Analysis of Cosmopolitan Urban Spaces." Annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society. New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Aderer, K. and T. Shortell. "Drifting in Chinatowns: Toward a Situationist Analysis of Cosmopolitan Urban Spaces." Annual meeting of the International Visual Sociology Association. Brooklyn, N.Y., July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"A Spatial Semiotics of Public Spaces in Migrant Neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Paris." 10th conference of the European Sociological Association. Geneva, September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Polyglot Paris: A Spatial Semiotics of Postcolonial Immigrant Neighborhoods." Annual conference of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies. London, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "Immigrant Islam: Politics of Representation and the Challenge of Seeing Collective Identity in Global Cities." 10th conference of the European Sociological Association. Geneva, September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Seeing Everyday Multiculturalism." IUAES Inter-Congress. Antalya, Turkey. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "On the Visual Semiotics of Collective Identity in Urban Vernacular Spaces." XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology. Gothenburg, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "Place, Space, Identity: A Spatial Semiotics of the Urban Vernacular in Global Cities." ESA Sociology of Culture mid-term conference. Milan. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "Seeing Islam in Global Cities: A Spatial Semiotic Analysis. Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Baltimore. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Shortell, Timothy and Jerome Krase, organizers and conveners of "Brooklyn in a Global Context: Ethnicity and Class Differences in Urban Neighborhoods," annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"Brooklyn and Belleville: A Case Study of the Visual Semiotics of Ethnic Identity in Two Diverse Urban Neighborhoods." Annual meeting of the International Visual Sociology Association. Carlisle, Cumbria, United Kingdom. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Visualizing Glocalization: Semiotics of Ethnic and Class Differences in Global Cities." Annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society. Baltimore. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
Shortell, T. and J. Krase. "Spatial Semiotics of Difference in Urban Vernacular Neighborhoods." 9th European Sociological Association Conference. Lisbon, Portugal. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"The Conflict Over Origins: A Discourse Analysis of the Creationism/Evolution Dispute." Annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society. New York. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Visualizing Glocalization: Changing Images of Ethnic Vernacular Neighborhoods in Global Cities." First ISA Forum of Sociology. Barcelona, Spain. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Krase, J. and T. Shortell. "Imagining Chinatowns and Little Italies: A Visual Approach to Ethnic Spectacles." Le Beau Dans La Ville: Colloque International. Tours, France. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"African-American Abolitionism as a Human Rights Discourse." Annual meeting of the Amherst Branch of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. Amherst, Mass. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
"From Innovation to Common Practice: How Faculty Networks Are Spreading New Practices at Brooklyn College." Annual meeting of the American Historical Association. Washington, D.C. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
"Seeing the City: Using the Community Profile to Teach Urban Sociology." Annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. San Francisco. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
"Collective Identity Construction in Black Abolitionist Discourse: A Conceptual Network Analysis of the New York Anti-Slavery Press." Race/Ethnicity Network Session, Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association. St Louis. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2002
"Urban Wordscapes: The Rhetoric of Public Life in Contemporary New York." Eastern Sociology Society Annual Meeting. Boston. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2002
"The Black Abolitionist Jeremiad: An Innovative Analysis of Anti-Slavery Newspapers In New York State." Race/Ethnicity Network Session, Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association. Chicago. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2001
Shortell, Timothy, Nancy Sanchez, Zuleika Rodriguez and Enrique Marin. "The Rhetoric of Black Abolitionism: Moral Claims-Making and Collective Identity in the New York Anti-Slavery Press." Sociology of Religion Roundtable, Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Anaheim, Calif. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2001
Professional Leadership
Member, Executive Board, TG05 Visual Sociology, International Sociological Association. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2010
PSC faculty grievance counselor. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2005
Pedagogical Achievements
I have created an online teaching portal, CourseServe. 2003
