Professor of Sociology
Department of Sociology and
Anthropology
St. John’s University
Sociology and Anthropology
St. John Hall, Room 444C-2
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, New York 11439
Phone: (718) 990-2472
Fax:(718) 990-5878
desenaj@stjohns.edu
Educational Background
Ph.D., 1985, Graduate School and University Center of the City
University of New York, Sociology
B.A., 1978, Brooklyn College, Sociology
Research
Areas of Specialization
Community, gender, urban sociology, and research methods
Profile
Judith N. DeSena is a professor of Sociology at St. John’s
University. Dr. DeSena received her Ph.D. from the Graduate School
and University Center of the City University of New York. Her work
centers on community, neighborhoods, and gender studies. Her latest
research agenda stems from a commitment to better articulate how
gentrification affects residential spaces and community
relationships in Brooklyn, NY.
She has authored Protecting One's Turf: Social Strategies for
Maintaining Urban Neighborhoods (University Press of America, 1990
and 2005), People Power: Grass Roots Politics and Race Relations
(University Press of America 1999). She has edited readings in
sociology and ethnic studies, and is editor of Gender in an Urban
World (Emerald Publishing Group, 2008). She has also published
various research articles in the area of residential segregation,
women’s community activism, and gendered space. Her latest book,
Gentrification and Inequality in Brooklyn: The New Kids on the
Block (Lexington Books, 2009), is a social class analysis of
gentrification and the neighborhood dynamics it creates.
At St. John’s, Dr. DeSena has taught graduate and undergraduate
courses on research methods, the sociology of neighborhoods,
community, deviance, and gender. She has served on multiple
committees on campus and is currently the director of the
Interdisciplinary Minor Program in New York Studies.