Sociology Department

Myrna Goodman is the Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. She is a graduate of Sonoma State University (B.A. Sociology 1988) and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. Her Ph.D. degree includes a Designated Emphasis in Social Theory and Comparative History.  

Dr. Goodman's dissertation was an analysis of the contributions of ideology, culture and political process in the formation of the Danish Resistance Movement and the rescue of the Jews in Denmark during World War II. It is titled: "Resistance and Rescue: German-Occupied Denmark 1940-1943: Ideology, Politics and Culture." During her doctoral research, Professor Goodman made two research trips to Denmark to interview participants in the Danish Resistance Movement, Danish historians and Jewish Danes who were evacuated to Sweden. Her publications include a chapter, "Foundations of Resistance in German-Occupied Denmark." in the book, Resisting the Holocaust. Those visits sparked an ongoing research interest in contemporary Scandinavian politics and social life. Professor Goodman's current teaching interests also include courses in the sociology of consumption and the relationships between food, gender and society.

Dr. Goodman coordinates the annual Holocaust Lecture Series: Perspectives on the Holocaust and Genocide, an upper division GE course and teaches the course the Sociology of Genocide. Professor Goodman is the faculty advisor to the SSU Human Rights Club.