Office hours are open.
As Sociology Program Coordinator at VSU, Fraser teaches students to read the city and to do research that holds up — from the first methods course to the senior capstone, run like a working think tank.
Today's schedule
The VSU Sociology core Fraser coordinates, plus the courses he leads. Required courses must be completed before the senior capstone.Studio production: a simulated think tank
A pedagogical frame for SOCI 352.Students don't study urban policy. They produce it.
In Urban Issues, the classroom becomes a working research center. Students take on the roles of applied urban researchers — framing problems, gathering evidence, and writing the kind of briefs, white papers, and policy memos that real cities commission.
The conceit gives undergraduates something a lecture can't: the experience of being trusted with a real question, and the discipline of answering it for an audience that isn't their professor.
What students leave with
- The ability to read and interpret real data — not just describe it
- Experience writing for clients: policy briefs, white papers, research reports
- A specialization built in collaboration with their advisor
- A portfolio piece that looks like professional work, because it is
Areas of instruction
Courses across urban studies, environment, inequality, and methods — at VSU, Vanderbilt, UNC, Minnesota, and Fisk.Urban Studies
Environmental Studies
Social Inequality
Research Methods
Mentorship & the toolkit
Advising at every level, and a continuing investment in how teaching gets done.Graduate advising
Chaired or served on 20+ doctoral and master's committees at Vanderbilt, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, and Fisk.
- Dissertation chair to Joshua Bazuin, Emily Thaden, and Jennifer Mokos (Vanderbilt)
- Dissertation co-chair to Emily Lample (Vanderbilt) and Ashley Brown-Burns (Duke)
- Master's chair to students at Vanderbilt and UNC
- Committee service across a further dozen graduate students
Teaching development
Keeping the craft current — including the move into AI-aware pedagogy.
- AI Lightning Talks Series Certificate, VSU Academy of Faculty Enrichment (2026)
- Quality Matters Pathways certifications for online teaching (2024)
- The Cumberland Project, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt (2012–2013)
- Member, VSU University AI Task Force (2025–present)