Video: Get to Know Dr. Julie N. Zimmerman, Ph.D.

Article: “ 'A lasting impact’: UK rural sociologist helps Kentucky’s communities through data” 

My research has both an academic and an applied focus. Recent projects include a book chapter on rural sociology’s 100-year history which is forthcoming in The Research Handbook of Rural Sociology edited by Ann Tickamyer and Carolyn Sachs. Other works include the book, Opening Windows onto Hidden Lives: Women, Country Life, and Early Rural Sociological Research (with co-author Olaf Larson) that explores the unexpected inclusion of rural and farm women in research conducted by the USDA’s Division of Farm Population and Rural Life (1919-1953) as well as a history of the first Department of Rural Sociology in the nation.  A Century of Scholarship and Service: 100 Years of Rural and Development Sociology at Cornell.

 Publications include: “An Unexpected Legacy: Women, Early Rural Sociological Research, and the Limits of Linearity; ” , “Mediated Knowledge: Reexamining Six Classic Community Studies from a Woman's Point of View;” , and the book chapter “I Could Tell Stories ‘til the Cows Come Home Individual Biography meets Collective Biography” (in Johannes Hans Bakker (ed.) Rural Sociologists at Work)

In 2009, I became the first woman and second youngest to serve as Historian of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS)  and in 2025, I was the first woman at UK to receive the RSS’s highest honor - the Margaret Hagood Distinguished Rural Sociologist award.

Another part of my work includes research with an applied emphasis including work that has examined prices in rural areas (“Meals in Mountains: Examining Longitudinal Changes in Rural/Urban Food Prices, ”  , “The Enduring Price of Place: Revisiting the Rural Cost of Living,”  and the original study “Does it or Doesn’t it? Geographic Differences and the Costs of Living.” 

For Cooperative Extension, I work as an Extension demographer in the area of applied population.  I developed and run the Extension program Kentucky: By The Numbers  which focuses on providing assistance with using and understanding publicly available secondary data local decision-making.  My program includes skill-based training, custom data analyses, direct assistance, resources for accessing and using online secondary data, and web access to resources and commonly used data.  As a result of my Extension program, I also provide multiple guest lectures for courses in CLD and other programs.  In 2025, I was honored to receive the M.D. Whitaker award from the Kentucky Association of State Extension Professionals (KASEP) .

In addition to being a faculty member in CLD, I hold a joint appointment with the Department of Sociology and am a faculty member in the Sociology Graduate Program.  I am also an affiliate faculty member in the UK Appalachian Center. 

Contact me for assistance with:

• Understanding rural/urban differences
• Locating and using publicly available secondary data
• History of social sciences in colleges of agriculture and USDA

External Links

Listen to Dr. Zimmerman on NPR: Women's Work Is Never Done On The Farm, And Sometimes Never Counted

Read about some of Dr. Zimmerman’s applied work with Cooperative Extension:

     Nelson County Residents to Get Up Close Look at Monday Presentation

     'Silver Tsunami' Predicted to Hit Nelson in 2030

     ‘Invaluable information’: Extension Community Needs Assessment gathers Kentucky data, informs future programming' 

Areas of Interest

Social Sciences in Agriculture, Rural/Urban Differences, Rural Inequality, Locating and Using Secondary Data, History of Rural Sociology