Medical sociologist and demographer Jeralynn “Lynne” Sittig Cossman is the inaugural Dean of the College for Health, Community and Policy (HCAP) at The University of Texas at San Antonio. She also serves as the Mark G. Yudof Endowed Professor in the Departments of Demography and Sociology. As she leads the development of UTSA’s largest college, Dr. Cossman is building undergraduate and graduate programs that are designed to send UTSA students out into the community in health-related capacities—and from many perspectives. Most recently, HCAP launched an interdisciplinary major in Health, Aging and Society.
A proud Seminole, who claims she bleeds garnet and gold, Dean Cossman earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and women’s studies in 1990 and went on to earn her master’s in sociology with an emphasis on family. In 1996, she completed her doctoral studies in sociology and demography. It was during this time that she developed a passion for marginalized communities – in particular, communities dealing with AIDS. Her dissertation focused on the development of children’s attitudes toward people with AIDS.
Early on, her research was driven by personal circumstances of experiencing sexism, being a child of divorce, and having extensive interactions with the health care system. Wanting to understand how structures influenced these seemingly personal circumstances is what drove Dean Cossman to study sociology. Well, technically, what first drove her to sociology was missing the business school’s acceptance cut-off by one-100th of a GPA point. In the process of trying to raise her GPA, however, she found sociology and never looked back.
After completing her Ph.D., Dean Cossman taught at Miami University (Ohio) and the University of Central Arkansas. In 2001, she relocated to Mississippi State University and began her 13-year tenure there, ultimately serving as professor, graduate program coordinator, director of the Ellen Bryant Women’s Resource Center and Gender Studies, research scientist at the Mississippi Health Policy Research Center, and finally department head for sociology. Most important to her, Dean Cossman was the first female sociologist to “rise through the ranks” from Assistant Professor to Professor in that program.
In 2014, Dean Cossman moved to West Virginia University, an R1 land-grant university where she oversaw curriculum and program development in a department of more than 1,000 students in criminology, sociology and anthropology. Notably, she spearheaded the design and implementation of the university’s doctoral program in sociology. Additionally, she led the expansion of the department’s research infrastructure, including affiliating with multiple health science research centers, to support and provide funding opportunities for all doctoral students. Her biggest personal accomplishment at WVU was graduating the first doctoral student from that program, Dr. Julia Wolf, who now works with Dean Cossman as a post-doctoral fellow.
Dean Cossman’s research focuses on community health and health professionals. She has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, among others. She is the author of approximately 70 peer-reviewed publications in sociology and interdisciplinary journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, Social Problems, Health and Place, Population Research and Policy Review, Sociological Inquiry, and The Journal of Rural Health. Her current research is largely focused on the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on subjective life expectancy, protective behaviors (distancing/masking), and health behaviors (sleep, exercise, and diet).
In her spare time, Dean Cossman loves to travel—anywhere—and especially enjoys trying different foods and wines during her travels.
