Ax DeLessio-Parson, PhD

www.axdelessioparson.com
axdp@bu.edu | axdelessioparson@gmail.com
call, text, WhatsApp: +14143881664
Google Voice: +14145028484

Policy-oriented sociologist and applied demographer. Educator with over a decade of teaching
experience across literacy levels, university and community settings. Fluent in Spanish.
Committed to community, & currently serving in local government. Open topics of research:
plant-based eating practices in social context, population change, and abolitionism around the
carceral state.

EDUCATION
2017 Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology and Demography (dual degree)
The Pennsylvania State University
Graduate Certificate in Survey Methodology
Certificate in Quantitative Methods
College of Liberal Arts RGSO Dissertation Grant Awardee
Dissertation: Plant-based diets in social context: Three papers. available online:
https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/14673
2013 Master of Science in Rural Sociology
The Pennsylvania State University
College of Agricultural Sciences Endowed Graduate Fellow
Fund for Excellence in Graduate Recruitment Recipient
Thesis: Vegetarianism in a Meat Landscape: A Case Study of Vegetarians in La Plata,
Argentina, available online: https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/8955
2006 Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Boston University summa cum laude
College Prize for Excellence in Political Science
Dean’s List, Golden Key Honors Society
National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Pi Sigma Alpha
Exam areas: 1. Public Policy, 2. International Relations, 3. US-Latin America Relations

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS AND RESEARCH

City of Milwaukee – Legislative Assistant 2022 to present
The Outreach Team, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, Canvasser/team lead 2020
El Estudio Veg Platense – Principal Investigator 2015 to present
▪ Survey creation, sampling design, recruitment, and monitoring (2015 to 2017)
▪ De-identify and prepare data for public use (2020 to present)
Willamette University, Department of Sociology – Visiting Assistant Professor 2017 to 2019
▪ Survey Design, Sampling, and Analysis
▪ Navigating Social Worlds
▪ Food Justice
Portland State University, University Honors College – Instructor 2017 to 2019
▪ Honors Thesis Continuation Seminar
▪ Honors Thesis Prospectus
▪ Food Justice
George Washington University, School of Public Health – Professorial Lecturer 2017 to 2019
▪ Practical Data Management and Analysis for Public Health
Marylhurst University, Oregon, Dept. of Food Systems & Society – Instructor 2018
▪ Engagement for Social Change graduate course hybrid in-person/online
Portland State University, Dept. of Sociology – Instructor 2017 to 2018
▪ Classical Theory
▪ Contemporary Theory
Portland State, Dept. of International and Global Studies – Visiting Scholar 2017 to 2018
The Pennsylvania State University, Dept. of Sociology – Instructor 2013 to 2018
▪ Introductory Sociology, online
▪ Social Stratification, in-person graduate summer seminar
▪ Social Problems, in-person undergraduate summer course
▪ Introductory Sociology, in-person undergraduate summer session
▪ Intermediate Social Statistics with Dr. Greenman undergrad SPSS lab
The Pennsylvania State University, Dept. of Sociology – Teaching Assistant 2013 to 2018
▪ Social Networks with Dr. Felmlee, undergraduate
▪ Social Networks with Dr. Felmlee, graduate
▪ Gender & Health over the Life Course with Dr. Luke, upper-level undergraduate
▪ Sociology of Gender with Dr. Silver (supervised undergraduate course assistants)
The Pennsylvania State University, Population Research Institute – Social media 2015 to 2016
The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Sociology – Research Assistant
▪ South India Community Health Study, co-PI Dr. Nancy Luke. Fieldwork at the
Christian Medical College (Jan 2016, July 2014), Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, India,
worked on interdisciplinary and multiple-university team, 2013 to 2017
▪ With Dr. Kevin Thomas, fall 2013
▪ With Dr. David Johnson and Dr. Jason Thomas, spring 2013
The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and
Education – Research Assistant:
▪ The Marcellus Shale Impacts Study, for the Center of Rural Pennsylvania
▪ Got Grapes? Study of Pennsylvania Wineries. PI: Dr. Anouk Patel Campillo.
Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, 2011 to 2012
Interviewer (Spanish), Programa Interministerial de la Nación (Plan AHÍ), Villa 15 “Ciudad
Oculta” de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012
Foundation for Sustainable Development, La Plata, Argentina – Program Coordinator (2007 to
2008) and Operations Manager (2009)

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PUBLICATIONS
peer-reviewed, reports, and book chapters
DeLessio-Parson, A. 2017. Doing vegetarianism to destabilize the meat-masculinity nexus in La
Plata, Argentina. Gender, Place & Culture (online: 14 November).
Anouk Patel-Campillo and A. DeLessio-Parson. 2016. Why types of operations, trade
associations, and production trends matter in the geographic branding of an emerging industry.
Journal of Wine Research 27(3): 242-256.
Anouk Patel-Campillo, Stephen M. Smith, and A. DeLessio-Parson. 2014. Institutional
sedimentation: The role of regulatory ambiguity and institutional footholds in shaping alcohol
governance in California and Pennsylvania. Territory, Politics, Governance 2(2): 135-149.
Kathryn J. Braiser, Lisa Davis, Leland Glenna, Timothy W. Kelsey, Diane McLaughlin, Kai
Schafft, Kristin Babbie, Catherine Biddle, A. DeLessio-Parson, Danielle Rhubart, and Mark
Suchyta. 2015. Communities experiencing shale gas development. Pp. 149–78 in Economics of
Unconventional Shale Gas Development: Case Studies and Impacts, edited by William E. Hefley
and Yongsheng Wang. Springer.
Kathryn J. Brasier, Lisa Davis, Leland Glenna, Timothy W. Kelsey, Diane McLaughlin, Kai
Schafft, Kristin Babbie, Catherine Biddle, A. DeLessio-Parson, and Danielle Rhubart. 2014. The
Marcellus Shale Impacts Study: Chronicling Social and Economic Change in North Central and
Southwest Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, PA. Center for Rural Pennsylvania Reports. Reports 1, 5, 9.
book reviews
Review of The Industrial Diet: The Degradation of Food and the Struggle for Healthy Eating,
published in Rural Sociology (2016). 81(4): 657-660
Review of Food, Globalization and Sustainability, by Peter Oosterveer and David Allan
Sonnenfeld. Rural Sociology (2014). 79(4): 541-543.
Review of Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability, eds. Alison Hope Alkon &
Julian Agyeman. Rural Sociology (2012). 77: 311-314.

CONFERENCES & COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS

2023 Lighting talk On the meanings of liberation in the Milwaukee foodscape, Knowing Food, a
joint conference with the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS)
and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) in Boston,
Massachusetts. 2 June.
Presentation Veganism in the land of so many cows. Knowing Food, a joint conference with
the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) and the Agriculture,
Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) in Boston, Massachusetts. 2 June.
Presentation One Million in Milwaukee? Evaluating the Evidence. Annual meeting of the
Population Association of America (PAA). New Orleans, LA. 13 April.
Presentation Redistricting as Political Pain: the City of Milwaukee as Case Study. Population
Association of America (PAA) Applied Demography Conference in Annapolis,
Maryland. 9 Feb.

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2022 Guest lecture White supremacy in the Wauwatosa Police Department, for course: Human
Behavior in the Social Environment with Dr. Crampton at Marquette University,
26 October.
Presentation Redemption Farming, working paper presented at Cultivating Connections, a
joint conference with the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS)
and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) in Athens,
Georgia. 20 May.
2021 Public talk Institutional Racism in the Wauwatosa Police Department, virtual talk for
Milwaukee community members upon the invitation of Attorney Kim Motley,
sharing statistics in Case No. 20 CV 01660 for the Federal Court, Eastern District
of Wisconsin. 19 February.
2020 Lecture On the possibilities of a people’s peace, given for the colloquium series at
the Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 7 February.
2019 Presentation Eating for Liberation, a collaboration with Eduardo J. Herrera, presented at
The Familias en Acción 10th Annual Latino Health Equity Conference, 21 June.
Podcast Vegetarianism to Destablise the Patriarchy. Invited guest on The Sacred Womb
podcast with Melanie Swan. 9 April.
2018 Roundtable A Migration Story: Projecting Population Change in Argentina, working paper
shared at the American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting in
Philadelphia, PA. August.
Open lecture The Revolutionary Power of Plant-Based Diets, research findings shared in
community forum as part of Willamette University’s Distilled: Pub Talks, The
Half Penny Public House, Salem, Oregon. 6 June.
Public talk Eating for liberation: Food as a medium for social change, given at the invitation
of Try Vegan PDX at the Belmont Library, Portland, Oregon. 19 May.
Public talk Veganism as Orienting Philosophy, given at the invitation of Cherry City Vegans
at the Marco Polo restaurant in Salem, Oregon. 6 May.
Lecture Conceptualizing Eating for Liberation, given as the Fourth Faculty Colloquium
for Willamette University. The Hatfield Room. Salem, Oregon. 23 February.
2017 Guest lecture From food sovereignty to vegetarianism, for course: Food Justice with Professor
Wendy Petersen Boring at Willamette University, 14 September.
Poster Constructing a survey to break with the binary among vegetarians in Argentina.
Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting. Chicago, April.
Co-author Gender Bias in Pregnancy Behaviors in South India, Nancy Luke, Pennsylvania
State University, Ashley Larsen Gibby, Pennsylvania State University, A.
DeLessio-Parson, Pennsylvania State University, Susan E. Short, Brown
University and Hongwei Xu, University of Michigan. Population Association of
America (PAA) Annual Meeting. Chicago, April.
Poster Going Vegetarian in Argentina: Changing friends or changing minds?
Penn State Graduate School Exhibition. University Park, PA. March.
2016 Poster Shifting paradigms? Plant-based diets in urbanizing India
Second Annual Interdisciplinary Population Health Conference: Persistent and
Emerging Issues in Population Health Science. The Pennsylvania State
University, September.
Training Co-presenter of Interdisciplinary Work: Diffusing multicultural competence and
advocacy. North Atlantic Region Association for Counselor Education and
Supervision Regional Conference, Syracuse, NY, September.
Presentation EncuestaVeg: Novel methods of respondent-driven sampling applied to
vegetarians in Argentina Mini-conference: Social Networks, Infectious Disease,
and Hidden Populations. The Pennsylvania State University, September.

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 Poster A health protective effect of plant-based diets in urbanizing India. Population
Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, April.
Guest lecture Food and the Gender Division of Labor for Gender and Health over the Life
Course with Dr. Luke, The Pennsylvania State University, 22 March.
Workshop Invited speaker on: Preparing Poster Presentations. The Population Research
Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, February.
2015 Guest lecture Developing a Population Perspective to Connect Our Food, Our Health, & Our
Planet, for course: World Population Diversity with Professor Ashton Verdery,
The Pennsylvania State University, 5 November.
Roundtable Time-saving meals and (un)healthy eating: Ethnoracial and nativity group
differences. American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting.
Chicago, August.
Poster Son preference and sterilization in the context of fertility decline in Tamil Nadu,
India, with co-authors Nancy Luke and Hongwei Xu. Annual meeting of the
Population Association of America (PAA). San Diego, CA, May. Poster prize
2014 Presentation Resistance and adaptation: Gender dynamics of vegetarianism in Argentina.
Annual Central PA Consortium (CPC) Women's Studies Conference. Dickinson
College, Carlisle, PA, March.
Guest lecture Food and Eating Practices, for course: Gender and Health over the Life Course
with Dr. Luke, The Pennsylvania State University, 18 March.
Presentation The spatial patterning of obesity and structural (dis)advantage in the United
States. Annual Department of Geography graduate student interdisciplinary
conference no) boundaries. The Pennsylvania State University, March.
2013 Presentation Paper co-authored with Jason R. Thomas and Jonathan Gonzalez. Trends in the
education-mortality gradient among Hispanics in the US. Annual meeting of the
Population Association of America (PAA). New Orleans, April.
Guest lecture Hypothesis Testing I: The One-Sample Case, for course: Intermediate Social
Statistics with Professor David Johnson, 26 February.
2012 Guest lecture Measuring Development: Opportunities & Limitations of Development Indices,
for course: Development Issues in the Global Context with Professor Anouk
Patel-Campillo, 24 January.
2009 Public talk Comparing Two Cities: Washington, DC, United States & La Plata, Argentina.
Invited and hosted by the Instituto Británico de La Plata, Argentina, June.
2008 Public talk Visiting Two Cities: Boston & New York. Invited and hosted by the Instituto
Británico de La Plata, Argentina, April.
2007 Public talk Visiting US Cities: Chicago & New York. Invited and hosted by the Instituto
Británico de La Plata, Argentina.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS & SERVICE

current
Professional memberships: Population Association of America (PAA), American Sociological
Association (ASA), Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS), Interdisciplinary
Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS)
Election inspector, City of Milwaukee (2020 to present)
COSSA Advocacy Day in Washington, DC – April 8-9, 2024
Co-founder/organizer, Green Tomato MKE, a community-rooted food growing group (2020 to
present)

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Reviewer for Gender, Place, & Culture; Gender & Society
Member, Boston University Alumni Association, Penn State Alumni Association
past
Volunteer English teacher, Afghan refugee support, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; weekly at-home
class sessions for recently arrived family, Jan to April 2022
Volunteer, Driver License Campaign, Voces de la Frontera, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, fall 2019
Gender working group, organized by mentor and advisor Dr. Luke with fellow graduate students
seeking to advance gender scholarship, The Pennsylvania State University, 2015 to 2017
Conference session chair: New Research on Gender and Housework, Annual Meeting of the
Population Association of America (PAA) in San Diego, April 2015
Lobbyist, Advocacy Day, Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March 2016
Lobbyist, Capitol Hill Days, Population Connection. Washington, DC, April 2015
Service to the Department of Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University:
Diversity Promotion Committee (previously known as MOST), 2013-2017
Social Events: 2013-2017, co-chair 2014-2015
Teaching Forum, 2016-2017
Student Paper Competition Committee, 2014-2015
PRI Methods Workshop Committee, 2014-2015
Recruitment Committee, co-chair, 2014-2015
Stratification Conference Planning Committee, 2013-2014
Community Service, 2013-2014
Founding member and secretary, Rural Sociology Graduate Association, Dept. of Agricultural
Economics, Sociology, and Education, The Pennsylvania State University, 2012-2013
Administrative support, Santa Rosa Sports & Cultural Club, Olmos, Argentina, 2008
Intern, sewing cooperative Mi Perrito - Arco Iris, placed through the Foundation for Sustainable
Development. Supervised workspace organization, revamped accounting practices;
wrote/implemented grant proposal with cooperative members, 2007
Express Yourself, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Secured donations from local businesses for silent
auction and dinner for collaborative fundraising efforts, fall 2006
Music tutor, Making Music at Farragut Elementary, Boston, Massachusetts. Volunteer. Taught
piano lessons to elementary school student, supported recital held at the end of the school year,
Oct 2004 to April 2005

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HONORS, GRANTS, & OTHER ACTIVITIES
Grant recipient ($1500). Learning by Creating from Willamette University, to support workshop
with chef-artist Salimatu Amabebe for food justice students; Fred Wert Collaborative Research
in Sustainability Grant ($3500). Faculty supervisor for undergraduate research, 2018 to 2019
Fellow, U.S. Policy Communication Training Program, Population Reference Bureau, 2016 to
2017
RSGO Dissertation Support Competition ($2000), College of the Liberal Arts, Penn State, 2016
Poster Prize, Population Association of America (PAA) 2016 Annual Meeting
Poster Prize, Population Association of America (PAA) 2015 Annual Meeting
Graduate Scholar Award, $2500, Department of Sociology at Penn State, 2013 to 2015
Study Abroad Student, Veritas University, San José, Costa Rica, 2003

OTHER TRAINING & SKILLS

SPSS, ArcGIS, Stata, Qualtrics, spatial demography, longitudinal data analysis, multilevel
regression analysis, survey design, social networks, causal analysis
Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), International House Buenos
Aires, 2010
Graduate-level Spanish language coursework completed at the Instituto de Relaciones
Internacionales, Universidad de La Plata, Argentina: International Political Relations II,
International Economic Relations I. General Part & II. Latin America, 2009
Statics course, College of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
fall 2006
Languages: English (home language), Spanish (fluent)

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