Education
2019
Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder
Dissertation Title: “Disaster Recovery, Social Capital, and the Sri Lankan Context: A Comparative Study of Two Communities in Batticaloa"
Dissertation Committee: Co-Chairs - Kathleen Tierney and Jill Harrison, Don Grant, Rachel Rinaldo, Dennis McGilvray (Anthropology), Amy Javernick-Will (Engineering)
2010
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Social Welfare, summa cum laude, University of North Florida
Selected Grants & Fellowships
2024
Rozanne M. Brooks Internationalized Curricular Development Award ($4,000)
2021
Cortland Applied Learning Practitioners Grant in collaboration with Dr. Kent Johnson for Analyzing and Disrupting Misconceptions about Racialized Groups and Identities
2017
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship from the American Institute for Indian Studies and Institute for Regional Studies at University of Wisconsin--Madison for Summer 2017 Tamil Language Intensive in Madurai, India ($8,000)
American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies Curriculum Development Grant: Teaching About the 2004 Tsunami ($1000)
2016
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant ($10,000)
2015
American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies Dissertation Planning Grant ($6,400)
Awards & Honors
2023
Excellence in Academic Advising Award for exemplary performance in student advisement and mentorship. SUNY Cortland. ($750)
2019
Ralph and Barbara Dakin Award for outstanding scholarship that contributes to peace, inter-cultural understanding, resolution conflict, and/or amelioration of important social problems. Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder. ($1,000)
Publications
Book Chapter
Peek, Lori, Jessica Austin, Elizabeth Bittel, Simone Domingue, and Melissa Villarreal. “Children Take Charge: Helping Behaviors and Organized Action among Young People after Hurricane Katrina.” The Potential for Bottom-Up Responses to Crisis, edited by Virgil Storr and Stefanie Haeffele. London: Palgrave Macmillan. (In Press)
Book Review
Peek, Lori and Elizabeth Bittel (2019). Review of Sites Unseen: Uncovering Hidden Hazards in American Cities, by Scott Frickel and James R. Elliott. Human Ecology Review, 25(1).
Teaching Materials
Bittel, Elizabeth. “Teaching About the 2004 Tsunami.” For: American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies. View teaching module: http://www.aisls.org/resources/teaching-about-sri-lanka/the-2004-tsunami/