Leontina Hormel grew up in Ephrata, Washington. Many of Ephrata's residents are economically tied to farming and the Grand Coulee Dam. Growing up here, Hormel became keenly aware of how rural people can oftentimes feel invisible politically and how their livelihoods can be integrally tied to government development projects, like the Grand Coulee Dam. The research Hormel has pursued since becoming a sociologist has in one way or another always been influenced by her experiences growing up with folks in Ephrata.

Her research expertise includes the areas of political economy, international development, social and environmental inequalities. Being fluent in Russian language, obtained at Eastern Washington University, Hormel has studied and researched in Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Armenia and Karabagh. Her current research brings her closer home to the state of Idaho.

She has studied STEM education experiences in Idaho communities and is currently involved in two community action research projects. One project examines how Nez Perce cultural and environmental values shape community livelihoods and resilience in the Clearwater Basin. The second project seeks to understand the experiences of Syringa Trailer Park residents as they try to maintain homeownership rights in the midst water crises. Both community action projects illuminate the politics of securing community rights to healthy social and ecological systems.

• Environmental Sociology
• Political Economy and International Development
• Gender and Class Inequalities
• Community Action Research

Syringa Mobile Home Park Study

• Hormel, Leontina. (forthcoming 2023) Trailer Park America: Reimagining Working-Class Communities in the 21st Century. Rutgers University Press.
• Hormel, Leontina, Cynthia Ballesteros, and Haylee Brister. 2018. “Mobile Home Park Living and Rural Economic Segregation: Teaching with a Problem-Based Class Project.” In Kristin Haltinner and Leontina Hormel (equally shared authorship). Teaching Economic Inequality and Capitalism in Contemporary America. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Nez Perce Environmental Values Project

• Hormel, Leontina, Elliott Moffett, Julian Matthews, Lucinda Simpson, and Chris Norden. 2020. “Organizing and Mobilizing Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment.” Glenn Jacobs, Prentice Zinn, and Susan D. Greenbaum (eds.) Collaborating for change: a participatory action research casebook. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Hormel, Leontina, and Chris Norden (Professor of English, LCSC). 2016. “Coyote Challenges the Monster: Assessing Nez Perce Environmental & Cultural Values following the 2013 Anti-Megaload Protests.” Practicing Anthropology 38(3), 17-19. DOI: http://sfaajournals.net/doi/10.17730/0888-4552-38.3.13.
• Hormel, Leontina M. 2016. Nez Perce Defending Treaty Lands in Northern Idaho, Peace Review Symposium: The Grassroots Response to Extractivism. 28(1): 76-83.

Ukraine Ethnographic Research

• Hormel, Leontina M. 2017. “Food or Flowers? Dacha Gardening and Gendered Class Relations in Post-Soviet Ukraine,” Rural Sociology, 82(1), 75-100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12110
• Hormel, Leontina. 2011. “Gender, Class, and Garment Work Reorganization in Ukraine.” GENDER. Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft. Special issue 1(2): 10-25.

• Nez Perce Environmental and Cultural Values Study
  Working in collaboration with Nez Perce members, summer 2015 to present, this project examines how Nimiipuu cultural and environmental values are part of the Clearwater Basin landscape. Using photovoice interviews and surveys, we wish to assist decision makers in developing policies reflecting Nimiipuu needs and develop better ways to communicate these needs to the broader public.
• Syringa Trailer Park Community Action Research Study
  Over the span of four years, 2015 to present, this project follows how residents in Syringa Mobile Home Park, a low-income community three miles outside Moscow, Idaho, manage water crisis, changing management systems, and eventual closure and home loss.
• Micron STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Education Research Project, 2010-2015:
  Collaborating with social scientists in publishing results from this project’s data.

• Research and Scholarship: 2019 American Sociological Association Environmental Sociology Outreach and Engagement Award, presented in New York, New York.
  The biennial Environmental Sociology Practice and Outreach Award honors faculty members and other professional practitioners in the field of Environmental Sociology. The award recognizes the outstanding practice and outreach contributions of professionals not only in college and university positions, but also positions in journalism, government, service agencies, private sector environmental organizations, and non-profit environmental organizations.
• Research and Scholarship: 2019 American Sociological Association Marxist Sociology Praxis Award, presented in New York, New York.
  The members of the Praxis Award Committee recognize that the basis for the award is outstanding achievement, by an individual or in some cases an organization, in the practice of Marxist sociology. Practice may involve (but is not limited to) activism, organizing, and/or outreach to encourage/facilitate social change.
• Research and Scholarship: 2019 Pacific Sociological Association Distinguished Contribution to Sociological Praxis Award, presented in Oakland, California.
  The Distinguished Contribution to Sociological Praxis Award honors sociological work in the Pacific region that has made a positive impact on social and organizational institutions, improved organizational performance, contributed to community betterment, and/or eased human suffering.
• Campus and Community Leadership, Mentorship, and Service: 2019 University of Idaho Athena Woman of the Year – Faculty Award.
  The Athena Women of the Year award is given annually to women who have demonstrated clear and sustained dedication to women’s professional enhancement at the University of Idaho. Women of the Year are women who truly represent the mission of Athena and fearlessly engage both professionally and personally in making changes that support and forward the mission of Athena. These are women who have truly gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide mentorship to other women, advocate for an inclusive and supportive climate, volunteering and engaging across the University in ways that carry out in word and deed the mission of Athena.
• Mentorship in Student Research: Student Grant Program, U of I Research Office, 2010. Corrie Ellis, Student recipient. “A Qualitative Study of Women's Work in Quito, Ecuador.”
• Teaching: Outstanding Faculty Award, Disabilities Support Services, 2010