Joanna Pepin

@joannapepin

My sociology is powered by lattes & baseball. Assistant Professor at University of Toronto. Studying families, gender, and health.

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Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jul 16

I don't know how to teach at UofT in this AI-era, which requires a specific grade distribution (< than 35% of students can earn 80%+). If I switch to only in‑person tests to avoid AI, it's difficult to control the course average.

“For a larger first- or second-year course, the proportion of As in any given offering of the course might reasonably vary from 15% to 35%. Courses with marks consistently at the lower or upper end of this range should be reviewed to determine whether changes are needed to the course content, prerequisites, or assessment mechanisms. At the other end of the scale, the proportion of Fs in a first- or second-year course should generally not exceed 10%

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jul 16

Likely a terrible idea, but I'm going to persist in assigning a hopefully AI resistant assignment for my Family Policy class. It is process focused and assignments without full citations will fail. jrpepin.github.io/Family-Polic... #AcademicSky

1. **You will write a concise 1200–1500 word policy analysis** that
examines the issue, evaluates the accuracy of major claims, and
develops a well‑supported policy recommendation grounded in credible
evidence. This written component emphasizes critical thinking, media
literacy, and source evaluation (i.e., this is not general essay
writing).
2. **You will create a short (60–90 second) TikTok‑style video** in
which you demonstrate your fact‑checking process for one claim
related to your policy issue. This is a process‑based media literacy
task, and production quality is not graded. What matters is that you
clearly show your reasoning, your steps, and your ability to connect
evidence to policy analysis.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jul 15

It looks like someone applied a sepia toned filter to all our windows. 😨

Live most polluted global major city ranking: #1 Toronto

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jun 18

Reflecting on how I won the academic lottery twice. First, as a grad student at UMd and now as a faculty member at UofT. Such inspiring mentors and colleagues. #WFRN2026

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· May 21

Wait until you hear about the University of Toronto's policy. Bewilderingly, an "A" grade starts at 80%.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· May 20

This is such great news! Until recently, the panel data was only accessible until modal age 30. #LifeCourse #data

You are receiving this message because you currently have access to restricted-use data from the Monitoring the Future series. The following panel datasets are now available.

Monitoring the Future: Age 35 Panel Data, United States, 1993-2021 [Restricted-Use] (ICPSR 39749)
Monitoring the Future: Ages 40 and 45 Panel Data, United States, 1998-2021 [Restricted-Use] (ICPSR 39767)
Monitoring the Future: Ages 50 and 55 Panel Data, United States, 2008-2021 [Restricted-Use] (ICPSR 39804)
Monitoring the Future: Age 60 Panel Data, United States, 2018-2021 [Restricted-Use] (ICPSR 39779)

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jan 2

The K-dramas we watched in 2025, in roughly descending order of our favorites.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 31

The top 20 books I read (not for work) in 2025. Happy New Year! #books #reading

The Third Gilmore Girl, Kelly Bishop
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, Alison Espach
Life Hacks from the Buddha, Tony Fernando
Under the Bridge, Rebecca Godfrey
Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez
Acting with Power, Deborah Gruenfeld
Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry
Tiny Experiments, Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Dinner for Vampires, Bethany Joy Lenz
No One Was Supposed to Die at this Wedding, Caterine Mack
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna
Essentialism, Greg McKeown
Slow Productivity, Cal Newport
The Seven Year Slip, Ashley Poston
Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney
The Fun Habit, Mike Rucker
The Little Book of Stoicism, Jonas Salzgeber
In Five Years, Rebecca Serle
Wayward Girls, Susan Wiggs
Why Buddhism is True, Robert Wright

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jun 4

Onto the stage where I wonder why I pitched teaching this course at all. (Source: www.sociology.org.uk/notes/fpolic...)

"Social policy" as it affects family life is both a very large area to cover and, perhaps more importantly, is a very imprecise area of the syllabus - it's difficult to either define what we mean by "social policy" or to know where it effectively begins and ends in relation to family life. The idea of social policy in relation to the family specifically is a fairly arbitrary relationship (since it's difficult to decide where "family life" begins and ends in relation to social policies).

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jun 4

I found this interesting teaching note, which suggests there is also not a lot of content to find. 😐 doi.org/10.1177/0092...

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Apr 20

Coffee! Baseball!

Me with coffee at the M's vs Jay's game.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Mar 30

Nice to see #Canada pride from the only Canadian #MLB umpire! 🇨🇦 (Go #Ms!) www.sasksport.ca/news/i-defin...

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Feb 5

You know the start of horror movies, when the victim doesn't yet know they are a victim and you're screaming at the screen for them to do something? Well, that's where we are in the U.S. right now.

Drew Barrymore holding a phone in the kitchen in the opening scene of the 1996 movie "Scream."

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jan 30

I had to see it to believe it! Right there on page 3.

iii. to the extent practicable, relevant, appropriate, and consistent with law, mitigate the unique impacts of DOT programs, policies, and activities on families and family-specific difficulties, such as the accessibility of transportation to families with young children, and give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average (including in administering the Federal Transit Administration's
Capital Investment Grant program)

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jan 20

Today is a day for doughnuts. 🍩

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jan 17

We were so fortunate that @philipncohen.com kicked off his book tour at @uoftsociology.bsky.social! Thanks for visiting Toronto in January! ❄️ #sociology

Me next to Philip, holding a copy of his new book, "Citizen Scholar."

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jan 10

These are the two pieces I have my students read. But, there's so much to choose from!

Thatcher, Jenny. 2019. “Keeping It Classy: Wedding Dresses and Distinction.” Pp. 123–40 in The Wedding Spectacle Across Contemporary Media and Culture: Something Old, Something New, edited by J. B. Kay, M. Kennedy, and H. Wood. United Kingdom: Routledge.

Fetner, Tina, and Melanie Heath. 2016. “Do Same-Sex and Straight Weddings Aspire to the Fairytale? Women’s Conformity and Resistance to Traditional Weddings.” Sociological Perspectives 59(4):721–42. doi: 10.1177/0731121415601269.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Jan 9

It's dark and cold but beautiful. #toronto

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 31

These were our previous #Kdrama lists (also in order of enjoyment).

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 31

Here's the list of #Kdrama shows we watched this year, in rough order of our enjoyment level. Really loved our first two picks. Always looking for recommendations! #YearInReview

1. Miss Night and Day
2. Castaway Diva
3. My Roommate is a Gumiho
4. Queen of Tears
5. See You in My 19th Life
6. Welcome to Samdal-ri
7. Doctor Slump
8. My Man is Cupid
9. Start-Up
10. Destined with You
11. Mr. Plankton
12. Love Next Door
13. Frankly Speaking
14. Romance in the House
15. The Trunk

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 31

The top 20 books I read (not for work) in 2024. #YearInReview

A Spoonful of Time
Outlive
Buddhism without Beliefs
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Rocky Start
The Perfection Trap
Finding Me
The Comfort Crisis
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
The Love of My Afterlife
Pineapple Street
The Burnout
Yellowface
The Age of Magical Overthinking
Hotline
Normal People
Present Perfect
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Dial A for Aunties
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 21

This hot mulled cider was everything I wanted it to be.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 20

Apparently (news to me!), the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) covers open access article publication charges at many journals for authors at participating Canadian Universities! #OpenAccess #OpenScience www.crkn-rcdr.ca/en/open-acce...

With guidance from our members and the Content Strategy Committee, CRKN is pursuing read and publish agreements in alignment with our Strategic Plan. As part of CRKN’s commitment to drive the evolution of open knowledge, these read and publish agreements repurpose funds that CRKN members have traditionally paid in subscription fees for a publisher's journals, to cover open access publishing and full reading access for those same journals. Through these read and publish agreements, CRKN members have leveraged their collective negotiating power to support the Canadian research community. By covering the cost of open access publishing in these agreements, CRKN members are unlocking a significant volume of Canadian research publications, while ensuring that research funding can cover researcher needs rather than publishing costs.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 16

I'm really not sure I have the time to answer this. 🫠 #RestrictedDataApplication

Survey question asking: "Do you have relationships with persons (immediate family, partners, close friends, colleagues, etc.) living outside Canada? If so, complete the table below (add pages if necessary):"

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 13

Egg nog gelato. 😋 #toronto

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 12

Today's latte art, a seahorse. ☕ #toronto

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 5

Inspired, I created this chart using newly available Statistics Canada data. Code here: github.com/jrpepin/Now-...

Bar chart showing the proportion of women faculty at Canadian universities.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 5

New findings in @sociologicalsci.bsky.social: "Women comprise roughly 1/3 of all faculty and only 23% of tenured faculty (at globally ranked universities)." sociologicalscience.com/articles-v11...

Tenure gap for women faculty: women’s share of all faculty compared with women’s share of faculty with tenure by country.

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 4

Transgender and Non-Binary Canadian Population statistics (2021) #NowYouCanadaKnow code: github.com/jrpepin/Now-...

Bar chart showing Canada’s Transgender and Non-Binary Population

Joanna Pepin@joannapepin· Dec 4

My boss (me) has unreasonable productivity expectations for the end of the year. I have diagnosed her/me with a terrible case of "completionist urge" (as described by author Oliver Burkeman). ckarchive.com/b/zlughnh4ml...