Professor Bernhardt's Biography

Personal Information:

Hello all! My full name is Todd Eduard Bernhardt and I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Broward Community College in Davie, Florida. For all of those unfamiliar with the vast Florida geography, Davie is in southern Florida, a bit west of Ft. Lauderdale.

My wife, Deirdre, and I migrated to this area in August of 2003. We moved here from St. Louis, MO., where we lived for two years while I finished my dissertation. We have two cats and enjoy outside activities, i.e., going to the beach, jogging, and exploring the diverse ethnic foods only found in south Florida.

We are both originally from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, IL. Although we are Florida residents, we still consider ourselves midwesterners. We still find it a bit strange opening our windows or turning on the AC in the months of December and January. I guess we'll never get over this. I know I'm a Florida resident, but my sport's loyalty is still found in Chicago teams. Go Bears and Cubs!!!

Professional Information:

Like many academics, becoming a Professor of Sociology was not my intention. I was never a really good student; in fact, I did not like high school at all. However, after graduation I knew I didn't want to continue pumping gas at the gas station I worked at all through high school. I knew I wanted to do something other than that, but it wasn't clear what "other than that" meant. I enrolled at Harper Community College outside of Chicago and after a year and a half of completing general education classes, I enrolled at Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL.

I decided to major in Law Enforcement and minor in Sociology at WIU. After several semesters, I quickly figured out that maybe Law Enforcement wasn't for me. I decided to make Sociology a second major and focus my course work in the Sociology of Deviance and Criminal Justice. I graduated in the Summer of 1995 and immediately began work on my M.A. degree in Sociology. I still didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do, but I did know that my Sociology courses were extremely interesting and thought-provoking. I was given the opportunity to teach an Introduction to Sociology course while working on my Masters and I knew immediately that I wanted to get into teaching.

I completed my M.A. in the Spring of 1997 and moved on to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to work on my Ph.D. in Sociology. At SIUC, I developed a new interest in the Sociology of Education and Social Reproduction Theory. This new interest evolved into my doctoral dissertation: "Mechanisms of Class Reproduction: Parental Acquaintance Network Diversity, Occupational Socialization, and Middle School Students' Mathematical Performance."

During the few years I was completing my Ph.D., I bounced around and taught at a variety of community colleges and universities in the surrounding southern Illinois area. I was able to teach a variety of Sociology courses during this time: Social Problems, Introduction to Sociology, and the Sociology of the Family. During the 2001-2003 academic year, I served as an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at St. Louis Community College.

I am now a full-time Sociologist at Broward Community College. I teach a variety of classes here at BCC: Introduction, Social Problems, and the Sociology of Human Sexuality. I enjoy teaching immensely. In all my classes, my main goal is to challenge students to think sociologically. I do this by showing students the relevance of sociology to their lives. For example, in my Sociology of Human Sexuality course, I show students that their sexuality is not a biological given, but a social construction that is unique to our culture. I also try to make my classes fun and interesting. I don't want to be one of those "boring" professors who lectures each and every class. I incorporate many learning activities in my courses and I allow students to voice their opinions and share their social lives with the class.