Kevin A. Estep, PhD

Associate Professor

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Contact

KevinEstep@creighton.edu
College of Arts and Sciences
Medical Humanities
Cultural & Social Studies
Public Health - Minor
Health Administration and Policy
Creighton Hall/Administration Building 425A

Kevin A. Estep, PhD

Associate Professor

Kevin Estep is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural and Social Studies, with primary responsibilities in the Health Administration and Policy (HAP) undergraduate program. He also holds a secondary appointment in Medical Humanities for the School of Medicine. He teaches undergraduate classes on public health, health policy, and healthcare administration.

Kevin joined the Creighton faculty in 2017 after completing his Ph.D in sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to that, he worked in Student Affairs for six years at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, where he developed a passion for mentoring and teaching undergraduate students.

His primary research interest is vaccine hesitancy. His recent projects tackle questions such as: Why do vaccine hesitant parents tend to be concentrated in particular communities? And, have positions on childhood vaccine policy become connected to political party? If so, when and how did this shift occur? 

His articles have been published in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Vaccine, American Journal of Public Health, and Sociological Perspectives. He is also co-author (with Rory McVeigh, University of Notre Dame) of the book, "The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment."
 

Curriculum Vitae

Teaching Interests

  • Public Health

Research Focus

Vaccination policy, vaccine hesitancy; Political polarization; Consequences of residential sorting 

Department

Cultural and Social Studies

Position

Associate Professor

Book, Chapter/Section

  • Contemporary Social Movements: Historical and Descriptive Accounts
    Estep Kevin A., Snow David A., The Anti‐vaccination Movement and Science Denialism [Book Chapter] 2025
  • McVeigh Rory, Estep Kevin, ECONOMICS AND WHITE NATIONALISM [Book Chapter] 2019

General

  • Estep Kevin, To Care for Creation: The Emergence of the Religious Environmental Movement 2017

Publications

  • American journal of public health (1971)
    Estep Kevin, Muse Annika, Sweeney Shannon, Goldstein Neal D., Partisan Polarization of Childhood Vaccination Policies, 1995-2020
    112:10, p. 1471 - 1479 2022
  • American Sociological Review
    Estep Kevin, Greenberg Pierce, Opting Out
    85:6, p. 957 - 991 2020
  • McVeigh Rory, Estep Kevin, The Politics of Losing: Trump, the Klan, and the Mainstreaming of Resentment 2019
  • Vaccine
    Estep Kevin A., Neighborhood political composition and personal belief exemptions from immunization requirements in California Kindergartens, 20002015
    36:29, p. 4298 - 4303 2018
  • Sociological Perspectives
    Estep Kevin, Constructing a Language Problem: Status-based Power Devaluation and the Threat of Immigrant Inclusion
    60:3, p. 437 - 458 2017
  • American Journal of Sociology
    McVeigh Rory, Crubaugh Bryant, Estep Kevin, Plausibility Structures, Status Threats, and the Establishment of Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers
    122:5, p. 1533 - 1571 2017
  • Sociological focus (Kent, Ohio)
    Myers Daniel J., Estep Kevin, North Central Sociological Association 2012 Ruth and John Useem Plenary Address. Political Renewal: Occupations, Springs, and Tea Parties
    45:4, p. 274 - 284 2012

Grants

  • The Politics of Vaccines, 1995-2020/Sponsor: CURAS Faculty Research Fund

  • Thriving Churches in a Divided Society: A Survey of American Congregations/Sponsor: CURAS Summer Faculty Research Fellowship