Carissa Wolf is an author, journalist and educator. She teaches sociology, communication and media studies courses at Boise State University where she serves as a lecturer in the Sociology Department.
Wolf’s courses explore the connections between communication, media and society and introduce students to the fundamentals of sociological thought and social inequality.
Wolf has covered social issues, social movements and civil rights as a journalist for more than 20 years. Her work has been heard on National Public Radio and public television and has appeared on the front pages of The Washington Post and in dozens of other newspapers including The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and The Idaho Statesman.
Wolf is the co-creator of the Idaho Media Initiative at Boise State and has won dozens of journalism awards for her enterprise reports including a Livingston Award nomination for her work at The Idaho Statesman, an Association of Alternative Newsmedia Award for Public Service Reporting and multiple Idaho Press Club honors.
Wolf’s past projects include multi-platform, database reporting, a four-hour interview conducted entirely on a whitewater raft and reports dispatched from a Blackhawk helicopter. For fun, she brings a sociological perspective to food for blogs and magazines and explores the banks of the Boise River with her Golden Retriever, Maisie.
Wolf’s current work and interests include magazine writing, long-form journalism, public sociology and social research on faith healing communities. Her most recent book, “Numbered,” explores the history women prisoners.