Kayla Thomas is a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor of Ethnic Studies at Babson College. She is also a 2025 Yale Sociology Ph.D., whose research interests span themes of race and ethnicity; social identities; neighborhoods and community building; and gentrification and displacement. Her current book project is a community study of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and the ways residents of this gentrifying neighborhood navigate various forms of economic, social, and ontological precarity. Professor Thomas views her research and teaching as deeply connected and ultimately aims to encourage meaningful sociological inquiry into the evolving structures and systems that make up our social world. Prior to her arrival at Babson College, Professor Thomas served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and Africana at Bates College. In addition to her PhD, she holds both an M.A and an M.Phil in Sociology from Yale University, and a B.A in History and Sociology from Brown University.
