Mike Toney received his doctorate degree from Brown University in sociology with
specialties in demography and human ecology. He grew up in Clear Creek, West Virginia and
graduated from Marshall University with a major in sociology. He has been at Utah State
University since 1973. He is Director of the Population Research Laboratory and served as
Head of the Department of Sociology Social Work and Anthropology from 1988 until 1995.
Dr. Toney is a member of the Utah Population Estimates Committee in the Governor’s Office
of Planning and Budget. 

Professor Toney’s teaching and research at the graduate level are in rural sociology and
demography. He teaches social research methods at the undergraduate level. His research
has focused on migration in the United States. He is particularly interested in
differences in migration patterns across social and economic groups and in migration
between rural and urban areas. He has utilized panel data to analyze repeat migration,
including studies of return and onward migration and the influences of length of
residence on the migration of social and economic groupings. Within this framework he has
compared the migration patterns of religious groups and analyzed differences between
racial and ethnic groups. He has worked in Pakistan and participated in a number of
workshops and conferences in South Korea where he has several close professional
collaborators and good friends. 

Mike enjoys the opportunities for outdoor activities provided by living in northern Utah.
He is fond of hiking and is hooked on fly fishing. Mike came to love listening to old
time southern Appalachian music and has carried this passion into the Rocky Mountains.
His uncles, The Lilly Brothers, are recognized as pioneers in carrying Appalachian music
and bluegrass music to audiences outside the Appalachian region.

Articles

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Social Status Inconsistency and Migration (with Ji-youn Lee and E. Helen Berry), SSWA Faculty Publications (2009)

We use NLSY79 panel data to extend the line of sociological research encouraged in the...

 

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Religion and Attitudes Toward the Environment: A Comparison of Mormons and the General U.S. Population (with Lori Hunter), SSWA Faculty Publications (2005)

Religion has been shown to influence attitudes toward an array of social issues. This manuscript...

 

The Income Inequality of Wage Earners during 1983-98 in Korea (with Jang Young Lee), SSWA Faculty Publications (2005)
 

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Regional Cultures, Persistence and Change: A Case Study of the Mormon Culture Region (with Chalon Keller and Lori M. Hunter), SSWA Faculty Publications (2003)

There are at least two gaps in the literature on culture regions: (1) little research...

 

Contributions to Books

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Population Change (with E. Helen Berry), SSWA Faculty Publications (2007)

Pakistan has just more than half as many people as the United States but if...

 

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The Role of Migration in Changing and Sustaining Utah (with Young Taek Kim), SSWA Faculty Publications (2006)

To outsiders, the state of Utah often conjures many unsurprising stereotypes and images: Mormons, polygamy,...