Faculty and Staff

Nancy Hodges is the Burlington Industries Excellence Professor and Head of the Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies (CARS) at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG). Dr. Hodges earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1998 and has since been on the faculty at UNCG. She has taught General Education Core undergraduate courses on the cultural, historical, and social psychological factors of dress, and graduate courses on qualitative methodology, literature and thought, consumer research, and dress and identity. She served as Director of Graduate Studies for the CARS program from 2004-2014, and has, thus far, served as dissertation advisor for 25 completed doctoral dissertations and thesis advisor for more than 35 MS theses and projects.

Dr. Hodges’ research examines issues of higher education and employment relative to the US and North Carolina textile, apparel, and retail industries. Dr. Hodges has garnered more than $1.8 million in external research support. She recently completed a second, five-year project funded by the NC Agricultural Research Service on the changing workforce of North Carolina’s textile sector. She is also the Project Director and Co-PI of three USDA Higher Education Challenge Grants totaling over $1.3 million focused on researching global industry trends for the purposes of curriculum design and assessment. She has published approximately 65 book chapters and articles in refereed journals, including the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and Women’s Studies International Forum. In addition, she has published more than 120 proceedings and presented over 180 papers at numerous juried national and international conferences. She has been awarded 14 Paper of Distinction and Best Paper awards for publications and presentations. In 2010 she received the Outstanding Paper Award from the Emerald Literati Network for one of her articles published in the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management.

She has served as the Vice President for Planning for the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) and on the Executive Board of the Costume Society of America’s southeastern region. Dr. Hodges has also served on the Editorial Board for the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal and is presently on the board of Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process and the Fashion Industry. She served two terms as the Associate Editor of the Social, Psychological and Education track for the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal.  In 2020, she was appointed the inaugural Deputy Editor for the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal.

Dr. Hodges’ work has been recognized by her peers. She has received several college and university awards, including college awards for Outstanding Teaching in 2003 and 2009. In 2010 she was the UNCG recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Teaching Excellence award (one award is given per campus throughout the UNC system each year). In 2012 she received the Bryan School of Business and Economics Senior Research Excellence award and in 2013 was awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award from The Graduate School of UNCG for her work advising and mentoring graduate students (one award is given at UNCG each year). In 2018 she received the ITAA Distinguished Scholar award, the highest accolade given for a researcher in the field.