Sociology News & Events

The Maxwell School has appointed new chairs for the departments of anthropology, economics, history, international relations (undergraduate), political science and sociology, as well as an interim chair of social science. 

"The United States has a long tradition of enlisting immigrants. Immigrants make up an important part of the U.S. military, and have since the formation of the United States. Our country should not make it difficult for them to serve," writes Amy Lutz, associate professor of sociology.

Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, and her team secured a grant from the National Institute of Justice to conduct a study that will provide recommendations to law enforcement agencies on how to maximize the efficiency of disrupting the supply of opiates into communities and develop a model for use in other jurisdictions.

"Typically people who qualify for higher SNAP benefits are in the worst health, so this suggests there is something really protective about the SNAP benefits," says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

"In the places with high rates of drug, alcohol and suicide mortality, economic distress has been building and social and family networks have been breaking down for several decades," says Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.

Andrew Wender Cohen, professor of history, has been announced as the recipient of the Montgomery Gruber Professorship. Additionally, the O’Hanley Faculty Endowed Fund for Faculty Excellence, which serves to help recognize, reward and retain excellent teachers at the school, announced three new scholars: Azra Hromadžić, associate professor of anthropology; Natalie Koch, associate professor of geography; and Rebecca Schewe, assistant professor of sociology. 

“Shannon Monnat is committed to disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship that informs, benefits, and influences public policy and the public good,” says David M. Van Slyke, dean of the Maxwell School. “She brings timely and important research, a public orientation and unbounded energy to the intellectual leadership of the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion."

Merril Silverstein, professor of sociology and Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging, was elected to the Sociological Research Association (SRA), an honors society of sociology scholars dedicated to excellence in research. The SRA was founded in 1936 and membership invitations are extended to a limited number of sociologists each year, based on their long-term careers of distinguished research. 

The map of Trump’s victory looked eerily similar to her documentation of deaths of despair, according to Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair of Public Health Promotion, from New England through the Rust Belt to the rural coast of Washington.

“We are honored to participate in this year’s annual meeting, which seeks to promote greater social inclusion and resilience, collective well-being and solidarity, both here and abroad,” says Prema Kurien, professor and chair of sociology.

Professor Bill Pooler "was a popular instructor whose courses were always oversubscribed. His teaching approach was to get students interested and involved in the subject, not just to memorize facts,” says Christine Himes, former chair of the Sociology Department in the Maxwell School.