Two professors of sociology at the Maxwell School—Prema Kurien and Janet M. Wilmoth—have been honored by the American Sociological Association (ASA), the premier professional organization for scholarly research in sociology. In addition, several colleagues have been named to leadership roles within the organization. 

Kurien received the 2023 Sandra Barnes Anti-Racist Scholarship Award from the ASA’s Sociology of Religion section. Named for its first honoree, Sandra Barnes, professor in the Department of Sociology at Brown University, the award was established in 2021 to honor anti-racist scholarship.

Wilmoth, meanwhile, received the Mentoring Award from the Aging and the Life Course section. The honor was established to recognize members who have distinguished themselves as mentors in the field of aging and the life course.

The honors were presented at the ASA’s 2023 Annual Meeting that was held in Philadelphia in August 2023.

Kurien serves as director, senior research associate and advisory board member for the South Asia Center in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at Maxwell. She is also a senior research associate in the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry and in the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC). Her research explores the relationship between international migration, race, ethnicity and religion with a focus on migrants from India and other countries in South Asia

Wilmoth researches health among middle-aged and older adults. She directs the Aging Studies Institute (ASI), is a senior research associate in the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health and a research affiliate in the Center for Policy Research and the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute. In her role with ASI, she mentors graduate students from across disciplines. In addition, she has served as chair of the Professional Development and Mentoring Committee for the ASA section on Aging and the Life Course.

The ASA meeting was held over five days and included numerous presentations and workshops centered around the theme, “The Educative Power of Sociology.”

In addition to Kurien and Wilmoth, Maxwell sociologists who attended included Sociology Department Chair and Professor Merril Silverstein, who is also the Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging; he is immediate past chair of the ASA section on Aging and the Life Course. He was joined by Marc A. Garcia, assistant professor of sociology, who serves as a council member for the section on Aging and the Life Course; and Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology, who serves as a council member for the section on Labor and Labor Movements and the section on Marxist Sociology. Purser is also a member of the ASA’s Honors Program Advisory Panel.

Additionally, the following Maxwell faculty members and affiliates attended the meeting and were elected to leadership positions in the ASA:

• Selina Gallo-Cruz, associate professor and graduate director for the Sociology Department, who was named chair-elect of the section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict
• Yingyi Ma, professor of sociology and director of Asian/Asian American Studies, who was named chair-elect of the Asia and Asian America section.
• Jennifer Karas Montez, University Professor, Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies and director of the Center for Aging and Policy Studies, was named chair-elect for the Sociology of Population section.
• Catherine García, research affiliate for the Lerner Center and faculty member at Falk College, who was elected as a council member for the section on Aging and the Life Course

Those elected to serve as chair-elect will begin one-year terms as chairs in August 2024, followed by one year as past-chair.

Maxwell’s Sociology Department holds a longstanding strong reputation for its substantial participation across sections in the ASA, and presentations at the annual meeting. This year, 12 sociology faculty members and five Ph.D. candidates were on the ASA annual meeting program. The ASA is a membership organization based in Washington, D.C., and is committed to advancing sociology both as a profession and as a science for the common good. Members include college professors and students, and researchers working in government, nonprofits and universities.

By Jessica Youngman