Sociology News & Events

The Maxwell School welcomes several new faculty members for the start of the 2024-25 academic year.   

The associate professor of sociology researches global conflict, policy change and social movements.

“Machine Learning (ML) Platforms Can Contradict Dairy Scientists and Feed Firm Websites Regarding Dairy Cattle Performance from Feeding Seaweed Supplements,” co-authored by Professor of Sociology Rick Welsh, was published in Choices.

Maxwell's Policy, Place, and Population Health (P3H) Lab investigates the connection between state policies, local conditions, and health and mortality in the United States.

“Older parents’ perceptions of children's filial piety in rural China: The roles of coresidence, geographic proximity, and intergenerational support,” co-authored by Professor and Chair of Sociology Merril Silverstein, was published in the Chinese Journal of Sociology.

“Widening Educational Disparities in Health and Longevity,” co-authored by University Professor Jennifer Karas Montez and sociology Ph.D. student Erin Bisesti, was published in the Annual Review of Sociology.

“Disability Mortality Disparity: Risk Of Mortality For Disabled Adults Nearly Twice That For Nondisabled Adults, 2008–19,” authored by Associate Professor of Sociology Scott Landes, was published in Health Affairs.

As parents age, “there’s a lot of negotiation and uncertainties,” says Merril Silverstein, Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging. “Who has the right to make decisions for stepparents becomes murky.” Such families can experience what’s called “role ambiguity,” he says, creating doubts about “what the social expectations are.”

Several Maxwell School faculty have been promoted to leadership roles, including Junko Takeda, who has been named chair of the Citizenship and Civic Engagement (CCE) Undergraduate Program after serving in an interim role since July 2023, and Leonard M. Lopoo, who began as chair of the Public Administration and International Affairs Department in July 2024. 

Edwin Ackerman, Marc Garcia, Timur Hammond and Alex Rothenberg have been promoted to associate professor.

The designation was created with a generous gift from alumna and longtime advisory board member Cathy Daicoff.

“Pains of privacy: Mapping carceral practices onto electronic monitoring,” authored by Assistant Professor of Sociology Gabriela Kirk-Werner, was published in Theoretical Criminology.

“A Research Roadmap Toward Improved Measures Of Disability,” co-authored by Associate Professor of Sociology Scott Landes, was published in Health Affairs.

Selina Gallo-Cruz, associate professor and graduate director of sociology, has edited and written the introduction for “Feminism, Violence and Nonviolence: An Anthology” (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).

Tim Slack, professor of sociology at Louisiana State University, and co-authored by Shannon M. Monnat, professor of sociology and Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health, share lessons offered from rural society and confronts common myths and misunderstandings about rural people and places. 

“Watchful, skeptics, and system distrusters: Characteristics associated with different types of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among U.S. working-age adults,” co-authored by Professor of Sociology Shannon Monnat, was published in Vaccine.

“Each of the possible changes in the current conflict in Gaza looks improbable, until steps are taken to make it happen,” says Louis Kriesberg, professor emeritus of sociology and Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies.

“State COVID-19 Policies and Drug Overdose Mortality Among Working-Age Adults in the United States, 2020,” co-authored by Maxwell faculty members Douglas Wolf, Shannon Monnat, Emily Weimers and Jennifer Karas Montez, was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

“We are really dealing with two interrelated issues here. The first being the crisis of affordability, but the other one being the crisis of habitability. So changing the zoning isn't going to address some of the most pressing issues that tenants face in our community and so I think we really need to have a multipronged approach to address the housing crisis,” says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology.

Funded by gifts from hundreds of individual donors, including a lead gift from long-time Maxwell supporters Gerry and Daphna Cramer, the project has since awarded funds for dozens of faculty-led projects that have explored topics related to citizenship—from labor policy to free speech jurisprudence to climate change.