We are proud to be consistently ranked as a top Sociology department in the country, excelling in a wide variety of intellectual pursuits. The department is a well-knit community of faculty, staff, and students.
Under our umbrella you’ll find cutting edge social research and methodological, social, and cultural diversity, as well as an emphasis on teaching and public service.
Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano will receive the University of Wisconsin-Madison A. E. Havens Center‘s Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship on May 9 during a rare trip to the United States. As part of the ceremony, Galeano will read from his latest work, “Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History.” The book is [...]
On Monday, Washington Wizards center Jason Collins became the first active professional athlete from one of the four major U.S. professional sports — baseball, basketball, football and hockey — to come out as gay. The same day, Jane Allyn Piliavin, who is teaching the course “Sociology of Sport” in the upcoming summer session, had one immediate [...]
As young Gary Sandefur galloped his horse Thunder through the dusty outskirts of Madill, Okla., the open plains seemed to stretch forever. Madill, a little town in rural southeastern Oklahoma where everybody knew everybody, was the sort of place where a kid who loved the outdoors could thrive. Sandefur grew up fishing with his father [...]
Gerald Marwell, Richard T. Ely Professor Emeritus of sociology, died on Sunday, March 24 in New York City. He was 76. “Jerry was one of the great sociologists of his generation, and highly respected among all of the different generations of our department,” says Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters & Science and fellow sociology [...]
Several graduate programs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Letters & Science are ranked among the nation’s best in the 2014 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.” “We’re proud of all of our graduate programs and particularly pleased that once again many have been rated so highly,” says Provost Paul [...]
Monumental discoveries were made. Critical projects were finished. Laudable programs were celebrated. And scholars and alumni were remembered in the College of Letters & Science’s 124th year.
These were just some of the markers of 2012 in L&S. Here are some of the moments that made 2012 a memorable year for the College.
What role does social media play in politics in our increasingly high-tech society? University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Lewis Friedland and Michael Xenos discussed exactly that in a Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters talk in the lead up to the 2012 fall elections. To watch the full lecture, click the above video. Friedland is [...]
The rise of social media in China will be the focus of an upcoming panel to be held in conjunction with the Sixth Annual China Town Hall Oct. 29. Wisconsin China Initiative Director and Professor of Chinese literature and culture Nicole Huang will serve as the moderator for “Information Revolution: Social Media in China,” from [...]
A group of UW-Madison students and faculty have received 2012-13 grants from the Fulbright Program, the country’s flagship program for international educational exchange. Of the 21 recipients from UW-Madison, all but three are from the College of Letters & Science. Thirteen L&S students have won fellowships from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program; three graduate students in L&S [...]
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will welcome Cora Marrett (MA’65, Sociology, PhD’68, Sociology), deputy director of the National Science Foundation, back to campus on Oct. 5 as the Wisconsin Alumni Association presents her with the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. The award celebrates [...]
When Eric Grodsky was finishing up his Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002, he told his advisor that one of his career ambitions was to return to campus as a faculty member. Ten years later, he’s fulfilled that goal. Grodsky was hired as an associate professor of sociology after holding the [...]
The College of Letters & Science has more than 800 faculty, a group that includes brilliant researchers, noteworthy authors, and inspiring teachers. This year, the College welcomes more than 50 new faculty members. From Classics to Chemistry and from English to Economics, departments across L&S recruited emerging experts who bring impressive breadth and depth of [...]
Fishing in the Neighborhood has grown into a statewide program in its second summer, with five clubs across Wisconsin.
Gary Sandefur has announced he will step down from his post as dean of the College of Letters & Science at the end of the upcoming academic year. Sandefur, who has headed the College since August 2004, says that after wrapping up his work as dean in 2013, he will go on research leave for [...]
The College of Letters & Science is proud to announce that seven L&S faculty members received 2012 Distinguished Teaching Awards presented by the Wisconsin Alumni Association and the Secretary of the Faculty. The 2012 Recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Awards in the College of Letters & Science are: Jeffrey Beneker, associate professor of classics, Kiekhofer [...]
The deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression is a prime research opportunity for “Midlife in the United States,” a long-running and expansive study of the interplay between social and psychological factors and physical health. Led by a group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and incorporating dozens of psychologists, sociologists, neuroscientists and biologists around the country, MIDUS will return this fall for a third look at the lives of thousands of Americans ages 25 to 95. The new phase is supported by a $21 million grant from the National Institute on Aging.
On a research trip to India several years ago, UW–Madison sociology professor Gay Seidman was eavesdropping on other visiting faculty sharing their struggles to set up international study abroad programs when a familiar name came up.
“I heard one say, “You know what Joe Elder has done at Wisconsin, he’s been doing this for years and we’re just all imitating him!’” Seidman says.
Eleven outstanding faculty members from UW-Madison have been named winners of this year’s Kellett Mid-Career Awards — with six L&S faculty members winning the award.
Survey maps the life of a generation (Milwaukee State Journal, Dec. 5, 2010) Featuring the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey and the work of the UW-Madison sociology department and Professor Bob Hauser.
Two public affairs professors, Pamela Herd and Timothy Smeeding, were recently featured in“Office Hours,” a half-hour weekly talk show produced at UW-Madison and shown on the Big Ten Network.
On May 6, 2010, several Madison-area high school students presented their creative writing pieces at the UW Memorial Library as part of the Telling Our Stories project.
This year, 10 alumni of the College of Letters & Science were named Forward Under 40 honorees. Of the twelve honorees this year, ten graduated with liberal arts degrees.
On April 8, 2010 noted linguist and public intellectual Noam Chomsky received the A.E. Havens Center’s Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship.
A prize-winning author known for his global research on modern-day slavery will deliver a free public lecture this month at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of a daylong symposium on human trafficking.
On February 16, Madison-Vilnius Sister Cities and UW-Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) sponsored a celebration of Lithuanian Independence Day.
Here’s a round-up of all of the recent awards and honors to faculty, staff and students in L&S…
Four L&S faculty have been awarded development grants from the Provost’s office.
‘Tis the season and L&S faculty and students are racking up the awards – congratulations to all!
The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, at its annual Meeting November 5-8, 2009, awarded John DeLamater, Conway-Bascom Professor of Sociology, the SSSS Distinguished Service Award.
The UW-Madison will host a semester-long fall lecture series based on the scholarship and art of Hip Hop.
Vilas Research Professor Robert M. Hauser has been awarded a competing five-year renewal of support totalling $2.5 million…
Vilas Research Professor Robert M. Hauser has been awarded three grants from the National Institute on Aging.
niversity of Wisconsin-Madison professors Theodore P. Gerber (Sociology) and Mark S. Johnson (Educational Policy Studies beginning fall 2009), participated in a meeting…
The Department of Sociology is prides itself on research accomplishments, but we embrace our teaching mission with equal energy.
