Changes in population demographics, higher education, academic publishing, funding streams, and politics raise the possibility of significant transformations to sociology as profession. Our professional societies are facing a variety of new and old pressures to change the way they operate. Declining numbers in the traditional college-aged population, the student debt crisis, challenges to the traditional funding models of higher education, and increasing political involvement in the content and operation of higher education, are posing significant existential threats to traditional sociology departments and degrees. A panel of sociologists with SSS and ASA luminaries with significant leadership experience in our societies will offer their insights about these challenges and about the future path of our profession.
Moderator:
Lynn Smith-Lovin is Robert L. Wilson Professor of Arts and Sciences in Sociology (and Psychology and Neuroscience) at Duke University. Smith-Lovin received Distinguished Career Awards from four ASA sections: Sociology of Emotions; Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity; Social Psychology; and Mathematical Sociology. She co-edited Social Psychology Quarterly, and served as President of the Southern Sociological Society, Vice-President of the ASA, and Chair of the ASA Sections on the Sociology of Emotion and on Social Psychology.
Panelists:
Shelley J. Correll is the Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden Family Professor of Women’s Leadership at Stanford University, director of the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, co-director of Stanford Impact Labs, and incoming president of the ASA. Correll received the 2008 Distinguished Article Award from the Sex & Gender section of ASA, the 2016 Feminist Lecturer Award and 2017 Feminist Mentor Award from Sociologists for Women in Society, and 2019 President’s Award for Excellence Through Diversity at Stanford University.
Larry Isaac is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor of Sociology & Political Economy at Vanderbilt University. He is past senior editor of the American Sociological Review, Past President and Distinguished Lecturer award recipient in the SSS. The recipient of multiple ASA publication awards in Comparative-Historical, Culture, Mass Media, Labor Movements (2), and Theory (SSSP), he is known for his scholarship in social-historical change, political sociology of labor, and anti-racist civil rights movements. Larry was the 2024 SSS Roll of Honor inductee.
Dr. Kendra Jason is president-elect of the Southern Sociological Society and associate professor of Sociology at UNC Charlotte. Dr. Jason’s research on organizational behavior, management, inequality and work can be found in refereed journals, technical reports, book chapters, and teaching outlets. She is a sought-out speaker on race and equity in the workplace and the editor of Race and Social Justice: Building and Inclusive College through Awareness, Advocacy, and Action (2023).
Brian Powell is the James Rudy Professor of Sociology at Indiana University. An author of COUNTED OUT: Same-Sex Relations and Americans' Definitions of Family and WHO SHOULD PAY? Higher Education, Responsibility, and the Public, he served as president of the Sociological Research Association, vice-president of the ASA, and chair of the General Social Survey Board. He received distinguished career awards from three ASA sections (Social Psychology, Education and Family), the ASA Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award, and the Spencer Foundation’s inaugural Mentor Award.