Newswise — Barbara Risman, professor and head of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been selected as the 2011 recipient of the American Sociological Association's Award for Public Understanding of Sociology.
The award is given annually to a person or persons who have made "exemplary contributions to advance the public understanding of sociology, sociological research, and scholarship among the general public."
"Professor Risman has been contributing in a thoughtful, provocative and insightful way to the public understanding of sociology not only generally as a consistent advocate for expanding sociology's role and influence, but also specifically as a contributor in her own right to the public understanding of sociology in the areas of gender, marriage and family," said Robyn Goldstein, award committee chairperson.
Risman's research interests involve gender politics in families, teen sexuality, middle-school gender relations, feminist activism and public sociology. She also serves as the executive officer of the UIC-based Council on Contemporary Families, a national organization of family researchers and mental health and social work practitioners that bring new research findings and clinical expertise to public attention.
She is the author of "Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition" and more than two dozen journal articles in publications such as American Sociological Review, Gender & Society, and Journal of Marriage and the Family. She is the editor of "Families As They Really Are," a collection of original essays that focus on how families operate in everyday life.
Risman is currently one of the editors of a feminist book series, "The Gender Lens," and a former editor of the journal Contemporary Sociology.
Before coming to UIC in 2006, Risman spent two decades at North Carolina State University, where she was an alumni distinguished research professor and the founding director of the gender and women's studies program.
The award will be presented to Risman in August during the American Sociological Association's 106th annual meeting in Las Vegas.
The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a nonprofit membership association dedicated to advancing sociology as a scientific discipline and profession serving the public good. With over 14,000 members, the organization consists of sociologists who are faculty members at colleges and universities, researchers, practitioners, and students.
For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu.
RSS