A Message from the Chair
It is a distinct honor to join the faculty and to chair Northeastern University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. As the newly appointed chair of the department, I am proud of my new colleagues’ accomplishments, and committed to using that strength to open up new opportunities for the growth and further development of our programs.
And indeed, there is much cause for enthusiasm. This is an exciting time for our Department. In the last National Research Council ranking, our Department was rated the eighth most cited Sociology Department in the United States. Academic Analysts, an independent organization, named Northeastern’s Sociology faculty the 36th most productive Sociology department in the nation. Faculty members have published more than a dozen books since 2007, including sole authored manuscripts with such leading publishers as Cambridge University Press (Kathrin Zippel), Oxford University Press (Winifred Breines), and Yale University Press (Alan Klein). Departmental research is being funded by such prestigious agencies as the National Science Foundation (Michael Handel), National Institutes of Health (Luis Falcon), Gorbachev Foundation (Anthony Jones), Scott Charitable Trust (Arnold Arluke), Brudnick Family (Jack Levin and Gordana Rabrenovic) and the Aspen Institute (Daniel Faber). Since 1999, the Center for Urban and Regional Policy, directed by Barry Bluestone, has received more than three million dollars in grants and contracts from such foundations as Ford, Rockefeller, Boston, and Russell Sage. This is an enormously creative faculty, with an abiding commitment to cutting-edge research and committed classroom instruction.
With resources committed from the administration, we are now poised to enjoy even more significant growth in the next several years. Thus, this year will provide the occasion for three additional faculty members to join our ranks, as we set about filling positions in urban sociology, in the sociology of gender, and in the anthropology of globalization. Such growth is not accidental. Given our University’s commitment to urban engagement, and in the light of its emphasis on globalization, our Department quite naturally finds itself located close to the very center of Northeastern University’s core mission as an institution. If you would like more information about department please contact me at s.vallas@neu.edu.