A message from the Chair of Sociology

Dear friends and donors,

Greetings from Michigan sociology! As I reflect on my first year as chair, I find myself struck by the quality of intellectual engagement that defines the Department of Sociology–in our classrooms, mentoring relationships, workshops, colloquia, and through community engagement.

This intellectual passion was brilliantly represented by our colleague, Professor Xiaohong Xu, whom we lost in December 2023. Scholars from U‑M and other institutions offered critical and loving commentary of his work at an event held to honor his pathbreaking scholarship.

While impossible to mention even a fraction of the impressive scholarship and teaching produced by U‑M's faculty and students, a few accomplishments capture a flavor of this work:

• Professor Sasha Killewald was invited to join the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. She uses quantitative methods to study inequality in the contemporary United States, with a focus on the relationships among work, family and money. She was the 8th sociology faculty member and the 1st woman from the department to receive this honor.
• Assistant Professor Paige Sweet's paper "Clustered Vulnerabilities: The Unequal Effects of COVID-19 on Domestic Violence," published in the American Sociological Review, revealed that for the most marginalized, crisis does not operate as a "shock," but instead amplifies existing vulnerabilities.
• Professor Jeffrey Morenoff's ongoing partnership with the City of Detroit produces meaningful data to assist with public policy decision making. His recent study shows that Black homeowners in the city gained nearly $3 billion in real estate wealth from 2014-2022.

Gifts to sociology support both undergraduate and graduate research, including our student research awards. This year doctoral student Elly Field received the 2024 Katherine Luke Award for the best graduate paper in sociology for her project, Understanding the ‘Package Deal': Disentangling Parents' Intertwined Preferences for their Schools and Neighborhoods. The 2024 Robert Cooley Angell Award for the best sociology undergraduate honors thesis was awarded to Ella Engquist for her paper 'Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned': (Re)Constructing Catholic Confession Through Embodied Experiences.

Please consider making a gift to the Sociology Strategic Fund and/or the Xiaohong Xu Memorial Support Fund. Your gift will help us continue producing the difference-makers of tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth A. Armstrong
Sherry B. Ortner Collegiate Professor of Sociology
Chair, Department of Sociology