News and Awards

The sociology community mourns the tragic death of Michael Burawoy (PhD Sociology, Chicago 1976). A few of us who had worked with and been mentored by Michael Burawoy over the years want to offer a few words about him.

Michael Burawoy (1947–2025) was born in England, to which his parents had fled from Leipzig in 1933 from Nazism; they had decamped there after their families had fled Russia right after the Bolshevik revolution. Michael began his academic career in mathematics, earning his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University. During his studies, he hitchhiked around Africa, interested in educational transformation ala Fanon, and then decided to go to India to investigate related issues. He had learned that Edward Shils, visiting Cambridge from Chicago, knew something about India, so Michael presented his plans to Shils, who laughed at him and later helped get him into the University of Chicago. But first, Michael pursued a master’s degree at the University of Zambia in 1972, leading to his work The Color of Class. In 1976 Michael then went to join Shils to get his PhD at Chicago (sans funding). Here, Michael found the department generally “decidedly tedious, smugly complacent in its provincialism,” with the notable exceptions of Richard Taub and William Julius Wilson. Shils greatly disapproved of Michael’s political fire, and did not hide this fact in his famous letter of recommendation for Michael, but this did not prevent the University of California at Berkeley from hiring him as an assistant professor (perhaps thanks to the work of a young Erik Olin Wright, who was finishing up his PhD at Berkeley, who, with some other students and faculty, managed to squeeze Michael in to a search process that had been initially stacked against him.  Despite this unlikely start, he remained at Berkeley until his untimely passing.

Michael was a transformative force in sociology, championing the power of ethnographic research at a time when quantitative methods dominated the field. His influential article, “The Extended Case Method,” remains a defining text, and his seminal monograph, Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism, continues to inspire debates on labor, globalization, and community transformation. Known for his relentless commitment to making sociology both accessible and impactful, Michael reshaped the discipline through his pioneering work in public sociology. In his groundbreaking essay, For Public Sociology, inspired scholars worldwide to reconsider the role of academic research in addressing pressing social issues. 

At UC Berkeley, Michael was not only an esteemed scholar but also a devoted mentor. His dynamic teaching and genuine care for students transformed countless lives. Colleagues remember him as an intellectual giant with a warm, generous spirit—a tireless advocate who believed that the power of sociological insight could build a more equitable and informed society. He worked closely with an impressive array of graduate students, including Ruth Milkman, Leslie Salzinger, Pierette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Ching Kwan Lee, and our own Kimberly Hoang, as well as many undergraduates, supporting ambitious transnational research at a time when such endeavors were rare in the field. His twice-featured presentations at our Spring Institute were always marked by his enormous enthusiasm, curiosity, and humor. Michael loved to tease and he rarely turned down a fight. He had an infectious grin and a heartfelt laugh. 

Michael Burawoy’s legacy lives on through his transformative scholarship, his groundbreaking contributions to public sociology, and the generations of students and colleagues he inspired.

- Kristen Schilt, Kimberly Kay Hoang, and John Levi Martin

See consolidated graduate student news and awards here.

Doctoral Student Sophia Costa was named a TRAC Fellow at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Doctoral Student Della Cox was awarded a National Institute on Aging Predoctoral Fellowship from the Committee on Demographic Training at the University of Chicago.

Doctoral Students Nina Olney and Aaron Stagoff-Belfort were named Mansueto Urban Doctoral Fellows at the University of Chicago.

In a social media commentary for the National Institute of Social Sciences, Doctoral Student Betsy Priem discussed her research on the social impacts of climate events. See the post here.

Deutsche Welle interviewed Associate Professor René D. Flores about the Trump administration's immigrant deportation plans. Read the full article here.

Undergraduate student Mónica Ruiz House has been awarded the Marshall Scholarship. She will pursue graduate degrees in criminology and refugee and forced migration studies at the University of Oxford next fall. Mónica is the 30th Marshall Scholar from the University of Chicago. Find the full story here.

Associate Professor René Flores participated in a debate on immigration and the election organized by NPR Illinois. Listen to the debate here.

In an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health, Associate Professor René Flores and collaborators address the need to collect and disaggregate self-identification data for Middle Eastern and North African Americans to address health and social inequalities. Read the editorial here.

Doctoral Student Theodora K. Hurley has won a Dissertation Grant from the National Institute of Social Sciences. Read about the award here.

Incoming Assistant Instructional Professor Tessa Huttenlocher won the Robert J. McNamara Student Paper Award from the Association for the Sociology of Religion for the paper, “The Disaffiliation of American Religious Colleges and Universities, 1895-1923.” Read more about the award here.

Doctoral Candidate Anna Fox won the American Sociological Association Section on Community and Urban Sociology's Graduate Student Paper Award.

Associate Professor René Flores and his co-authors, María Vignau Loría and Regina Martínez Casas, won the Robert Merton Award 2024 for their paper titled "Transitory versus Durable Boundary Crossing: What Explains the Indigenous Population Boom in Mexico?", published in the American Journal of Sociology 129(1), 2023. More information here.

Professor Julian Go’s book, Policing Empires, was awarded Honorable Mention for the Barrington Moore Prize for Best Book in Comparative Historical Sociology and Honorable Mention for Best Book in Global and Transnational Sociology from the American Sociological Association.

Professor Steve Raudenbusch received the Paul Lazarsfeld Award from the American Sociological Association section on Sociological Methodology for his “impressive and substantial contributions to the development of hierarchical linear models, causal inference techniques for multisite trials, and heterogeneous treatment/mediator effects.”

Professor Jenny Trinitapoli's book, An Epidemic of Uncertainty: Navigating HIV and Young Adulthood in Malawi, was awarded Honorable Mention for the Eliot Freidson Outstanding Publication Award from the American Sociological Association's section on Medical Sociology.

Professor Kimberly Kay Hoang's book, Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets, has won the 2024 Outstanding Book Award from the Global Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Professor Kimberly Kay Hoang's book, Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets, has won the 2024 Alice Amsden Best Book Award from the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics.

Ilana Ventura has been selected as a recipient of the Stone Center Best Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences.

Professor Julian Go’s recent book, Policing Empires: Race, Militarization and the Imperial Boomerang in the US and Great Britain (Oxford University Press, 2024) is the winner of the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Distinguished Book Award for the best book in Crime, Law and Deviance, given by the American Sociological Association Section on Crime, Law and Deviance.

Matt Borus has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Social Work at SUNY--Binghamton.

Yuchen Yang has accepted an offer to become Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Anna Fox's paper, "Anti-Black and Blue: Neighborhood Identity and Local Racial Ideologies in Chicago’s Police Neighborhoods," has won the Distinguished Student Paper Award from the Crime, Law and Deviance Section of the American Sociological Association.

The Lever covered Simon Y. Schachter and Robert Vargas's research on private donations to police. Read the article here.

Associate Professor Robert Vargas debated the merits of Chicago's investment in surveillance technology with a former Chicago Police Superintendent. See the WTTW segment here.

Doctoral candidate Timothy B. Elder will be a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Dartmouth College.

Assistant Professor Linda Zhao's co-authored paper, "Threats to Blue Networks: The Effect of Partner Injuries on Police Misconduct," is available in American Sociological Review.

Doctoral candidate Nicolás Torres-Echeverry is invited co-editor of Análisis Político's issue on "Cyberspace, Social Media, and Politics."

Doctoral candidate Ángela Zorro Medina accepted a position as Assistant Professor at University of Toronto-Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies with joint appointment at the Law School.

In an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times, Associate Professor Robert Vargas urges Chicago to apply the same evaluation standards to ShotSpotter as those applied to violence prevention programs. Read the op-ed here.

Doctoral student Cameron Day received a GGI Internship for 2023-2024. He will be working with the Civil Commitment Working Group.

Doctoral candidate Donghyun Kang received the Judge’s Choice award from UChicago MindByte 2023 for his poster presentation, “Limited Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge Forecasts Collapse.” 

Doctoral candidate Yuchen Yang received the 2023 Herbert Blumer Award for best graduate student paper from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

The Seminary Co-op is hosting a book release event for Professor Julian Go's Policing Empires: Militarization, Race, and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US. Associate Professor Robert Vargas will moderate the discussion between Julian Go and Alex Vitale. More information here.

Professor Jenny Trinitapoli's new book explores how uncertainty motivates our actions in epidemics. Read coverage of the book, An Epidemic of Uncertainty: Navigating HIV and Young Adulthood in Malawi, here.

Associate Professor Geoff Wodtke and colleagues from the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility launch The Inequality Podcast, which "brings together scholars across disciplines to discuss the causes and consequences of inequality and strategies to promote economic mobility." Read the announcement here, and listen on Spotify, Google, Apple, or RSS Feed.

Associate Professor René D. Flores has been named a 2023-2034 Faculty Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Read more here.

Congratulations to Lauren Beard on being named an ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG) Research Scholar. See the announcement here.

Doctoral candidates Lauren Beard and Ángela Zorro Medina received grants from the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy. Lauren won the Robert K. Merton Award for the project "The Transition Shock: Emancipating into State-Defined Adulthood" and Ángela won an award for the project "The Effects of Anti-Gang Laws on Crime and Inequality."

Associate Professor Robert Vargas is co-winner of the Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award from the ASA's section on Race, Gender, and Class.

Congratulations to Pranathi Diwakar, who won the Division of the Social Sciences' 2023 Saller Prize for most outstanding dissertation of the year!

Citing research by Associate Professor René D. Flores and collaborators, Congress members introduced a bill to start collecting data on Middle Eastern and North African people. More information here. 

Congratulations to doctoral student Theodora Hurley, who received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for her project "Understanding Relationships between Sexuality and Health through Bisexual Health Disparities."