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About Us

Global Dimensions
and Social Inequalities

Welcome to the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University!

Our department focuses on global phenomena, as well as their connection to national dynamics.  We thus hold a leading position in the discipline of sociology and, as such, are integral to the university's global focus. Our faculty expertise is concentrated in Computational Social Science, Environment, Health, International Development, Inequality, and Politics and Culture.  We are a methodologically diverse department that spans both quantitative and qualitative methods. We aim to teach students how to use the best methods available to inform the most pressing policy and social issues of our time.

The Sociology Department at Stony Brook University is committed to advancing equity and justice.  We acknowledge that social justice oriented scholarship has a long tradition in sociology, including contributions from members of historically marginalized groups, such as W.E.B. Du Bois and Jane Addams.  We thus affirm the value of a wide variety of approaches to sociological research, including scholarship that is explicitly oriented toward addressing and dismantling injustice alongside inequalities. We are committed to rigorous research and teaching that seeks to improve both global and local conditions for everyone.

Leadership

Tim Liao, Professor
Chair 
Tim.Liao@stonybrook.edu
(631) 632-7755

Rebekah Burroway, Associate Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Rebekah.Burroway@stonybrook.edu
631-632-7700

Catherine Marrone, Advanced Senior Lecturer
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Catherine.Marrone@stonybrook.edu
(631) 632-4883

Patricia Bremer
Department Administrator
Patricia.Bremer@stonybrook.edu
(631) 632-7740

Kelly Haller
Academic Programs Coordinator
kelly.haller@stonybrook.edu
(631) 632-7710

Address

Department of Sociology
S401 Social & Behavioral Sciences
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, New York 11794-4356
Telephone: (631) 632-7700
Fax: (631) 632-8203

News and Notable

December 2023
November 2023
  • Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman (University of South Florida) Sociology Departmental Colloquium, November 8th, 1:00 - 2:30 PM, SBS N403: "Second-Class Daughters:  Black Brazilian Women and Informal Adoption as Modern Slavery"
October 2023
September 2023
  • Nicholas Wilson has been interviewed about his new book,"Modernity's Corruption"  in the ASA Theory Section's fall newsletter, Perspectives
  • Menisha Desai has been elected Co-President of the International Sociological Association's RC32 Women, Gender, and Society
  • Giselle Gerardi, (Stony Brook University School of Nursing, Office of Nursing Research)  Sociology Department Colloquium, September 27th, 1:00 - 2:30 PM, SBS N403  "Achieving Health Equity in Perinatal Populations:  A Call for Collaboration."
August 2023
July 2023
  • Crystal Fleming and Jennifer Heerwig have accepted invitations to serve as consulting editors for the American Journal of Sociology (AJS).
  • Crystal Fleming was recently featured on a number of national and international media outlets discussing her work on racism in France after the police killing of Nahel, a French Arab teenager.  These outlets include:
 
May 2023
  • Jason J. Jones has received a fellowship for the Fall 2023 semester at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) in Bochum, Germany
April 2023
  • Aldon Morris is the first SBU Sociology PhD to be Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. Morris is the Leon Forrest Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Black Studies, Northwestern University.
  • Cathy Marrone's SOC 339, Sociology of Drugs and Alcoholism and Narcan Training Featured in Newsday on April 27th: "Narcan Training to Prevent OD Deaths"
  • Xiaogang Wu, (New York University Center for Applied Social and Economic Research) Sociology Departmental Colloquium, April 7th, 12:00 - 1:30 PM, SBS N403: "Social and Political Consequences of the COVID-19 Crisis in the United States: Evidence from a Longitudinal Survey in 2020 and 2021."
December 2022 
November 2022
  • Nicholas Wilson has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Social Science History Association
  • Rebecca Johnson, (Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy) Sociology Departmental Colloquium, November 4th, 1:00 - 2:30 PM, SBS N403: "Using Text as Data to Understand Treatments: The Case of an RCT on College Navigators in Public Housing"
October 2022
  • Jessica Halliday Hardie, (Hunter College) Sociology Departmental Colloquium , October 19th, 1:00 - 2:30 PM, SBS N403: "Best Laid Plans: Women Coming of Age n Uncertain Times"
May 2022
  • Kristen Shorette is the 2022 winner of  the Environmental Sociology's Section of the American Sociological Association  Teaching and Mentorship Award.
  • Nicholas H. Wilson has received a $20,000 Stony Brook Foundation Trustees Faculty Award to pursue research, scholarship and creative art.  Recipients are chosen with an emphasis on the quality of research and publications and scholarship, the institutional impact of achievements and potential for continued professional growth, and the clarity, quality and significance of long-term future research, scholarship and creative activity and their probable impact upon SBU and the scholarly community within the discipline.
September 2021
    • Oyeronke Oyewumi has received the Distinguished Africanist Award of the African Studies Association of the United States.  Established in the 1980s, the award recognizes and honors "scholars who have contributed a lifetime record of outstanding scholarship in their respective field of African Studies and service to thr Africanist community."
June 2021
    • In the recent American Sociological Association election,Crystal Fleming was elected to a three year term as an at-large member of Council, which is the governing body of the association.
September 2020
    • Jennifer Heerwig,has received a Piper Foundation Research Grant for her work on democracy vouchers, "Comparing Small Donor Public Financing Systems: The Effects of Matching Funds and Democracy Vouchers on Donor Diversity.

June 2020
    • Yongjun Zhang, with his co-author Jeremy E. Fiel, is the co-winner of the 2020 James Coleman Best Article Award in the ASA Sociology of Education Section for his article, "With All Deliberate Speed:  The Reversal of Court-Ordered School Desegregation, 1970-2013." AJS 124(6): 1685-1719.
May 2020
    • Crystal Fleming, has received a Stony Brook Mid-Career Diversity Award, recognizing a faculty member at the mid-career stage who has a strong record of research and service while also advancing Stony Brook's goals of a diverse and inclusive campus.
 March 2020
    • Sarah Bush, (Yale University) Sociology Departmental Colloquium Speaker, March 4th, 1:00 - 2:30 PM, SBS N403: "Gender Quotas and International Reputation"
January 2020
    • Michael Schwartz, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, has received the American Sociological Association's 2020 Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award.
 Read More

Calendar and Events

Call for Proposals
Movement and Stillness: Navigating the Currents of Bodies, Ideas and Spaces - April 5, 2024

Calling all graduate students! The Stony Brook Sociology Graduate Student Forum is thrilled to announce our spring graduate student colloquia, centering around the theme: “Movement and Stillness: Navigating the Currents of Bodies, Ideas, and Spaces."

Join us on April 5th, 2024, as we seek to untangle the intricacies of movement and stillness across a spectrum of domains. We invite submissions that delve deep into the interplay between physical motion, the evolution of ideas, and the ever-changing spaces we inhabit. Whether it’s historical contexts, contemporary issues, or futuristic perspectives, we welcome your contributions—real-world cases or visionary hypothetical scenarios—all are valuable in painting a comprehensive picture.

Don’t miss this chance to be a part of a vibrant dialogue!  Head over to the full Call for Proposals and submission details.

The Sociology Department Welcomes Two New Faculty Members:  Manisha Desai and Wan-Zi Lu


Wan-Zi LuWan-Zi Lu received her PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago (2021) and was a
postdoctoral fellow at the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. With interests in global health and comparative political economy, she has co-organized the Health Network in the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. Wan-Zi is currently working on her book project, “The Many Hands of the Healthcare State,” where she compares organ donation policies and outcomes worldwide, with a focus on Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Her exploration of how the effects of governmental approaches have been influenced by social structures and cultural understanding stems from her research across indigenous tribes in Taiwan. She is excited about bringing her passion for theories and global comparisons into the classroom. When taking breaks from her research, Wan-Zi enjoys swimming, cycling, jogging, and may other kinds of sports.

Manisha DesaiManisha Desai joins Stony Brook University from University of Connecticut and serves as the new director of the Center for Changing Systems of Power on campus, with her affiliation in Sociology. In addition to her academic appointment, Manisha is a Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva, Switzerland. Her areas of research and teaching include gender and globalization, transnational feminisms, global justice, particularly climate justice movements, human rights, and contemporary Indiansociety in India. Her current research includes women’s rights, land rights, and climate justice in India and NE United States. As a member of UNRISD’s Global Network for Research and Action she also chairs their gender and human rights working group. She is also working on contemporary feminist campaigns against Hindu fundamentalism in India and the post-secular turn in feminism. Her most recent book is Subaltern Movements in India: The Gendered Geography of Struggles Against Neoliberal Development (Routledge 2016). In addition, she has 4 other single authored or edited and co-edited books and numerous articles and book chapters. Committed to decolonizing knowledge production and the academy she is on the Steering Committee of the Federation of Feminist Journal Editors that seeks to establish a feminist knowledge commons outside commercial publishing to ensure the free circulation of feminist knowledge across borders and language barriers. In recognition of her contribution to feminist scholarship, she was awarded the Sociologist for Women in Society’s 2015 Distinguished Feminist Award. She is also the recipient of the 2016 Faculty Mentor Award from the Compact for Faculty Diversity in the United States. She has served in various leadership capacities including as President of Sociologist for Women in Society.