Van Hook elected president of the Population Association of America
Jenny Van Hook, distinguished professor of sociology and demography and director of SSRI’s Data Resources Hub, was recently named president-elect of the Population Association of America (PAA). This is a prestigious honor that reflects Van Hook’s stature in the field and her long-standing…
Brothers receives American Sociological Association’s Early Career Award
Sarah Brothers, assistant professor of sociology and public policy at Penn State, is the recipient of the American Sociological Association’s (ASA) inaugural Early Career Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship. The organization recognized Brothers for her “transformative work in drug policy” and…
David Baker receives Mercator Fellowship from German Research Foundation
Penn State Professor of Sociology, of Education and of Demography David P. Baker has been appointed a Mercator Fellow by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), also known as the German Research Foundation. Beginning this month, Baker will spend the next four years making regular trips to Germany’s…
Faculty panel to discuss migration, asylum and refugee experience on April 16
The Penn State College of Arts and Architecture’s Woskob Family Gallery, located at 146 S. Allen Street in downtown State College, will host a cross-disciplinary faculty panel to discuss the current migration landscape, asylum and refugee law and on-the-ground advocacy efforts on April 16 at 4 p.m…
Faculty, alumni gifts establish flexible fund for sociology and criminology
When Michelle Frisco, who earned a degree in administration of justice from the College of the Liberal Arts in 1994, became head of Penn State's Department of Sociology and Criminology in 2022, she saw a need and opportunity to build something the department didn't have — a flexible fund that could…
High school experiences linked to midlife body weight
High schools have long been recognized for shaping students’ futures. According to a new study by researchers from Penn State, the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota, high schools may even contribute to how much a person weighs later in life.…
Penn State rises in NSF Higher Education Research and Development rankings
Penn State has moved up two spots to No. 26 in the 2023 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey, the most recently released rankings. The University also earned top 10 rankings in key research fields, including engineering, mathematics,…
Australia offers lessons for increasing American life expectancy
Despite being home to some of the world’s most dangerous animals, Australia has led the English-speaking world in life expectancy for the last three decades. As for other high-income Anglophone countries, the Irish saw the largest gains in life expectancy, while Americans have finished dead last…
Professor’s new book examines universities’ role in advancing science
The last century has been a remarkable period of scientific discovery. And one of the primary drivers of it? Universities like Penn State, according to Professor of Sociology, Education and Demography David P. Baker. That’s the main takeaway of “Global Mega-Science: Universities, Research…