The pages of the New York Times are enriched by Andrew Beveridge’s research and analysis of U.S. census data, making it possible for the public to understand demographic trends, patterns of inequality and forces of social change in the New York metropolitan area and the Nation.Under a long-term contract with the Times, Professor Beveridge and his Queens College students help journalists interpret data on societal changes regarding racial segregation in housing, immigration, voting patterns, distribution of income, family composition, crime incidents, women in the labor market and population aging.His observations and maps provided the foundation for stories on the displacement of populations by Hurricane Katrina, dramatically illustrating the costs of race and class in America.Professor Beveridge’s unique contribution enables the Times to regularly publish features with sociological dimensions.

Andrew Beveridge (B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University) spent most of his professional life in the New York City area, teaching at Columbia University before moving to Queens College and the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, where he is Professor of Sociology.ProfessorBeveridge’s scholarly work and contributions to the Times are closely related to his active community involvement. As President of the Yonkers (NY) Board of Education, he fought to bring the school system into full compliance with court decisions mandating integration.He frequently serves as an expert witness in court cases involving housing discrimination, affirmative steering, rent stabilization and affordability in support of such organizations as the ACLU, NAACP, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division, and the legal services programs of several cities and counties.He applied his expertise in sociology to informing numerous federal and state jury system challenges and court cases on employment and religious freedom discrimination.

Professor Beveridge’s contractual relationship since 1993, a cooperative agreement between the New York Times and the CUNY Research Foundation, is probably unique to the social sciences as he and his graduate and undergraduate students remain on-call and committed to keeping the Times abreast of what they believe to be newsworthy.He has met with over one-hundred reporters and editors to explain how data could be used to document changing social and demographic patterns and expose conditions of gross inequality in the city.In this role, he developed news stories about such topics as social inequality, immigration and housing, diffusing sociological research to the public.Feature stories, many with front-page coverage, include a series on social class; race and income; family size and affluence; population growth; profiling Muslims in the post-911 environment; immigrant family patterns and retirement; the demographics of crime; aging in the suburbs; occupational mobility of women; and changing patterns of residential segregation.

Professor Beveridge more directly disseminates sociologically informed analysis through his own column in the respected website, GothamGazette.com, begun in 2001.In over 40 columns, he described changing demographics and analyzed social issues in the New York metropolitan area.Recent articles include the impact of the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to developers on the availability of affordable housing for certain demographic groups in Manhattan, the implications of federal policy proposals on undocumented immigrants for populations in New York City and estimates of future population growth and demographic characteristics in the New York City metropolitan area.

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Beveridge developed a web site that allows anyone to query data about any census tract or county in the US, www.socialexplorer.com.The site offers hundreds of interactive data maps including historical information and future projections and is sustained by sponsors, the New York Times and the National Science Digital Library.

Professor Beveridge’s projects have involved many graduate and undergraduate students who have learned how to apply sociological perspectives in helping the public understand contemporary social issues. Professor Beveridge is also the author of a number of articles in refereed journals, book chapters and a book, African Businessmen and Development in Zambia (Princeton University Press, 1979).