Minority Fellowship Program Testimonials: Gary Sandefur

I was born and raised in the middle of the Chickasaw Nation in southern Oklahoma. I am a Chickasaw citizen. Neither of my parents finished high school. But, during my junior year in high school, my amazing mother decided to go to college. So, she got her GED and with support from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she attended college and later became a teacher. It was then that I realized that I also could go to college. With financial help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, I attended college at the University of Oklahoma.

I also decided to marry my wonderful wife of 53 years before starting college. We had our first child during our first year of marriage, and she, Sociologist Rebecca Sandefur, was born when we were 19. Being married, having a child, going to college, and working at Arby’s 35 or so hours a week was too much for me, so I dropped out of college for a year and a half. During that time, I built and installed septic tanks in my hometown.

I returned to college and began to admire the role of professors and the lives of inquiry and teaching that they lived. I thought about law school but decided to go to graduate school instead. I was not a stellar undergraduate student, but I did well enough to get accepted to graduate school in the sociology department at Stanford. For those who may not know, Stanford has a history of being receptive to American Indian students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. I also applied for and received support from the ASA Minority Fellowship Program in 1974. I am a member of the first MFP cohort.

One of the opportunities offered by the MFP to members of the first cohort was a trip to the ASA meeting in Montreal in August of 1974. I nervously attended this meeting, having no idea of what to expect. We were welcomed by some of the famous figures in Sociology and by the sociologists who were involved in the selection of the first cohort. The group photo of the first cohort of Fellows continues to provide me with some great memories.

The ASA MFP provided me with a wonderful set of mentors and colleagues. Bill Anderson, the first Director of the MFP, and Jay Stauss, an American Indian sociologist who served as a faculty member in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, visited me at Stanford regularly and discussed my progress with the faculty who worked with me. Bill and Jay were involved in the selection of the first cohort of MFP Fellows and they were always very supportive and encouraging. Through the MFP, I also got to know Matt Snipp, another MFP Fellow and cohort member. We became lasting friends and did some projects together. In addition to the personal and professional support these important connections provided, my family and I could not have made it without the financial support I received through the MFP.

At Stanford, I realized that I was a talented scholar, but that there were many other talented scholars who were aspiring sociologists. The faculty at Stanford tried to help all of us as much as they could. Years later, I wrote a letter to the faculty who had touched my life and thanked them for what they did for me. I will always be thankful to my advisor, Nancy Tuma, but also to Bill and Jay for their support and mentorship.

After graduating from Stanford in 1978, I enjoyed my career as a faculty member first at the University of Oklahoma and then 30 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I spent my last nine years at Madison as Dean of the College of Letters and Science and I then returned to my home state of Oklahoma, where I served as Provost at Oklahoma State University for seven years. None of this would have been possible without the support I received from the MFP.

In my estimation, the MFP has had a significant impact on sociology and on higher education. Many MFP Fellows have made important contributions to our field and to higher education in general. I believe that, as with me, most would not have been able to do what they have done without the support of the MFP. It is for this reason that I have always financially supported the MFP. The ASA MFP gave so much to me, and I am honored to give a bit back to scholars who will give so much to our field in the future.