From Footnotes July/August 2017
Mary Romero, Professor of Justice Studies and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University, has been elected the 110th President of the American Sociological Association (ASA), and Grace Kao, Professor of Sociology, Education, and Asian American Studies, has been elected Vice President. Romero and Kao will serve as President-elect and Vice President-elect for one year before succeeding Duke’s Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and University of Minnesota’s Christopher Uggen respectively in August 2018. Romero will chair the 2019 Program Committee that will shape the ASA Annual Meeting program in New York City, August 10-13, 2019.
“I am very honored to have been elected to this role,” said Romero. “The ASA is a great organization that does a lot but there is even more potential we can make use of.”
Romero earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado. She has held several ASA leadership positions in the past, including Secretary, Chair of the Executive Office and Budget Committee, Chair of the Search Committee for Executive Officer, Council Member-at-Large and Council Liaison to the Task Force on Sociology and Criminology Programs.
A former Carnegie Scholar, she is a recipient of the 2009 Founder’s Award of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Race and Ethnicity Minorities and the 2004 Lee Founders Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. She is receiving the Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award at the Annual meeting this year.
As ASA President, Romero hopes to build on programs and services that will attract new and new types of members across a broader spectrum.
“To best serve our members, ASA must continue to emphasize social justice in sociological inquiry,” Romero said. “We need to make a broad appeal to young scholars and activists who are just beginning careers as well as those in interdisciplinary fields, liberal arts, community colleges, applied settings, and our emeriti. If we are to thrive as an association, our future lies with inclusively embracing the diversity of our discipline.”
Kao earned her PhD from the University of Chicago and has served in a variety of positions in the ASA including on the Nominations Committee, as Chair of the Section on Children and Youth, on the Councils for the Section on Sociology of Education and Section on Asia and Asian America, and on the Editorial Boards for the American Sociological Review and Social Psychology Quarterly.
“I felt honored to be nominated, and I’m now excited by the prospect of working with President-Elect Mary Romero, the rest of ASA Council, and the staff members of ASA,” Kao said. “It is a great privilege to be able to serve our profession.”
During her tenure, Kao looks forward to hearing from her colleagues about what they want from ASA and implementing what she learns.
“I hope that we can stay focused on how to best serve sociologists and how to promote sociology as a discipline throughout all types of academic institutions,” she said, adding she would like to see the meeting become more accessible to students and international members and for the ASA to be more inclusive “of sociologists that work in a variety of institutions — from 2-year colleges to foundations and other non-profit organizations.”
But that’s not all.
“Finally, I’d like to bring the ASA band back to the opening reception — I say this quite selfishly since I play guitar.”
The Results
In announcing the results of the election, ASA Executive Director Nancy Kidd and Secretary David Takeuch extended their heartiest congratulations to the newly elected officers and committee members and appreciation to all ASA members who have served the Association by running for office and by voting in this election.
About half of the voting members of the ASA community took part in the election, which is the traditional level of ASA member participation. ASA is one of the few scholarly associations with such a high level of participation. All votes were cast online.
In regard to the Bylaws Amendment Proposals, on the selection of members for status committees: Yes. And, on membership category for high school teachers: Yes.
The slate of the newly elected ASA-wide officers and committee members follows:
President-Elect
Mary Romero, Arizona State University
Vice President-Elect
Grace Kao, Yale University
Council Members-at-Large (3-year term)
Kimberly Ann Goyette, Temple University
Erin Kelly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Zulema Valdez, University of California, Merced
Rhys H. Williams, Loyola University – Chicago
Committee on Publications (3-year term)
Mary Bernstein, University of Connecticut
Nancy A. Naples, University of Connecticut
Abigail C. Saguy, University of California, Los Angeles
Committee on Nominations (2-year term)
Joyce M. Bell, University of Minnesota
Amy L. Best, George Mason University
Cedric de Leon, Providence College
Mustafa Emirbayer, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Melissa A. Milkie, University of Toronto
Brea L. Perry, Indiana University
Committee on Committees (2-year term)
Enobong (Anna) Branch, University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Jose Zapata Calderon, Pitzer College
Hedwig (Hedy) Lee, University of Washington
Deidre A. Tyler, Salt Lake Community College
