Spring 2026 Newsletter

Letter from the Chair

Dear Students, Colleagues, Alumni, and Friends,

We have reached the final day of class, finding ourselves at the end of another exciting term. This newsletter showcases the work of our faculty and students throughout the semester and the many ways they are engaging with the pressing social issues that continue to shape our world.

Congratulations to our graduating students! You have bright futures ahead of you and we look forward to celebrating you at the departmental commencement ceremony on May 22nd.  

Throughout the spring, the Department’s Colloquium Series brought leading sociologists to campus. Talks presented by Christine Percheski (Northwestern University), Adam Reich (Columbia University), and David Melamed (The Ohio State University) examined siblings and wealth inequality, prison work in the American labor market, and cooperation and segregation in social networks. Visiting scholar Nate Breznau (German Institute for Adult Education, Leibniz Institute for Lifelong Learning) shared new work on reproducibility in the social sciences and implications for sociology (slides and recording for Nate’s talk).

At the end of this week, many of our department faculty and graduate students will present their research at the annual Population Association of America (PAA) meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.

As we head into the summer months, I hope you take time to rest, reflect, and recharge. We look forward to the opportunities that the next academic year will bring.

Warm regards,

Laura Tach

Chair, Department of Sociology

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