Steve Gold (1978)

Professor and Graduate Program Director, Michigan State University

Doing graduate work at Berkeley was a positive experience for a number of reasons, including the cultural richness of the Bay Area, the brilliant and dedicated students, the renowned faculty, and a policy that encouraged students to develop their own intellectual agendas. In addition to taking courses in sociology, I spent a lot of time outside of the Department. I worked as a research assistant for five years at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and took courses in the Department of Anthropology where, during the early 1980s, students and faculty interested in international migration congregated.

Since completing my Ph.D., I have taught sociology and done research --involving international migration, ethnic economies and qualitative methods -- at a liberal arts college in Los Angeles and currently, at a Big Ten University. My years at Cal provided with me a sound education, the ability to work independently, and a basis on which to establish relations with Berkeley alums.

Dissertation Title
Refugee Communities: Soviet Jews and Vietnamese in the San Francisco Bay Area
Dissertation Book Title
Refugee communities : a comparative field study
Entry Year