1975

Anita M. Weiss received her doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley in 1983 and is now professor and head of the Department of International Studies at the University of Oregon. She has published extensively on social development, gender issues, and political Islam in Pakistan.

For me, becoming a sociologist was from the outset linked to a commitment to social change. I was attracted to the Berkeley department because I presumed that it would be hospitable to that orientation, and that indeed proved to be the case, if not always in exactly the ways I had expected. As a student my intellectual agenda was driven by feminism and Marxism; only much later did I develop an appreciation of sociology as a discipline.

Timothy McDaniel, Professor of Sociology at UC San Diego, died on March 10, 2009, after a brave fight against colon cancer. He was one of the leading comparative-historical sociologists of his generation, an inspiring teacher, and a man of unwavering probity and extraordinary erudition. A dedicated scholar, he contributed greatly to the growth of the university during his three decades on the faculty.

I have been here at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside since Fall 1984. I Moved up the ranks from assistant to associate to full professor. I spearheaded the creation of a Criminal Justice Department on campus and moved from the Department of Sociology/Anthropology to the Criminal Justice Department in 1999.

Going to graduate school was something I'd never really planned to do, but after getting my degree in 1985 I got a job at University of Southern California. Another sociology graduate student (Greg McLauchlan) and I were together by then, and so began our 5-year saga looking for two tenure-track jobs in the same place. With the help and counsel of literally about 70 people, we finally landed two jobs at the University of Oregon, where we've been since 1989.