Alice Rossi (1922-2009): Feminist Scholar and an Ardent Activist
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Volume 38 • Number 1 • January 2010 Alice Rossi (1922-2009): Feminist Scholar and an Ardent Activist by Jay Demerath, Naomi Gerstel, Harvard, the University of were other honors too: inside Michael Lewis, University of Chicago, and John Hopkins The Ernest W. Burgess Massachusetts - Amherst as a “research associate”—a Award for Distinguished position often used at the Research on the Family lice S. Rossi—the Harriet time for academic women (National Council of ASA’s 2010 Election Ballot Martineau Professor of Sociology 3 A married to someone in Family Relations, 1996); Find out the slate of officer and Emerita at the University of the same field. She did not the Commonwealth Award Massachusetts - Amherst, a found- committee candidates for the receive her first tenured for a Distinguished Career ing board member of the National 2010 election. appointment until 1969, in Sociology (American Organization for Women (NOW) Alice Rossi (1922-2009) when she joined the faculty Sociological Association, (1966-70), first president of at Goucher College, and her first 1989); elected American Academy of August 2009 Council Sociologists for Women in Society 5 appointment to a graduate depart- Arts and Sciences Fellow (1986); and Highlights (1971-72), and former president of the ment did not come until 1974, honorary degrees from six colleges Key decisions include no change American Sociological Association when she and her husband, Peter H. and universities. in membership dues, but (1982-83)—died of pneumonia on Rossi, moved to the University of As an original thinker, Alice man- subscription rates see a slight November 3, 2009, in Northampton, Massachusetts-Amherst as Professors aged to combine her successful activ- Massachusetts. Rossi was a towering increase. of Sociology. She remained on the ism with published work that always figure in American sociology as well UMass faculty until her retirement in illumined issues of consequence in as a nationally preeminent feminist 1991. the lives of contemporary women Stanford’s 50th Anniversary scholar and an ardent activist. 8 Alice Rossi became a leader in and men. Her major books include: of Its Renewal Born to German Lutheran parents a variety of venues. She served as Academic Women on the Move (1973); The Stanford University on September 24, 1922, in New York, Vice President of the American The Feminist Papers: From Adams Department of Sociology Alice Emma Schaerr was a true Association of University Professors to de Beauvoir (1973); Feminists in brought together current daughter of that city. A 1947 graduate (1974-76) and Chair of the Social Politics: A Panel Analysis of the First of Brooklyn College, she earned her and former faculty and Science Research Council (1976-78). National Women’s Conference (1982); PhD in sociology from Columbia students to celebrate its 1959 President Carter appointed her to Gender in the Life Course (1985); University 10 years later, primarily Reorganization and Renewal. the National Commission for the Of Human Bonding: Parent-Child under the tutelage of Robert Merton. Observance of International Women’s Relations Across the Life Course (with Due to prejudicial attitudes toward Year (1977-78), and she served on the Peter H. Rossi, 1990); Sexuality Across The Evolution of women seeking faculty positions, she 9 Advisory Council for the National Clickstream Mapping was employed at Cornell University, Institute on Aging (1985-89). There Continued on Page 6 Researchers use network analysis to visualize the social and scientific significance of ASA Recognizes 2009’s keystrokes in order to map 2010 Annual Meeting: Why Atlanta? scientific activity. t’s not too early to begin planning 76 MFP Leadership Iyour participation in the next ASA Campaign Contributors Annual Meeting, August 14-17, 2010, in Atlanta, GA. After a number of Science Policy ................................. 3 SA is pleased to announce that northeast and northwest meeting loca- in 2009, the Minority Fellowship From the Executive Officer ......... 2 tions, ASA is pleased to return to the A Atlanta Skyline Program (MFP) Leadership ASA Forum .....................................11 South for the next Annual Meeting. their guest rooms and meeting space. Campaign, led by immediate past Announcements ..........................12 Prime Lodging and Meeting Meeting attendees will appreciate Vice-President Margaret L. Andersen Room Space the ease of getting between the two and Executive Officer Sally T. Obituaries .......................................17 Atlanta is one of the easiest properties thanks to a newly built air- Hillsman, was supported by 76 con- continental US cities to visit, with conditioned skybridge connecting the tributing leaders. Hartsfield-Jackson International two hotels. All of these leaders made a sig- Airport serving as the hub for Delta nificant, five-year commitment to This is the first Guests who book within the ASA block and AirTran Airlines and featuring help secure the future of MFP during electronic-only Footnotes of rooms will receive this transition period following the issue. Readers can print this service by most major carriers. With 80% of the U.S. population within a special amenities end of the current NIMH T-32 grant issue directly or “opt-in” two-hour flight, Atlanta is one of the such as complimen- funding. The total amount of the 2009 during membership renewal most accessible destinations in the tary Internet access. pledges equaled more than $300,000 to receive a print copy country. Access to ASA hotels from over 5 years. via postal mail. the airport is easy with a MARTA Guestrooms at both properties The Campaign coincided with th (subway) station at the airport. offer comfortable accommodations MFP’s 35 anniversary in 2009. Both ASA host hotels have recently and various amenities. There is a full The results of the campaign were undergone massive renovations of Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 5 To view the online version, visit <www.asanet.org/footnotes/jan10/index.html> footnotes • January 2010 1 American Sociological Association footnotes.asanet.org from the executive officer ASA’s Electronic Persona: Expanding Interactive Communications in Sociology his January 2010 Footnotes issue is society is portrayed and our services Journal Publishing in Web 2.0 efforts to augment scholarly com- Tthe first to be delivered directly to delivered through our website (www. Sage Publications, ASA’s new munication. We will also continue members in electronic-only format asanet.org), which we completely journals publishing partner (see July/ to increase the connectivity of our since we began print publication 39 overhauled in December 2009. The August 2009 Footnotes, p. 1), begins members, their scholarly work, and years ago in 1971. (Members will still new ASA website makes major its work to bring Web 2.0 platform relevant sociology to the many and be able to “opt in” to have a print copy strides toward full compliance with innovations to the ASA scientific com- varied worlds of policy, media, curi- delivered in 2010.) The ASA has come the Americans with Disabilities Act. It munications program. Authors and ous students, casual web visitors, and a long way since we first began using has significant 2.0 interactive capac- readers will be able to communicate the public at large. The ASA website electronic e-mail in the late ity, which ASA will exploit more easily with one another about and listservs will provide an electronic 1980s and established our more fully over time. New published articles. Authors, editors, grassroots infrastructure not only first online web presence as ASA listserv technology and peer reviewers, as well as editorial to promote the value of sociological an association in 1995. No for sections introduced in offices and production partners, will science but to defend it, as needed, one knows where electronic 2009 has improved com- be able to interact entirely electroni- against the periodic political or ideo- communications will be 10 years munications within these important cally. Other enhancements will follow. logical attacks that arise in the public from now—there may be no USPS to ASA groups. The listservs and other Contexts magazine, ASA’s general square. deliver Footnotes (or the 2020 census, e-communications (e.g., Member readership science-based publication, ASA welcomes your ideas on how for that matter) and the Internet may News & Notes, ChairLink, Minority has developed noteworthy Web 2.0 to make our association’s sociology be (and likely will be) something Fellowship Program Newsletter) innovations through podcasts, blogs, communications hub more effective entirely different from the current significantly define our associa- web crawlers, and other newfangled for the discipline in the coming years. www! tion within the membership as the developments (see contexts.org). RSS Contact us at executive.office@asanet. Over time, ASA’s public identity as ASA website does across the public (Real Simple Syndication) and social org. the national scholarly association for audiences (media and non-member media, such as Twitter and Facebook, sociology and the scholarly com- students and sociologists). ASA is a have been a very successful part of Sally T. Hillsman is munication center for members and central part of the electronic socio- the magazine’s offerings. They have sociologists worldwide has become logical culture of the current age, and also contributed significantly to the the Executive Officer increasingly personified by ASA’s we continually seek ways to leverage strategic successes of the ASA Public of ASA. She can be online presence. Our services to the technology to expand and deepen Information/Media Relations staff to reached by email at discipline, the scholarly community, the national and international pres- attract reporters, editors, and produc- executive.office@ and the media have become more ence of our discipline, association, ers to the vast scholarly content at the asanet.org. dependent on electronic communica- and members. Annual Meeting. tions paralleling most other organiza- Dynamic Digital Library of tions in the late 20th century.