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Home > People : Alumni

Alumni

The Department of Sociology is proud to have played a role in the development of many outstanding scholars.

Alumni! Keep the department up-to-date by emailing us at soc@umn.edu.

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Activities

2007 Alumni and Friends Gathering & Public Sociology Award Presentation

Our 6th annual Alumni and Friends Gathering, a traditional luncheon held during the Sociology Research Institute (SRI), was held at the Campus Club on April 21. 2007. It's a great opportunity to welcome our alumni and friends to campus to catch up with each other and the department. Associate Dean James Parente, Jr. provided thought provoking remarks at the luncheon.

At this gathering, we also present our Public Sociology award. This year's recipient is Eric Markusen (Ph.D., 1986), who made tremendous contributions to the study of genocide before passing away earlier this year. Fellow alums Vicky Brockman and Greg Owens paid heartfelt tribute to their colleague. We were honored to have Eric's widow, Randi, and his daughter, Maria, in attendance to accept the award.

Sociologist Eric Markusen was a prolific scholar and activist of international renown. After earning his Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, he went on to be a Professor of Sociology and Social Work at Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU). He was also the research Director of the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark. A passionate activist, Markusen's work was not confined to the office. He traveled to genocide sites and refugee camps around the world. His data has been used in post-genocide trials as evidence. As a part of a team chosen by the Coalition for International Justice, he participated in interviewing 1000 refugees from Darfur. The findings were incorporated into the US State Department's Atrocities Documentation Project, after which a determination was made that genocide was taking place in Sudan. He organized international conferences on genocide and published numerous books and scholarly articles on the subject. Markusen's far-reaching and important work truly embodies the spirit of public sociology.

Alumni News

• Savelsberg & King Win 2012 Outstanding Book Award

  American Memories: Atrocities and the Law, authored by Joachim Savelsberg and Ryan King (Ph.D. 2005), and published in 2011 by the Russell Sage Foundation, is the recipient of the 2012 Outstanding Book Award of the Theory Division, Society for the Study of Social Problems.

  September 11th, 2012