Prudence Carter Elected 113th ASA President; Mignon Moore Voted Vice President

Washington, DC—Prudence L. Carter, E.H. and Mary E. Pardee Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Education, University of California-Berkeley, has been elected the 113th President of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Mignon R. Moore, Professor of Sociology, Barnard College and Columbia University, has been elected ASA Vice President. Carter and Moore will serve as President- and Vice President-elect for one year before succeeding Cecilia Menjívar, University of California-Los Angeles, and Nina Bandelj, University of California-Irvine, respectively, in August 2022.    

Carter’s research focuses on factors that both shape and reduce economic, social, and cultural inequalities among social groups in schools and society. She examines academic and mobility differences influenced by the dynamics of race, ethnicity, poverty, class, and gender in the U.S. and global society. Her award-winning book, Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2005), engages with and interrogates cultural explanations of school achievement and racial identity for low-income Black and Latino youth in the U.S. She co-edited with Kevin Welner two books Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools (2012) and Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance (2013)—both published by Oxford University Press. Carter’s other publications have appeared in various journals and book volumes. Her research has also been featured in the Peabody Award-winning documentary Mind the Gap: Why Are Good Schools Failing Black Students by journalist Nancy Solomon and has been featured on dozens of National Public Radio shows.

“My personal mantra as a sociologist is that theory and research must matter, and I hope to facilitate meaningful dialogue about nourishing the nexus of sociological thinking, research, policy, and practice, especially in this particular moment of social unrest and division,” Carter said. “I never imagined that I would serve one day as President of the nation’s premier sociological, professional society, and I am moved by my peers’ faith in me. As a leader, I believe that my first goal is to assess both ASA’s strengths and challenges, to work with Council members to focus on critical priorities (e.g., membership and organizational direction), and then to plan with the Program Committee a dynamic, compelling 2023 ASA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. I hope that the scholars and researchers who have lost their connections to ASA will consider returning as the organization works to sustain vibrancy in the midst of fiscal challenges confronting multiple professional societies.”

Carter has held several positions at ASA as a member of standing committees and on the editorial boards of Contexts and Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. Her record of service extends beyond the ASA to include the American Educational Research Association, The Berkeley Foundation, the National Academy of Education, and the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado.

Before Carter joined the University of California, Berkeley, she was Jacks Family Professor of Education and professor of sociology, Stanford University; associate professor of education and sociology, Stanford University; and associate professor of sociology, Harvard University. She completed her PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees from Columbia University.

Moore’s research and teaching interests include sociology of family, race, gender, sexuality, qualitative methods, aging, and adolescence. She analyzes race, gender, class, and sexuality, not just as identity statuses but structural locations that influence individual life chances and the ways individuals experience their social worlds. Her first book, Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood among Black Women (California Press, 2011) examines the intersection of race with sexual orientation for family-building and lesbian identity among African American women. Her current research includes a new book project, In the Shadow of Sexuality: Social Histories of African American LGBT Elders, 1950–1975. She has published on such topics as LGBT-parent families, adolescent sexual debut and pregnancy, intersectionality, research methods on hard-to-reach populations, and processes of aging and health for racial and sexual minority seniors. 

Regarding her election as ASA Vice President, Moore said, “I previously served on Council as member-at-large, and knew that one day I would seek the Vice Presidency because I wanted to assume responsibility for the tasks that accompany this position. As Vice President, I will help make decisions about the future directions our organization should take. Part of my life’s purpose is to build and retain community; I will bring that kind of energy to this role.”

Moore has held several volunteer positions at ASA and at the Association of Black Sociologists, the Columbia University Senate, and on the editorial board of Social Problems.

Prior to joining Barnard College and Columbia University, Moore was associate professor of sociology and African American studies, University of California-Los Angeles. Prior to that, she was co-director, Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and assistant professor of sociology and African American studies, Columbia University. Moore completed her Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Research, and Training Program in Poverty and Social Policy at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago and BA from Columbia University.

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About the American Sociological Association

The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a nonprofit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society.