Professor Emeritus Peter H. Rossi died October 7, 2006, leaving a rich legacy to the UMass Amherst Department of Sociology and to the social sciences in general. He and his wife, Alice S. Rossi, who survived him until November 3, 2009, were among the most lustrous couples in sociological and UMass history. On the UMass Amherst campus, both greatly elevated the department’s profile and gave it an ascending momentum that continues today. Both were Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecturers and received Conti Research Fellowships. Both were named Distinguished Professors—Pete became the Stuart A. Rice Professor and Alice, the Harriet Martineau Professor of Sociology. Nationally, both were elected president of the American Sociological Association, and both received the Association’s highest award for distinguished scholarship. The burgeoning field of evaluation research now honors its annual exemplar with the Peter H. Rossi Award. Alice was a founder of the National Organization for Women.
Since 2007, the department has sponsored and hosted the annual Alice S. and Peter H. Rossi Lecture Series. The series alternates honorees, focusing on Pete one year, Alice the next. The guest lecturers will be prominent academic and public figures drawn from across the country—and indeed the world. Each will be renowned for pursuing one or more of the honoree’s interests. During a typical two-day visit, the Rossi lecturer will give a public all-campus lecture, as well as a department seminar on work in progress for faculty and graduate students, visit an undergraduate class, and be available for informal meetings and social gatherings.
We welcome contributions to permanently endow the Rossi lecture series. You may show your support by donating online or by sending a check, written to the University of Massachusetts, directly by mail to:
The Alice S. and Peter H. Rossi Lecture Series
Department of Sociology
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-9277
Alice S. and Peter H. Rossi Lecture Series Speakers:
2024 - Adia Harvey Wingfield | Vice Dean of Faculty Development and Diversity, Professor of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis | "Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It."
2018 – Mario Small | Grafstein Family Professor of Sociology at Harvard University | "Understanding Personal Networks: The Limits of Big Data and the Perils of Common Sense"
2017 – Ruth Milkman | Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center | "Immigration and Labor Market Precocity in the 21st Century U.S."
2016 – Alondra Nelson | Dean of Social Science at Columbia University | "The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation after the Genome"
2015 – Elizabeth Armstrong | Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan | "Paying for the Party"
2014 – Aldon Morris | Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences at Northwestern University | "Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois: Why Du Bois is the Founder of American Scientific Sociology"
2013 – Terri O’Neill | President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) | “Past, present, and future challenges for NOW and feminism in the U.S.”
2012 – Bruce Western | Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government | “Mass Incarceration and the Prospects for Reform”
2010 – Paula England | Professor of Sociology at New York University | “(Hetero)Sexuality in College: New Social Forms and Old Gender Patterns”
2009 – Devah Pager | Professor of Sociology and Public Police at Harvard University| Race at Work: A Field Experiment of Discrimination in a Low Wage Labor Market”
2008 – Joan Huber and Sheila Tobias | Professor of Sociology at Ohio State University; and Independent Scholar | “Alice Rossi: Politics, Feminism, and Science”
2007 – Andrew Greeley | Retired Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and American Roman Catholic priest | “The Great American Prayer Scandal”