University Of Massachusetts Amherst Experts Named Editors Of American Sociological Review

UMass Amherst sociologists David Cort, Laurel Smith-Doerr and Donald Tomaskovic-Devey have been selected as the next editors of the leading sociology journal, American Sociological Review (ASR). A publisher of original research articles in all areas of sociology since its founding at Smith College in 1936, ASR is widely recognized for its high-quality and rigorously peer-reviewed scholarship. The faculty members’ roles as co-editors will begin in January 2024 for a term of at least three years.

Cort, Smith-Doerr and Tomaskovic-Devey each bring a wealth of expertise and experience to the ASR.

Cort, associate professor and associate chair of sociology, was a 2018 Fulbright Scholar to South Africa. His research interests span the areas of social epidemiology, social demography and social stratification.

Smith-Doerr is a professor of sociology and principal investigator for UMass ADVANCE, a $3.1 million National Science Foundation funded program to catalyze gender and intersectional faculty equity at UMass. Smith-Doerr’s research takes an organizational level approach to understanding durable inequalities in science and technology, especially gendered and racialized processes.

Tomaskovic-Devey, professor of sociology and director of the UMass Center for Employment Equity, studies organizational inequalities, particularly around gender, race and immigration status.

The team reports that they are “excited to take on this important task for the discipline and to showcase the excellence of UMass sociology.”

This is only the second time that any U.S. sociology department has been home to both the American Sociological Association’s president – currently Joya Misra, professor of sociology – and the flagship journal for the discipline.

“Laurel, Don and David are the ideal team for the American Sociological Review, and Joya Misra is so deserving of her position as the president of the American Sociological Association,” says Jon Wynn, chair of the Department of Sociology. “We are all lucky to have these leaders call UMass Amherst their intellectual home and 2023-24 will be a banner year for UMass sociology, with many more to follow.”