UMN Sociology

05/18/2026

Sociology professors Josh Page and Ed Cornelius were recently announced as award recipients for the 2026 Law & Society Association (LSA) awards.

Josh Page & Joe Soss: Herbert Jacob Book Prize
Book title: "Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice"

Ed Cornelius: Dissertation Prize (Honorable Mention)
Dissertation title: "Car Wash Legacies: Lawyers, Globalization, and the Restructuring of the Brazilian Penal Field"

Law and Society Association congratulates its 2026 Annual Awards winners. LSA honors leading international scholars for their groundbreaking publications and contributions.

05/18/2026

Congratulations to our 2026 PhD graduates! 🎓✨

Pictured: Chris Robertson, Snigdha Kumar, Mi'Chael Wright, Brieanna Watters, and Laura Gilbertson.

05/04/2026

Kare 11 News Interview: Professor Doug Hartmann

Professor Hartmann was interviewed on KARE 11 News about the positive impact that MN sports wins are having on communities, particularly during a time when Minnesotans have faced civil hardships and unrest.

"Downtown last night was so alive... and people were just so excited. It was fabulous, we really needed this."

04/24/2026

SOC Alumni, Adora Land, who graduated in 2011, was named as a 40 under 40 honoree for her work as a grant-making director for St. Paul-based Bush Foundation.

Land oversees multimillion-dollar investments that drive leadership, equity, innovation, and systems change in the Midwest, specifically Minnesota and the Dakotas, as well as the 23 Native Nations that share the same geography.

This award, given out by the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, recognizes young business leaders for their professional accomplishments and community involvement.

04/23/2026

04/20/2026

Assistant Professor Nick Graetz co-authored a recent article in New America revealing that being enrolled in college offers young parenting students far less protection from eviction.

One in five young parenting students face eviction each year. New Eviction Lab data show enrollment offers far less protection than it should.

04/15/2026

📢 NSF Award Recipient: Leo Corral

Congratulations, Leo!

Sociology graduate student Leo Corral has been awarded a 2026 Graduate Research Fellowship at the U.S. National Science Foundation.

04/14/2026

Professor Warren was the lead author & researcher of a groundbreaking article that was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

The results of this study found that fluoride in drinking water during childhood has no effect on cognition and brain function in later life.

The new research is the first to measure community water fluoridation exposure during childhood and any potential impact on cognition up to age 80.

04/02/2026

Professor Michelle Phelps & SOC Ph.D. Candidate, Hannah Schwendeman, co-authored a recent article titled “Forty-some years I’ve been on paper”: Navigating probation in later adulthood.

Congratulations, Michelle & Hannah!

Older adults are a rapidly growing population within the criminal legal system, prompting new scholarship about the consequences of a “graying” prison populatio...

03/19/2026

Professor Elizabeth Wirlgey Field was one of the authors of a recent study quoted in an Associated Press (AP) article, whose findings suggest that the true toll of the pandemic was higher than official tallies indicated.

A new study says the early U.S. COVID-19 death toll is much higher than official counts, and that there were disparities in which deaths were missing from those tallies.

03/09/2026

📣 Congratulations to Associate Professor Elizabeth Wrigley-Field (sociology), who has been named the 2026 College of Liberal Arts Dean's Medalist.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, CLA's 2026 Dean's Medalist!