Michael Burawoy, a world-renowned sociologist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, died after being struck by a vehicle on Monday, February 3. He was 77.

ASA President Adia Harvey Wingfield and Executive Director Heather M. Washington noted in a message to members on February 5, "Michael was a leading figure in the discipline, an advocate for public scholarship, and a former president of the International Sociological Association and of ASA. His contributions to labor studies, Marxist theory, and ethnography have had an indelible impact on our discipline. He will be missed."

The International Sociological Association (ISA) stated, in part, "ISA mourns one of its most influential and inspiring presidents, a remarkable and creative global sociologist, an advocate for a public sociology relevant to the people and civil society, an inspiring teacher who trained generations of sociologists, and an extraordinary human being."

The UC Berkeley Sociology Department has posted a memorial page.

A virtual memorial tribute was scheduled for February 8; as of this writing, the video has not yet been posted, but it may become available on the ISA YouTube channel.

The Population Reference Bureau created the KIDS COUNT Data Resource Guide to facilitate the use of population data from the U.S. federal statistical system. "Originally designed for the KIDS COUNT program on child well-being, the guide offers practical advice on how to use major data sources—from the Decennial U.S. Census to the National Vital Statistics System—that could be helpful to anyone who works with U.S. population data.

"The guide includes an overview of each major data source, including what data are available, how to access that data, and some best practices for using each source. These sources provide up-to-date and reliable information that is comparable across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and, where available, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands."

"Assessing the Health of the Principal Federal Statistical Agencies" is a joint American Statistical Association and George Mason University project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The project's organizers are requesting feedback from federal statistics users. The feedback they seek includes examples of how you use federal statistics and your suggestions to improve both the data and the user experience.

"We want to hear from you, regardless of whether you are a federal statistics novice or a seasoned power user. Your feedback will be most helpful if we receive it by Friday, February 28, 2025."

View more details and a link to the feedback form on the project website, or respond to the feedback request directly.

From the Social Science Research Council:

College and University Fund Lecture Series 2025:
Delivering on Government Innovation

"A renewed focus on government efficiency has drawn increased attention to the critically important public goods and services provided by federal, state and local governments, including education, health care, social assistance, public safety, and infrastructure. Efficient provision of these vital public goods and services is essential for shared prosperity.  Partnerships with the research community can provide agencies with the capacity to innovate and improve government performance."

See complete details and the list of 2025 lectures on the SSRC website.

Excerpted from Inside Higher Ed, January 13, 2025:

"Freshman enrollment did not decline this fall, as previously reported in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s annual enrollment report in October. On Monday, the NSC acknowledged that a methodological error led to a major misrepresentation of first-year enrollment trends, and that first-year enrollment appears to have increased.

"The October report showed first-year enrollments fell by 5 percent, in what would have been the largest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic—and appeared to confirm fears that last year’s bungled rollout of a new federal aid form would curtail college access. Inside Higher Ed reported on that data across multiple articles, and it was featured prominently in major news outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post.

"According to the clearinghouse, the error was a methodological one, caused by mislabeling many first-year students as dual-enrolled high school students. This also led to artificially inflated numbers on dual enrollment; the October report said the population of dually enrolled students grew by 7.2 percent."

Read the complete article on the IHE website.

From the National Center for Health Statistics:

"The 2025 NCHS/AcademyHealth Data Visualization Challenge is now open. This competition is an opportunity for graduate students (master's or doctoral level) to create static or dynamic data visualizations to address social determinants of health using NCHS public use files with non-NCHS public use data. Apply today for a unique opportunity to explain an important trend or disparity in public health."

Applicants must submit a full application by Monday, March 10, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET to enter the Challenge.

See complete details and application instructions on the NCHS website.

From the ASA Environmental Sociology Section:

"As we are all now increasingly aware – every day brings new evidence – the climate crisis is accelerating. Societal impacts are already serious and will only grow steadily worse in the next decades. Climate change is no longer a topic for just environmental sociology courses. Students today are going to spend the rest of their lives in increasingly fraught circumstances and they are understandably anxious about that. Sociologists ought to be giving them the conceptual tools to understand what is about to happen to them.

"It is likely, though, that many sociologists do not have the expertise, in climate science, climate impacts, climate politics, to easily add climate change content to their courses. To help colleagues add Sociology of Climate Change to their classes, members of ASA’s Environmental Sociology Section have created a climate teaching resource web page and the attached flyer."

The Joint Program in Survey Methodology offers a variety of short courses. Short courses are open to the public and admission to the University of Maryland is not required.

Introduction to Survey Sampling | Online Short Course

Course Details:
    Dates: Monday, February 10 - Wednesday, February 12, 2025
    Location: Zoom Live Sessions
    Time: 9:45 am - 3:00 pm (each day) Eastern Time

Instructors:
    Colm O’Muircheartaigh, Professor in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies and Senior Fellow in the National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.
    Jim M. Lepkowski, Professor and Research Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan.

"This foundational course introduces participants to key principles and methods in sample survey design. In a non-technical format, instructors will cover essential sampling techniques, including simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratification, and cluster sampling. Each topic will be accompanied by hands-on exercises, allowing participants to actively apply these techniques."

The course fee is $700. Registration closes Monday, February 03, 2025. See complete details online (PDF) or on the JPSM website.

The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Virtual Series Issue (VSI) is a virtual journal based around thematic or significant anniversaries or events (e.g., MLK Remembrance, SPSSI's Annual Conferences), calendar events (e.g., LGBT Pride Month, Earth Day), and major policy initiatives (e.g., immigration reform, major Supreme Court cases). The VSI Editor identifies and selects appropriate articles from previously published issues of SPSSI's journals to be bundled for inclusion in each virtual issue.

VSI papers can be read in full by any member of the public (although they are not available for downloading or printing). Two recent items of interest to the DCSS community:

"She Came, She Saw, He Conquered: Gender, Polarization, and the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election" (December 2024) by Benjamin Blankenship, PhD, James Madison University and Roxanne Moadel-Attie, PhD, U.S. Census Bureau.

"Psychological Research, Social Activism and the 2024 OMB Federal Standards for Race and Ethnicity" (September 2024) by Roxanne Moadel-Attie, PhD, and Mehrgol Tiv, PhD, U.S. Census Bureau.

The Virtual Series Issue papers can be accessed via the SPSSI journals website.

"Join the Boston University Newbury Center, Duke University First-Generation Graduate Student Network, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina Grad Student F1RSTS, along with our Cooperating Sponsor, FirstGen Forward, for our 8th annual symposium for graduate and professional students on February 7, 2025 via Zoom. This national symposium is open to any student who identifies as a current first-generation graduate or professional student and is studying any discipline. We define a first-generation graduate/professional student as someone whose parents, guardians, or caregivers have not completed an advanced degree, e.g. master’s, doctoral, or professional degree (like a JD or MD)."

Registration for this symposium is free for all graduate and professional students. See complete details on the event website.