Harvard professor and BGSU graduate William Julius Wilson is visiting scholar

BOWLING GREEN, O.— One of the country’s most prominent experts on the issues of race relations and welfare reform will make a series of visits to Bowling Green State University this spring. Noted Harvard sociologist Dr. William Julius Wilson has been named the President’s First Visiting Scholar in Ethnic Studies.

“Wilson is at the epicenter of the debate about race relations and welfare reform in America,” according to Dr. Michael Martin, chair of the BGSU ethnic studies department. “His work has palpably contributed to the formation of social policy. Having someone of his stature on campus is an asset of the first order for Bowling Green.”

A proponent of a new type of national, multiracial coalition that would focus on the shared economic problems of people of all ethnic backgrounds, Wilson contends that only by ethnic groups working together can these issues begin to be addressed. His landmark 1978 book, “The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions,” marked the beginning of his controversial stand on the greater importance of social class and economics than race as impediments to progress.

He received his master’s degree in sociology and history from BGSU in 1961. He later earned a Ph.D. in sociology and anthropology from Washington State University.

Wilson, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, has taught since 1996 at Harvard, where he has also been the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy and served as director of the Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program.

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education referred to Wilson as a member of Harvard’s “Dream Team,” in the “star-studded Afro-American studies department” which includes Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Dr. Cornel West.

Before moving to Harvard, Wilson spent most of his professional career at the University of Chicago, where he held numerous named professorships and served as director of the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality from 1990-96.

Wilson is also the author of “The Bridge over the Racial Divide: Rising Inequality and Coalition Politics,” published in 1999 by the University of California Press. His most recent book, co-edited with Neil Smelser and Faith Mitchell, is “America Becoming: Racial Trends and Consequences in the United States,” published in 2001 by the National Academy Press.

His 1996 book, “When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor,“ has also been published in Japan. In preparation for that book, Wilson conducted the “Urban Poverty and Family Life Study,” a large-scale research project in the Chicago ghettos.

The following events are free and open to the public:
During his initial visit to Bowling Green on Feb. 7-8, Wilson will deliver a public lecture titled “The Roots of Racial Tension: Urban Ethnic Neighborhoods.” Hosted by the sociology department, the talk will be held from 7:30-9 p.m. Feb. 7 in 202B Bowen-Thompson Student Union.
On March 1, Wilson will return for a conference on “Welfare Reform and the Well-being of Children and Families.” Co-sponsored by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, the seminar will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in 201 Bowen-Thompson Student Union.
A reception in his honor will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, hosted by the President’s Office and the division of the executive vice president.

On April 5, Wilson will take part in a seminar titled “Welfare Reform in Ohio: A Five-Year Retrospective,” hosted by the BGSU Center for Policy Analysis and Public Service. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in 207 Bowen-Thompson Student Union.
Wilson will be the speaker at the Provost’s Lecture Series/Arts & Sciences Forum at noon on April 18 when his topic will be “Welfare, Children and Families: The Impact of Welfare in a Time of Recession.”

In addition to the public events, Wilson will lead graduate seminars and meet graduate students, confer with the Task Force on Diversity and Project SEARCH staff, and meet with sociology, American culture studies and history faculty.

Wilson’s visits are sponsored by the Office of the President and the Department of Ethnic Studies, in conjunction with the Department of Sociology, the American culture studies program and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Immigration Services.

The public may call Sharon Morgart in the Office of the Executive Vice President at 419-372-9233 for more information on any of the events. (Posted Jan. 29, 2002)