Sociologist Judith Blau will receive a national distinguished career award for outstanding contributions to sociology.
The award is given by the American Sociology Association (ASA), which seeks to promote sociology and develop policies and programs that will likely have a broad impact on the discipline.
According to the ASA, the Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology acknowledges work that has served as a model to others or “has significantly advanced the utility of one or more specialty areas in sociology.” It also recognizes work that has demonstrated significant impacts outside the discipline, particularly in advancing human welfare.
Blau will receive the award at the 107th annual meeting of the ASA on Aug. 17-20 in Denver, Colo.
Blau is the founder and president of the United States chapter of Sociologists without Borders, a nonprofit scientific and educational organization designed to support research and outreach to promote human rights, social justice and environmental sustainability.
“For too long sociologists have equivocated about whether or not their personal values can intrude into their work,” said Blau in a statement for the Sociologists without Borders Web site. “Human rights law is the expression of humanistic values that are embraced around the world and provides the ethical framework that makes the idea of a ‘neutral’ social science look pretty silly.”
She also serves on the Science and Human Rights Coalition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a co-founder of SSF Think-Tank, a state-of-the-art space for democratic, global discussions and debate.
On a local level, she is founder and director of the Human Rights Center of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. She has been at UNC since 1988, and was co-founder of UNC’s Social and Economic Justice Minor and its chair for 11 years.
