February 8, 2018
Howard Schuman accepts the 2017 Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research
Howard Schuman, former SRC director and Research Scientist Emeritus, has been selected by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research as this year's recipient of the Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research.
The Warren J. Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research is awarded each year to honor individuals whose work on public opinion and/or survey methodology has a lasting and significant impact on our understanding of public opinion. The award distinguishes important work on public opinion or survey methodology that has been published in a book, journal, magazine, or newspaper, or presented at a professional conference or online. Special consideration is given to work that is based on data obtained by the researcher or author directly from the Roper archive, as well as to work that utilizes multiple data sources or compares survey results over time. The award takes into account both work published recently and from the past that continues to have a significant and demonstrable impact on our understanding of society.
Howard Schuman Roper Award c from Bryan Whitney on Vimeo.
About Howard Schuman
Howard Schuman is a Research Scientist Emeritus at the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He joined the University of Michigan in 1964 as an Assistant Professor of Sociology; he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1967 and Professor in 1971.
Much of Professor Schuman's research has arisen out of his concern for: the quality of the question-answer process in large scale surveys; changes in racial attitudes over time; and the effects of generational experience on collective memory. Professor Schuman has mentored many graduate students and has co-authored numerous journal articles with them. He has also been a valued undergraduate instructor.
Professor Schuman has served as director of ISR's Survey Research Center, chair of the Department of Sociology, director of the Detroit Area Study, and has served in the Senate Assembly and on the Rackham Graduate School's Divisional Board for the Social Sciences, including one year as board chair. He has been on the editorial boards of numerous journals; has edited the journals Social Psychology Quarterly, and Public Opinion Quarterly; and was elected president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) in 1985-86.
Dr. Schuman recently published, along with Amy Corning, Generations and Collective Memory, which draws upon a range of research to show how generations share memories of formative experiences, and how understanding the way those memories form and change can help us understand society and history.