February 9, 2009 (Vol. 9, No. 2)

Lehman Sociology Professor Wins Prestigious Grawemeyer Award

Lehman Professor of Sociology David Lavin is one of the recipients of the esteemed 2009 Grawemeyer Award in Education. Professor Lavin, along with CUNY Graduate Center Professor of Sociology Paul Attewell, will share the $200,000 prize for their research on disadvantaged women students.

Professors Lavin and Attewell were selected among fourteen nominations worldwide for their research, published in the award-winning 2007 book Passing the Torch: Does Higher Education for the Disadvantaged Pay Off Across the Generations? The study showed the benefits of providing disadvantaged students, particularly women, with access to higher education. Some two thousand disadvantaged women who entered CUNY in the 1970s were tracked over a thirty-year period. The research revealed that they were able to achieve a seventy percent college graduation rate and increase their incomes, and that their children had better educational success. The results of the study were also consistent with a national sample.

Professor Lavin is the second Lehman faculty member to receive the Grawemeyer Award. Distinguished Professor of Music John Corigliano received the award in 1991.

A professor of sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center as well, Professor Lavin has spent much of his career focusing on the impact of higher education on disadvantaged families. He has completed fourteen research grants and co-written three books and a half-dozen articles on the topic of open enrollment. A graduate of Colby College, he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from New York University and also has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

Established in 1984 by University of Louisville alumnus H. Charles Grawemeyer, an industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, the award is given out annually in the fields of music, political science, psychology, education, and religion. It honors accomplishments that "help make the world a better place."

Select a Volume Volume 9 (Spring 2009) Volume 8 (Fall 2008) Volume 7 (Spring 2008) Volume 6 (Fall 2007) Volume 5 (Spring 2007) Volume 4 (Fall 2006) Volume 3 (Spring 2006) Volume 2 (Fall 2005) Volume 1 (Spring 2005)