Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Southern Sociological Society is naming its Distinguished Service Award in honor of Mississippi State professor Martin L. Levin to recognize his "extraordinary contributions" to the organization.
Michael Hughes, the society's president for 2004-05, announced in a recent letter to university President Charles Lee that the organization's executive committee voted unanimously to now designate its major honor as the Martin L. Levin Distinguished Service Award.
The Thomas L. Bailey Professor of Sociology and head of the department of sociology, anthropology and social work, Levin was the first recipient of the SSS award in 2003. He also serves as secretary-treasurer of the society.
"When the honors committee met in 2004 to decide on the next recipient, they faced the problem of not being able to find a potential recipient whose service to the SSS came anywhere near Marty's extraordinary contributions," wrote Hughes. "As one committee member described it to me, it would be years before anyone could approach Marty's record. The solution was to name the award after Marty."
The award was established in 2001 to honor outstanding service to the 70-year-old organization of professionals that works to promote the development of sociology as a profession. The award recognizes members who have made exemplary contributions through direct service over a lifetime or significant portion of their professional careers.
"I am incredibly humbled that my colleagues and friends have chosen to honor me in this manner; it is a wonderful capstone to my association with an outstanding professional organization," said Levin, who also is a recipient of a National Science Foundation/NATO Senior Fellowship.
Levin holds a bachelor's degree in industrial and chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in sociology from Johns Hopkins University.
With research interests in marital disruption and mathematical demography, he has served as principal investigator on a variety of scientific projects.
Levin is a member of the American Sociological Association's Committee on Professional Ethics, and has been elected to the Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society and Sigma Xi international honor society in scientific research.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Levin at (662) 325-7890 or Levin@soc.msstate.edu.