Introduction of Jane McLeod, 2022 Recipient of the Cooley Mead Award

Abstract

Every year, the Cooley Mead Award is given to an individual who has made lifetime contributions to distinguished scholarship in the field of sociological social psychology. It is with great honor and deep humility that I introduce this year’s recipient: Jane McLeod, Professor of Sociology, and Associate Executive Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University. As with other recipients before her, it could be said that Jane needs no introduction. But it might be the case that we simply want to highlight the impressive—and enviable—breadth and depth of Jane’s substantive and theoretical scholarship. Jane’s distinguished opus of work includes her path-breaking scholarship in four distinct yet complementary areas. The first area is her detailed exploration in social disparities in children’s physical and mental health—in particular, the profound effect that poverty has on children’s affect, behavior, depression, education, and overall well-being (e.g., McLeod, Nonnemaker, and Call 2004; McLeod and Owens 2004; McLeod and Shanahan 1996). The second is her innovative development of the social structure and personality school within social psychology (e.g., McLeod, Hallett, and Lively 2005; McLeod and Lively 2003). The third area is her bold reenvisioning of the stress model of mental health research to include a broader range of social psychological processes (e.g., McLeod 2012; McLeod, Erving and Caputo 2014). Fourth, and finally, we recognize her spirited promotion of the theoretical and empirical linkages between inequality and social psychology (McLeod, Schwalbe, and Lawler 2014). Jane’s tireless efforts in any one of these areas would be worthy of receiving this award, which makes her enduring commitment to all four that much more extraordinary. If there is, indeed, anyone here who is unfamiliar with Jane, it likely is attributable more to her calm and gentle demeanor or her unassuming presentation of self, as opposed to the magnitude and the scope of her substantive, empirical, and theoretical genius. Jane received all her training at the University of Michigan, starting with a BS in statistics (1981), followed by an MA in sociology (1985) and an MHP in biostatistics (1985), which might well explain her impressive empirical chops. She went on to receive her PhD in sociology (1987) under the guidance and tutelage of Ronald Kessler. Since her time in Ann Arbor, Jane has published 59 book chapters and journal articles, an impressive proportion of which are placed in first-rate academic journals and presses.