Professor Jeylan Mortimer Named Recipient of the 2020 John Bynner Distinguished Scholar Award
UMN Sociology Professor Jeylan Mortimer is the recipient of the 2020 John Bynner Distinguished Scholar Award from the multidisciplinary, international Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (SLLS).
This annual award honors a scholar who has shown exceptional lifetime achievement in advancing the longitudinal study and scientific understanding of the life course. The purpose of this annual award is to recognize the most eminent scholarly exemplars in our field, whose contributions in research, theory, or policy analysis have elucidated the macro- and micro-level foundations of the life course and individual biography.
Congratulations, Professor Mortimer!
BIO
Professor Jeylan Mortimer's research applies life course theory and concepts to transitions, trajectories, and health, and how pathways are modified in diverse contexts. Inspired by the social structure and personality and life course perspectives in social psychology, her scholarly work focuses on many subjects of interest to demographers. These topics include the transition from school to work, socio-economic attainment processes, the impacts of work experience on health and psychological well-being, and the transmission of achievement orientations in the family.
Professor Mortimer has been instrumental in developing the life course perspective in sociology in several ways in addition to her research contributions. With her former students, she edited the first and second volumes of the Handbook of the Life Course. Professor Mortimer founded the Life Course Center at the University of Minnesota, served as its Director from 1986-2006, was Principal Investigator of the longitudinal, three-generation Youth Development Study, and led an interdisciplinary NRSA training grant from 1996-2006. She has served on the Executive Committee of the Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies since its inception.
