All About Laurel
Laurel Richardson is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at The Ohio State University. She received her undergraduate degrees from The University of Chicago, and her Ph.D. from The University of Colorado, where she had the good fortune to study under Edward Rose, Robert Hanson, and Alex Garber. Her dissertation, Pure Mathematics: A Study in the Sociology of Knowledge, one of the first in the developing area of science studies, was supported by a National Science Foundation Fellowship. During graduate school, in addition, she took part in the emergence of ethnomethodology and ethno-science.
Upon completion of her graduate work, she taught statistics and sociological theory at California State University in Los Angeles. A National Mental Health Fellowship at The Ohio State University gave her time to do social-psychological research in the newly emerging field of disability studies. After teaching at Denison University, she joined the sociology department at The Ohio State University, where she has remained.
During her years as a professor of sociology she initiated and developed the sociology of gender. Her early work, funded by National Institutes of Health, focused on the intersections of race and gender. Questions she devised still appear thirty years later--on the longitudinal survey. Her path-breaking book, The Dynamics of Sex and Gender, centered gender in sociological concepts and perspectives. Feminist Frontiers, an anthology she has co-edited, has gone into its sixth edition, and continues to be the leading anthology in its field. Her monograph, The New Other Woman, was a best-selling book and brought feminist-sociological theory to a wider audience. Gender and University Teaching: A Negotiated Difference, her co-authored study, has been of great value to new professors and administrators as they work to understand and act justly within the academic setting. She has been honored for her work on behalf of women and minorities through the university's first Affirmative Action Award, through the Feminist Mentor Award from SSSI, and commendation for her contributions from Women's Studies. She speaks frequently on qualitative research methods and gender issues, both nationally and internationally.
In the mid-1980's, Laurel Richardson, then President of the North Central Sociological Association, embarked on an ethical quest, asking: For whom do we write our research? How can we write to empower those in our research sites? These questions have led her to examining the philosophical and political foundations of sociology, and to offer alternative methods of representing the lives of those studied. Her article in The Handbook of Qualitative Research, "Writing: A Method of Discovery," the most cited qualitative article, resituates writing from "a mopping-up activity" to a method of analysis. Her book, Writing Strategies: Reaching Diverse Audiences, provides theoretical and practical help for the novice researcher.
Currently, Laurel is working on several writing projects: "The Altered Book: Transgressive Post-Poststructural Practices"(multi-media); "Finding her Place: An Exploration in Retirement;" and "A Chicago Childhood: A Memoir."