Clough Center conference to honor Kay L. Schlozman
Retired Boston College faculty member Kay L. Schlozman, considered one of the most eminent American political scientists of her generation, will be honored at a September 20 conference sponsored by the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy and the Political Science Department.
“On Democratic Participation: A Celebration of Kay Schlozman,” which takes place starting at 8:15 a.m. in Gasson 100, will feature three panel discussions and eight distinguished speakers, including Henry Brady (University of California–Berkeley), with whom she and Sidney Verba co-authored three books—among them the widely acclaimed Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism and American Politics—and Gary King (Harvard University), her co-editor, along with Norman Nie, of The Future of Political Science.
Other speakers will include: Jeffrey Berry (Tufts University), Traci Burch (Northwestern University), Philip Jones (University of Delaware), Jane Junn (University of Southern California), Jane Mansbridge (Harvard University Kennedy School of Government), and Shauna Shames (Rutgers University).
Schlozman, the University’s inaugural J. Joseph Moakley Professor of Political Science, joined the faculty in 1974 and retired at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. Her research has covered broad areas of American political life, parties and elections, interest groups, voting and public opinion, political movements, money in politics, and the gender gap in citizen political activity. In addition to Voice and Equality, her co-authored books with Brady and Verba include The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy and The People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age, and she co-published Organized Interests and American Democracy with John T. Tierney. She also was the editor of Elections in America.
“Kay Schlozman is the quintessential ĂŰĚŇ´«Ă˝ political science professor, setting a model of research productivity and classroom engagement for the whole department over many years. She has been a benevolent force for more than a generation, always welcoming new faculty with open arms and treating undergraduates with great attention and respect. ”
She has earned multiple honors from the American Political Science Association, among them the Warren E. Miller Lifetime Achievement Award for a career of intellectual accomplishment and service to the profession in the field of elections, public opinion, and voting behavior—the first woman to be so recognized. Schlozman, Brady, and Verba shared the APSA Philip E. Converse Book Award for Voice and Equality— which also won the American Association for Public Opinion Research Book Award—and two American Association of Publishers PROSE Awards for The Unheavenly Chorus. She, Verba, and Nancy Burns received the APSA Schuck Prize for The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality, and Political Participation.
Schlozman received fellowships and awards from many prestigious institutions, including the Kennedy School of Government, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Bellagio Center at the Rockefeller Foundation.
“Kay Schlozman is the quintessential ĂŰĚŇ´«Ă˝ political science professor, setting a model of research productivity and classroom engagement for the whole department over many years,” said Professor of Political Science Jonathan Laurence, the Clough Center director. “She has been a benevolent force for more than a generation, always welcoming new faculty with open arms and treating undergraduates with great attention and respect.Â
“It's our fortune that Kay made so many close colleagues at the highest level of the profession, since they will be coming to speak to honor her contributions to the study of American politics—something our Clough Center fellows and political science majors can enjoy and be inspired by.”
Details for “On Democratic Participation: A Celebration of Kay Schlozman” can be found on the Clough Center website.