Ann Morning has been named the incoming Divisional Dean for Social Sciences and Vice Dean for Strategic and Global Initiatives. After a transition period beginning this spring, she will step into the role on September 1, 2023, upon the completion of David Stasavage’s term.
Ann Morning is a James Weldon Johnson Professor of Sociology at NYU Arts & Science, and a member of NYU Abu Dhabi’s Affiliated Faculty. Trained in demography, her research focuses on race, ethnicity, and the sociology of science, especially as they pertain to census classification worldwide and to individuals’ concepts of difference. She is the author of The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference (University of California Press 2011) and An Ugly Word: Rethinking Race in Italy and the United States (with Marcello Maneri, Russell Sage 2022).
Morning was a 2008-09 Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Milan-Bicocca, a 2014-15 Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York, and a 2019 Visiting Professor at the Institut d’Études Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris. She was a member of the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations from 2013 to 2019, and has consulted on ethno-racial statistics for the European Commission, the United Nations, the World Bank Group, and Elsevier. She is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on the Use of Race, Ethnicity, and Ancestry as Population Descriptors in Genomics Research. She holds her B.A. in Economics and Political Science magna cum laude from Yale University, a Master’s of International Affairs from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University.
"I am deeply honored to serve a division with such an outstanding record of attracting and cultivating faculty excellence,” said Morning. “As a sociologist whose educational path traversed political science, economics, and demography, I’m excited to collaborate with colleagues across the social sciences to enhance our disciplinary strengths and interdisciplinary connections; embed equity, inclusion, and diversity in our community; and leverage NYU’s unique global ties and institutional relationships for the flourishing of our division. And to do so, I’m delighted to join the great Arts & Science leadership team that Antonio Merlo has put in place.”
Outgoing Divisional Dean David Stasavage said: “I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Ann for many years. I know that she will have great success in her new role, and as a member of faculty, I will be ready to support her in any way that she might need.”
Dean for Arts & Science Antonio Merlo said: “I am thrilled with the distinguished scholarship, deep engagement with the global social sciences community, and great enthusiasm for Arts & Science that Ann brings to the deanship. I very much look forward to her contributions. I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the enormous contributions that David has made throughout his term. His energetic partnership has been invaluable in recruiting and mentoring our world-class faculty, supporting fundraising efforts, helping to facilitate the Big Questions Series, providing structure around our relationship with global programs, and shepherding numerous programs and initiatives, including, most recently, the Journalism master’s concentration in podcasting. Please join me in congratulating David on being named the Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor in NYU Arts & Science’s Wilf Family Department of Politics.”