Sociologist Named University Professor

Sociology professor Jennifer Karas Montez has been named University Professor. The appointment is a prestigious distinction granted to faculty who excel in their fields and who have made extraordinary scholarly contributions as judged by their peers nationally and internationally.

Montez’s appointment was recently approved by the Syracuse University Board of Trustees following recommendations from the sociology department, the Maxwell School and University leadership. “I absolutely love what I do,” says Montez, professor of sociology, Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, director of the Center for Aging and Policy Studies and co-director of the Policy, Place and Population Health Lab.

Montez has built a career around asking “big questions” in the search for solutions to some of life’s most pressing public health problems: Why do people in one state live longer than those in other states? Why is the

United States losing ground in its international ranking in life expectancy? Why is life expectancy worse for lesser-educated adults than most other groups? What can be done to reverse these disturbing trends and change life trajectories?

Montez changed the trajectory of her own life because of her fascination with these kinds of questions. Though her mother never went to college, she insisted that Montez do so. With an undergraduate degree in math and a master’s in statistics, both from Purdue University, Montez got a job in the private sector. But her work in pharmaceuticals, food and beverage and petrochemicals did not satisfy her.

At 37, she quit her job and went back to school. “My biggest risk was a game changer for me,” she says. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that my upbringing and experiences literally impact everything I do every single day.”

—Eileen Korey