Education

Ph.D. Brandeis University (Sociology) 1980.

M.A. Brandeis University (Sociology) 1975.

B.A. City College of the City University of New York (Sociology) 1971.

Borough of Manhattan Community College, 1966-67.
 

Awards and Honors

Eastern Sociological Society, Robin M. Williams Jr. Distinguished Lecturer, 2003-2004.

Girls Incorporated of Memphis, She Knows Where She's Going Award, 1998.

Women's Foundation of Greater Memphis, Mertie Buckman Mentor Award, 1997.

American Sociological Association Jessie Bernard Award, 1993.

American Sociological Association Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award, 1993.

Superior Performance in University Research Award at Memphis State University, 1992-93.

Superior Performance in University Research Award at Memphis State University, 1991-92.
 

Employment History

1998 to present Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware.

1996 to 1997 Visiting Professor in Black Gender Studies, Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS) and Women's Studies, University of Michigan.

1995 to 1998 Professor of Sociology and Social Work, The University of Memphis (prior to 1993 it was known as Memphis State University).

1994 to 1996 Acting Director, Center for Research on Women, The University of Memphis.

1992 to 1994 Associate Director, Center for Research on Women, The University of Memphis.

Fall, 1991 Distinguished Visiting Associate Professor in Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies, Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minn.

1988 to 1995 Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Work, The University of Memphis.

1985 to 1988 Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Work, Memphis State University.

1983 to 1992 Research Professor, Center for Research on Women, Memphis State University.

1981 to 1983 Assistant Professor, Division of Urban Planning, Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Columbia University.

1979 to 1981 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh.

1977 to 1979. Instructor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh.

1975 to 1976 Part-time Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Fall, 1975 Part-time Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Boston State College.

1972 to 1974 Part-time Lecturer, Afro-American Studies Concentration Program, University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Areas of Teaching Specialization

Qualitative Research Methods

Race and Ethnic Groups

Race, Gender and Poverty

Racial Stratification

Social Stratification

Social Inequality and Film
 

PUBLICATIONS
 

Books

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 2001. Too Much to Ask: Black Women in the Era of Integration. University of North Carolina Press.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth and Mary Romero (editors). 1997. Women and Work: Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Class. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
 

Articles

Higginbotham, Elizabeth and Lynn Weber. 1999. "Perceptions of Workplace Discrimination Among Black and White Professional-Managerial Women." Pp. 327-353 in Latinas and African American Women at Work: Race, Gender, and Economic Inequality edited by Irene Browne. New York: Russell Sage Publications.
 

Weber, Lynn, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Bonnie Thornton Dill. 1997. "Sisterhood as Collaboration: Building the Center for Research on Women at The University of Memphis." Pp. 229-256 in Feminist Sociology: Life Histories of a Movement edited by Barbara Laslett and Barrie Thorne. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
 

Weber, Lynn, and Elizabeth Higginbotham. 1997. "Black and White Professional-Managerial Women's Perceptions of Racism and Sexism in the Workplace." Pp. 153-175 in Women and Work: Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Class edited by Elizabeth Higginbotham and Mary Romero. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
 

Weber, Lynn, Tina Hancock and Elizabeth Higginbotham. 1997. "Women, Power and Mental Health." Pp. 380-396 in Women's Health: Complexities and Differences, edited by Sheryl Burt Ruzek, Virginia Olesen, and Adele E. Clarke. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1996. "Getting All Students to Listen: Analyzing and Coping with Student Resistance." American Behavioral Scientist 40, (November/December): 203-211.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1994. "Black Professional Women: Job Ceilings and Employment Sectors." Pp. 113-131 in Women of Color in U. S. Society, edited by Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1993. "Sociology and the Multicultural Curriculum: The Challenges of the 1990's and Beyond." Race, Sex and Class 1: 13-24.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth and Lynn Weber. 1992. "Moving Up with Kin and Community: Upward Social Mobility for Black and White Women." Gender & Society 6 (September): 416-440.
 

Cannon, Lynn Weber, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Marianne L.A. Leung. 1990. "Reply to Maines."Gender & Society, 4: 248-250.

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1990. "Designing an Inclusive Curriculum: Bringing All Women into the Core." Women's Studies Quarterly 18 (Spring/Summer): 7-23.
 

Cannon, Lynn Weber, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Marianne L.A. Leung. 1990. "Race and Class Bias in Qualitative Research on Women." Gender & Society, 2 (Winter, 1988): 449-462.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth and Sarah Watts. 1988. "The New Scholarship on Afro-American Women." Women's Studies Quarterly, 16 (Spring/Summer): 12-21.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1987. "Employment for Professional Black Women in the

Twentieth Century." Pp. 73-91 in Ingredients for Women's Employment Policy, edited by Christine Bose and Glenna Spitze. Albany: State University of New York Press.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1986. "We Were Never on a Pedestal: Women of Color Continue to Struggle with Poverty, Racism and Sexism." Pp. 99-110 in For Crying Out Loud: Women and Poverty in the United States, edited by Ann Withorn and Rochelle Lefkowitz. New York: Pilgrim Press.
 

Baca Zinn, Maxine, Lynn Weber Cannon, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Bonnie Thornton Dill. 1986. "The Costs of Exclusionary Practices in Women's Studies." SIGNS: Journal of Women and Culture in Society, 11 (Winter): 290-303.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1985. "Race and Class Barriers to Black Women's College Attendance."Journal of Ethnic Studies, 13 (Spring): 89-107.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1985. "On Being Black and Female in Higher Education: A Comment about Classroom Interaction." Pp. 286-287 in The Sociology of Sex and Gender: Syllabi and Teaching Materials, edited by Barrie Thorne, et al. ASA Teaching Resources, American Sociological Association, Washington, DC.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1983. "Laid Bare by the System: Work and Survival for Black and Hispanic Women," in Class, Race and Sex: The Dynamics of Control, edited by Amy Swerdlow and Hanna Lessinger. Boston: G.K. Hall.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1982. "Two Representative Issues in Contemporary Sociological Work on Black Women," in But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies, editors Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith. Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1981. "Is Marriage a Priority?: Class Differences in Marital Options of Educated Black Women," in Single Life: Unmarried Adults in Social Context, edited by Peter J. Stein. New York: St. Martin's Press.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1980. "Issues in Contemporary Sociological Work on Black Women."Humanity and Society, 4 (November): 242-266.
 

Higginbotham, Elizabeth. 1977. "Insuring Tolerance of Critical Perspectives." The Black Sociologist 6 (Summer): 10-18.
 

Reference Materials

Stella Warren, Rebecca F. Guy, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Lynn Weber, 1994. Women of Color and Southern Women: A Bibliography of Social Science Research, 1975 to 1988. Annual Supplement, 1993/94. Center for Research on Women, The University of Memphis.
 

Weber, Lynn, Elizabeth Higginbotham, Rebecca F. Guy, and Cheryl Bickley. 1992. Women of Color and Southern Women: A Bibliography of Social Science Research, 1975 to 1988. Annual Supplement, 1991/92. Center Research on Women, Memphis State University.
 

Timberlake, Andrea, Lynn Weber Cannon, Rebecca F. Guy, and Elizabeth Higginbotham. 1991.Women of Color and Southern Women: A Bibliography of Social Science Research, 1975 to 1988. Annual Supplement, 1990. Center for Research on Women, Memphis State University.
 

Timberlake, Andrea, Lynn Weber Cannon, Rebecca F. Guy, and Elizabeth Higginbotham. 1990.Women of Color and Southern Women: A Bibliography of Social Science Research, 1975 to 1988. Annual Supplement, 1989. Center for Research on Women, Memphis State University.
 

Timberlake, Andrea, Lynn Weber Cannon, Elizabeth Higginbotham, and Rebecca F. Guy. 1998.Women of Color and Southern Women: A Bibliography of Social Science Research, 1975 to 1988. Center for Research on Women, Memphis State University.
 

Selected Book Reviews

Review of Ida B. Well-Barnett and American Reform, 1880-1930 by Patricia A. Schecheter. Arkansas Review 23 (December 2002): pp. 249-250.
 

Review of From Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones: The Life Experiences of Fifty Professional African American Women by Kathleen Slevin and C. Ray Wingrove. Contemporary Sociology 28 (September 1999): 547-548.
 

Review of What a Woman Ought To Be and To Do: Black Professional Women Workers During the Jim Crow Era by Stephanie J. Shaw. Contemporary Sociology 26 (March 1997): 225-226.
 

Review of In Search of Equality: The Chinese Struggle against Discrimination in Nineteenth-Century America by Charles J. McClain. Law and History Review 14 (Spring 1996): 203-206.
 

Review of Inside Separate Worlds: Life Stories of Young Blacks, Jews and Latinos, edited by David Schoem. Gender & Society 7 (March, 1993): 148-149.
 

Review of Farewell--We're Good and Gone: The Great Black Migration by Carole Marks.Contemporary Sociology 19 (July, 1990): 578-579.
 

"Feminism and the Academy." Review Essay of Changing Our Minds: Feminist Transformations of Knowledge by Susan Hardy Aiken, Karen Anderson, Myra Dinnerstein, Judy Nolte Lensink, and Patricia MacCorquodale; Crossing Boundaries: Feminism and the Critique of Knowledge edited by Barbara Caine, Elizabeth Grosz, and Marie de Lepervanch; Learning About Women: Gender, Politics, and Power edited by Jill K. Conway, Susan C. Bourque, and Joan W. Scott; and Reconstructing the Academy: Women's Education and Women's Studies edited by Elizabeth Minnich, Jean O'Barr and Rachel Rosenfeld. NWSA Journal Vol 2, No. 1 (Winter, 1990): 105-111.
 

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
 

2000-02 Center for Teaching Effectiveness Grant, University of Delaware. Support to integrate teaching courses on social inequality and developing new teaching resources.
 

1999-2000 General University Research Grant, University of Delaware. Support for New

Research Initiative, "Welfare Reform and the Job." June 1999-May 2000. $6,000.
 

1995-96 The University of Memphis Academic Enrichment Grant for a speaker series: Pushing the Boundaries: New Race, Class and Gender Scholarship, September 1995 - April 1996. $5,100.
 

1993-94 The University of Memphis Academic Enrichment Grant for a speaker series: New Scholarship in Race, Class and Gender, September 1993 - April 1994. $3,100.
 

1992 Memphis State University Academic Enrichment Grant to support speaker on qualitative research methods and race relations, Spring, 1992. $1,116.
 

1990 Memphis State University Academic Enrichment Grant to support a speaker on qualitative research methods, Fall, 1990. $950.
 

1990 Memphis State University Public Service Grant for a speaker series: Women and Public Policy. January through June, 1990. $2,500.
 

1989-93 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), "Social Mobility, Race and Women's Mental Health," co-principal investigator with Lynn Weber. Grant period May 1, 1989 - April 30, 1993. Award for $190,361.
 

1989-91 Ford Foundation, "Integrating Women of Color into General Education Courses at Memphis State University." Grant period March 1, 1989 - August 31, 1991. Award for $50,000.
 

1989 Memphis State University Public Service Grant for a speaker series: The New Scholarship on Women: Exploring Race and Class. January through June, 1989. $3,000.
 

1987-88 University of Mississippi, Ford Foundation Faculty Fellow in Southern Studies. A Project of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
 

1985-87 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Center for Minority Group Mental Health. "Social Mobility, Race and Women's Mental Health"; co-principal Investigator with Lynn Weber Cannon, Grant Period February 1, 1985-December 31, 1987. Award for $170,951.
 

1985 Memphis State University Public Service Grant for a speaker series: Southern Women: Speaking for Ourselves. January, 1985 through June, 1985. $3,000.
 

1984-88 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). Curriculum Coordinator. "Research Clearinghouse and Curriculum Integration Project on Southern Women and Women of Color," August 1984-October 1988. Total Award for $251,652.
 

1983-87 American Sociological Association. Principal Investigator, Problems of the Discipline Grant for Inter-University Research Group on Gender and Race, support for research group meetings. $1,606.
 

1980-83 Ford Foundation. Co-investigator. Inter-university Research Group Exploring the Intersection on Gender and Race. $17,000.
 

1980-81 National Research Council, Ford Foundation. Post-doctoral Fellowship for Minorities. Project Title: "Women and Social Mobility."
 

1979 Faculty Research Grant from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. "Individual and Family Oriented Mobility Strategies," $2,000.
 

SELECTED RECENT PRESENTATIONS

"The American Negro Family and the Souls of Black Women," Presentation at Presidential Session: W.E.B. DuBois and the soul of Sociology: A Century of Cultural Uncertainty. American Sociological Association, Atlanta, GA, August 17, 2003.
 

"Helping Students Bridge Social Boundaries," Presentation at the Domestic Diversity Institute, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, April 29, 2002.
 

"Manufacturing Climate: Reflections on Faculty and Power in the Classroom," Presentation at Presidential Plenary: Equality and Diversity in our Teaching and Service, Southern Sociological Society, April 6, 2002.
 

"Invisible Work: Black Women's Survival Strategies in Predominantly White Schools and Work Sites," Invited Presentation, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, April 1, 2002.
 

"Facing the Challenge Before Us," Invited Presentation, Diversity Institute, Loyola University, School of Education, Chicago, January 11, 2002.
 

"Working for the City: Workplace Dilemmas for Professional U.S. Black Women," Paper presentation at the Conference on Rethinking Gender, Work, and Organization. Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, England, June 27-29, 2001.
 

"Lessons from Classrooms,"Keynote Address at Towson University's January Conference on Diversity and Learning. Towson, University, Towson, Maryland, January 10, 2001.

"Race, Gender and Professional Work for Black Women," Invited public lecture as theDistinguished Visiting University Professor at Washington University, St. Louis January 16-21, 2000.
 

"African American Women and Employment," Invited presentation for a panel on Race, Gender and Class: Research Directions for the Next Century at the Stanford University Conference on Race. November 11-13, 1999.
 

"Black Professional Women: Race, Gender, and Critical Work Issues," Invited Presentation for Women's Studies Speakers Series at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, November, 1998.

"Listening Across Race and Class: Acknowledging Power Differentials in Qualitative Research," Keynote address at the Symposium, "Honoring/Listening to Differences" sponsored by the Qualitative Research Committee at Saint Louis University, October 1997.
 

"The Challenge of Teaching Race and Gender: Content and Climate In Higher Education," Invited Presentation, University of Colorado Systemwide Diversity Conference, "Retention of Students, Faculty, and Staff: Where Are We? . . . Where Are We Going?" Denver, April 1997.
 

"More Than a Variable and Always a Factor: Refocusing the Gender Lens to See Race,"Invited Paper presentation, Eastern Sociological Society, April 1997, Baltimore.
 

"The Tide is Still Low: The Employment Status of Black Women," Invited Presentation, The State of the Black World Lecture Series, Black American Studies, University of Delaware, December, 1996.
 

"Another Dream Deferred: Reflections on Racial Discourse and Black Achievement," Colloquium Presentation, Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. November 1996.
 

"Integrating Race, Class and Gender into the Curriculum: Content and Climate," Invited Lecture, University of Pittsburgh, May, 1996.
 

"Black and White Professional-Managerial Women's Perceptions of Workplace Discrimination," Invited Lecture, "Gender, Race, and the Transformation of Work Seminar Series at Center for Women and Work, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, April, 1996.

"Beyond Grits and Greens: Questions for a Structural Sociology of the South," Plenary Address, Alabama-Mississippi Sociological Association, Jackson, MS, February, 1996.
 

"Another Dream Deferred: Investigating the Lives of the Black Middle Class," Invited Paper at the Special Session: Perspectives on the Black Middle Class: Rage vs. Assimilation. Annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Washington, DC, August, 1995.
 

Editorial Work

Sociology of Education, Editorial Board, 2003-2006

Gender & Society, Advisory Editor, 2002-2005

Arkansas Review, Advisory Editor, 1998-2003

Gender & Society, Book Review Editor, 1992 to 1996

Gender & Society, Associate Editor, 1991-1992

Gender & Society, Advisory Editor, 1990-1991

SIGNS: Journal of Women and Culture in Society, Editorial Board, 1985 to 1989

Center News: Newsletter for Center for Research on Women, Publication Director, 1985-1996
 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
 

American Sociological Association:

Member, Awards Committee, 2003-2006.

Elected Member, Committee on Publications, 1996-1999.

Member 1998 Program Committee, 1996-1998.

Faculty, Integrating Race, Class, Ethnicity and Gender throughout the Sociology Curriculum, ASA Teaching Workshop, DuPage University, Chicago, Illinois, June 1993.

Elected Member, Nominations Committee, 1990-1991.

Elected Council Member, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, 1989-1992.

Faculty, Integrating Race, Class, Ethnicity and Gender throughout the Sociology Curriculum, ASA Teaching Workshop, Wright State University, October 1991.

Member, Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award, 1989-1991.

Chair, Nomination Committee, Section on Sex and Gender, 1987-1988.

Chairperson, DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award Committee, 1986-1987.

Elected Council Member, Section on Sex and Gender, 1984-1987.

Member, Du Bois-Johnson-Frazier Award Committee, 1984-1987.

Chair, Nominations Committee, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, 1981-1982.

Member, Minority Fellowship Program Committee, 1980-1982.

Chair, Program Committee, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, 1979-1980.
 

Society for the Study of Social Problems

Chair, Budget, Finance and Audit Committee, 1987-88.

Elected Member, Budget, Finance and Audit Committee, 1985-1988,

Member of C. Wright Mills Award Committee, 1981-1982.

Eastern Sociological Association

Member, Papers Committee, 1980-1981.

Member, Committee on Professions, 1978-1980.

Co-chair, Committee on Minorities, 1975-1976;

Member of the Committee from 1974-1977.
 

Other Professional Service

Member of the Evaluation Panel Ford Foundation Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships for Minorities, Washington, DC, March 2001, March 2002 and March 2003. 
 

Member of the Evaluation Panel for the 2000-2001 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships for University Teachers and Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars. Washington, DC, August, 1999. 
 

Member of the Anthropology, Sociology and Linguistics Panel for National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program. Operated by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, February 1999.
 

Institution Building Across Race, Class and Gender, Curriculum workshop, Annual Conference of the Association for General and Liberal Studies, Memphis, TN, October, 1993.
 

Member of the National Research Council's Graduate Fellowship Evaluation Panel in Behavioral and Social Science for National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships, 1985.
 

Member, Planning Committee, 8th Scholar and the Feminist Conference, Barnard College Women's Center, 1980-1981.
 

Selected Consultations

Member of Fairness Review Panel for the American College Testing (ACT) Program Assessment Test. December 1995 to February, 1996.
 

Member of the Committee to Revise the Major Field Test in Sociology for Educational Testing Service (ETS), October, 1994 through August, 1995.
 

Association of American Colleges and Universities Project: "American Commitments: Democracy, Diversity, and Liberal Learning." Consultant for national curriculum project. Organized activities at University of Memphis that served as a resource institution to Morehead State University and Marymount College. September, 1993 through August, 1996.
 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

* American Sociological Association

* Eastern Sociological Society

* Organization of American Historians

* Sociologists for Women in Society
 

References Furnished Upon Request