Social Science Building to be renamed for scholar, administrator Sewell

The achievements and dedication of William H. Sewell will be commemorated on Friday, Sept. 15, as the Social Science Building (see map) is renamed in honor of the late sociology scholar and former University of Wisconsin–Madison chancellor.

Throughout his UW–Madison career, which began when he joined the faculty in 1946, Sewell made unparalleled and energetic contributions to building the university’s social sciences program.

“His contributions are legendary,” says Adam Gamoran, the former chair of the Department of Sociology who coordinated a drive to rename the building. “When you talk about Bill Sewell at Wisconsin, people always go back to what he insisted on: excellence, diversity and decency.”

Following a Memorial Carillon concert at 12:30 p.m., the dedication ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. at the plaza in front of the William H. Sewell Social Sciences Building, 1180 Observatory Dr. Speaking at the dedication will be College of Letters and Science Dean Gary Sandefur; Cora Marrett, UW System vice president for academic affairs; and Mary Sewell Cooper, Sewell’s daughter.

Following the dedication, there will be two symposia, “Facing the Future of Social Science Research” and “Can Social Science Research Contribute to Public Policy Decisions?”

Speakers at the first symposium will include Sewell’s son, Bill Sewell Jr., a professor of European history and political science at the University of Chicago.

William H. Sewell’s accomplishments included a role in securing funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for social science research and in creating support for social and behavioral sciences at the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.

“His work was critical in elevating the status of social science as science – both here in Wisconsin and nationally,” says Gamoran, who is director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

Sewell served as chair of the department of Rural Sociology from 1949-53 and of the Department of Sociology from 1958-62. Later, he served as chair of the University Committee, and as chancellor from October 1967 to June 1968, during the height of campus unrest over the war in Vietnam.

Sewell, who died in 2001 at the age of 91, played a central role in putting Wisconsin on the map in quantitative social sciences. Perhaps his signature achievement was to found and sustain the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study — the long-term and ongoing study of the Wisconsin high school class of 1957.

That study helped pave the way for other national long-term population surveys, Gamoran says.

“Bill pioneered a method for longitudinal studies that today is used throughout the world. It’s considered a national treasure,” Gamoran says.

Robert Hauser, a sociology professor and director of the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, collaborated with Sewell on the study and has led the effort since 1980.

Hauser says that Sewell began the study when he was 53, and that his long life allowed him to be involved for almost 40 years.

“With his guidance, the themes of the project evolved from the transition from high school to post-secondary education to include occupational careers, family life, health and retirement,” Hauser says, adding that Sewell’s work provided high-quality survey measurement and state-of-the-art analytic methods and models.

In retirement, Sewell continued to work with graduate students and conduct research. He spent several winters working at the Population Institute of the East-West Center in Hawaii, where he embarked on a new line of research on the lifelong effects of cognitive ability.

Also scheduled as part of the day’s events are tours of the Memorial Carillon at noon, a 5 p.m. reception and a 7 p.m. dinner for social science alumni at the University Club.

Attendance at the symposia and other events is by registration only. The registration deadline is Sept. 1. Cost is $20 for the Carillon concert and tour, building dedication, symposium and reception; and $50 for dinner at the University Club.

For more information about the events and registration, contact P.J. Hoesly at the Wisconsin Alumni Association toll free at (888) 947-2586 or via e-mail at PJHoesly@uwalumni.com.