Call for Nominations for the McCarthy Award

The Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame invites nominations for the 2013 John D. McCarthy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Scholarship of Social Movements and Collective Behavior.  The award honors scholars who have made “outstanding contributions to the scholarly literature concerned with social movements, protest, collective violence, riots, and other kinds of collective behavior over the course of her or his career.  The recipient will be a person who has made major contributions not only through her or his own research, but also through teaching and mentoring other, more junior, scholars as they have developed their own research and scholarly identities.”

The award recipient will receive the award in the spring of 2013 in a ceremony held at the University of Notre Dame in conjunction with the Center’s fourth Young Scholars in Social Movements Conference.  In addition to attending the award ceremony and banquet, the selected recipient will deliver the closing keynote lecture for the conference and have the opportunity to consult with faculty and graduate students about their ongoing research projects.

Previous Winners of the McCarthy Award:

2007  John McCarthy (Inaugural Award)
2008  Verta Taylor
2009  Mayer Zald
2010  Doug McAdam
2011  William Gamson
2012  Pamela Oliver

Please send the names of nominees, along with a brief statement supporting the nomination, no later than January 10, 2013 to  Rory McVeigh, McCarthy Award Committee Chair, rmcveigh@nd.edu (email nominations strongly preferred)

McCarthy Award and the Young Scholars in Social Movements Conference

A great strategy to grow an academic sub-field, like social movement research, is to connect the scholars who have made the largest contributions to the field over the past several decades to  the bright young scholars who are likely to make the largest contributions for the next several decades.  And then do this on a regular basis.  I had an opportunity to witness this in action at the annual McCarthy Award celebration, which is held in conjunction with the Young Scholars in Social Movements Conference.  Both were hosted by Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Social Movements a few weeks ago.

Pam’s public lecture.

Pam Oliver was the recipient of the 2012 McCarthy Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in the scholarship of social movements and collective behavior.  Her talk on the centrality of race to social movement theorizing was fascinating and challenging.  Although her current contributions to the field are staggering, as I listened I couldn’t help wonder if some of her most important contributions are still to come.  Several other senior scholars in the field – John McCarthy, David Snow, Myra Marx Ferree, Hank Johnston, Daniel Myers, and David Meyer – were on hand for the celebration to “toast and roast” Pam, offering reflections on Pam’s work and her influence on the field.  It was not only a tribute to the Pam’s body of work but also to the collegiality among the senior scholars in our field.

Announcing the third annual Young Scholars in Social Movements Mini-Conference

In conjunction with the presentation of the John D. McCarthy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Scholarship in Social Movements, The Center for the Study of Social Movements at Notre Dame will be hosting a “Young Scholars” Conference the day before the award events. The recipient of the McCarthy Award, Pam Oliver, and other senior scholars visiting Notre Dame for the award presentation will serve as discussants for the conference.

We would like to invite 12 advanced graduate students and early-career faculty to present a work solidly in-progress at the conference, enjoy an opportunity to discuss their work with some of the leading scholars in the field, and meet others in the new cohort of social movement scholars. Conference attendees will also be invited to the McCarthy Award Lecture and the award banquet on May 5. The Center will pay for meals, up to three nights lodging, and contribute $500 toward travel expenses for each of the conference attendee.

The Center will select invitees from all nominations received by February 28, 2012. Nominations will be accepted for ABD graduate students and those who have held their Ph.D.s less than two years. Nominations must be written by the nominee’s faculty dissertation advisor (or a suitable substitute intimately familiar with the nominee’s research, if the advisor is unavailable). Nominations should include:

1. A letter of nomination.
2. The CV of the nominee.
3. A one-page abstract of the work to be presented.

Nominations should be sent via email to Rory McVeigh, Director of the Center for the Study of Social Movements, rmcveigh@nd.edu.