Phyllis Moen (''nee'' Elkins; born October 27, 1942) is an American sociologist. She is the McKnight Presidential Chair in Sociology at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, and was previously the Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. While at Cornell she founded the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center, as well as the Cornell Careers Institute, an Alfred P. Sloan Working Families Center.

Early life and education

Moen was born on October 27, 1942. She earned her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

and her PhD from the

Career

Cornell

Upon completing her PhD, Moen accepted a faculty position at

. She was appointed the Ferris Family Professor of Life Course Studies and also the director of the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center. In this role, she published ''Women's Two Roles: A Contemporary Dilemma'' which focused on issues surrounding new parents re-entering the workforce. In 1996, Cornell opened the Cornell Employment and Family Careers Institute which she also directed. Moen was then appointed the director of the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study which "examined the latest research and trends in volunteerism and how life-course factors affect volunteering." This led to the publication of her co-authored book ''The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next'' in 1996 and ''A Nation Divided: Diversity, Inequality and Community in American Society.'' In 2000, Moen accepted a fellowship at the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

for one year. During her fellowship, she researched dual-earner couples, investigating the simultaneous and shifting relationships among "his" career, "her" career, and their "family" career. Moen also "focused on the economic, social, and psychological consequences of various career trajectories and family strategies in light of the existing policies and practices of work organizations and communities." Her research accumulated into two books in 2003; ''It's About Time: Couples and Careers'' and ''Residential Choices and Experiences of Older Adults: Pathways to Life Quality.'' The first book she co-edited was based on the Cornell Couples and Careers Study which found that most two-career couples faced numerous stressors in their lives as the current

Breadwinner model The breadwinner model is a paradigm of family centered on a breadwinner, "the member of a family who earns the money to support the others." Traditionally, the earner works outside the home to provide the family with income and benefits such as he ...

assumed there was a full-time homemaker at home. Her following book was a joint project with John Krout of

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

's Gerontology Institute that detailed the results of a six-year longitudinal study that began in 1997.

University of Minnesota

Moen left Cornell University in 2003 to accept the McKnight Presidential Chair in Sociology at the

. While there, she partnered with Erin L. Kelly to study a new workplace flexibility initiative called ROWE (Results Only Work Environment). The goal was to understand the ways this initiative affected employees' productivity and life quality, as well as the health and well-being of their family members. As a result of her academic work, Moen received numerous accolades in 2015. To begin the year, she was elected President of the Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN) and invited to be a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Later that year, Moen was the recipient of the Dean's Medal for her excellence in scholarship and creativity activity. Nearing the end of her first term as President of the WFRN, her co-authored paper "Changing Work and Work-Family Conflict Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network" received 2015 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. Two years later, Moen was recognized by AARP Minnesota and Pollen Midwest as one of 2017's “50 over 50”, a list of fifty of the most "inspiring and accomplished leaders from across Minnesota." During the

COVID-19 pandemic in North America The first cases of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 in North America were reported in the United States on 23 January 2020. Cases were reported in all North American countries after Saint Kitts and Nevis confirmed a case on 2 ...

, Moen was the recipient of the WFRN Lifetime Achievement Award for her "enduring contributions to the work-family community."

Personal life

Moen was married to the late Dick Shore, who was a U.S. Department of Labor employee and a teacher. She was formerly married to Arnold Moen and they had two daughters together.

References

External links

*
papers from Cornell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moen, Phyllis Living people 1942 births American sociologists American women sociologists Cornell University faculty University of Minnesota faculty University of North Dakota alumni University of Minnesota alumni 21st-century American women