Alejandro Portes (born October 13, 1944) is a
Cuban-American sociologist. He is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, the
American Philosophical Society, and of the Board of Trustees and the Scientific Council at the
IMDEA
IMDEA () is a project founded by the Madrid Regional Government, included in the ''IV Regional Plan of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation 2005-2008 (PRICIT)'', for the purpose of setting up advanced research centers and higher educat ...
Social Sciences Institute. He also served as the president of the
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...
in 1999. His academic studies have focused on
immigration to the United States and factors affecting the fates of immigrants and their children. He has also done work on shack settlements in Latin America. His work is highly cited in the sub-fields of economic sociology, cultural sociology and race and ethnicity.
Career
Portes attended the
University of Havana (1959–1960), Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires (1963) and received his
BA from
Creighton University in 1965. He received his
MA in 1967 and PhD in 1970 in sociology from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. Portes has held the
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
Chair in Arts and Science at
Johns Hopkins University and the Emilio Bacardi distinguished professorship at the
University of Miami. He has also previously taught at the
University of Texas at Austin and
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
. In 1993 his book ‘City on the Edge’ won awards for best book in urban and community sociology and in urban anthropology.
In 2002, he received the Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award from the
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...
for ''Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation''. In 2008, Portes was awarded the
NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing from the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
He holds honorary degrees from
The New School for Social Research, the
University of Genoa and the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
See also
*
Wisconsin model
References
External links
Official profile from PrincetonAmerica 2050: Immigration and the Hourglass (an essay by Portes)
American sociologists
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Presidents of the American Sociological Association
American people of Cuban descent
1944 births
Living people
University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education alumni
Princeton University faculty
{{US-sociologist-stub
Members of the American Philosophical Society