Roderick Duncan McKenzie (3 February 1885 – 3 May 1940) was a
Canadian-American
Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship.
The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadians ...
sociologist, who became head of the sociology department at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.
McKenzie served as the 2nd Vice-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 ...
(ASA) in 1932–1933, and was a charter member of the
Sociological Research Association The Sociological Research Association is an honor society of sociological scholars founded in 1936.
With more than 400 members, the association's importance comes from the members being leading sociologists who use the SRA's meetings to network an ...
.
Early life
Roderick McKenzie was born in the small agricultural town of
Carman, Manitoba
Carman is a small agricultural town of about 3,000 people in the Pembina Valley Region of southern Manitoba, Canada. Carman is at the junction of Highways 3 and 13, 40 minutes southwest of Winnipeg. It is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of ...
, on February 3, 1885 to Katherine Stevenson and John McKenzie. He attended the Winnipeg schools and then earned his
A.B.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.
Career
In 1912 McKenzie accepted a teaching position at
Manitoba Agricultural College
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
. In 1913 he began graduate work in sociology at the University of Chicago. During his graduate work, he held appointments as instructor at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
(1915–1919) and the
University of West Virginia
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...
(1919–1920). In 1921 he received his Ph.D from Chicago, under
Robert E. Park
Robert Ezra Park (February 14, 1864 – February 7, 1944) was an American urban sociologist who is considered to be one of the most influential figures in early U.S. sociology. Park was a pioneer in the field of sociology, changing it from a pas ...
, with a thesis, ''The Neighborhood: A Study of Local Life in the City of Columbus, Ohio,'' which was published in 1923.
He was appointed to a position at the University of Washington where he eventually become the chair of the sociology department. He was the Washington state director for Pacific Coast Survey of Race Relations from 1924 to 1925.
From 1930 until his death in 1940, McKenzie served as head of the Department of Sociology at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. During that time he was enlisted by president
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
to research urban trends for The President's Research Committee on Social Trends. His research for that project was published as ''The Rise of Metropolitan Communities''.