Sarah Elizabeth Igo (born 1969) is an American historian and author. She is the Andrew Jackson Chair in American History at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Early life and education

Igo was born in 1969. She earned her

Bachelor of Arts 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 in social studies from

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 ...

and her PhD in history from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. During her post-secondary school education at Harvard and Princeton, Igo was the recipient of numerous fellowships including the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and Whiting Foundation in the Humanities Dissertation Fellowship.

Career

Upon earning her PhD, Igo joined the department of history at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

as an

Assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

of History. During her tenure at the university, she received the 2004

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Junior Faculty Fellowship to research her first book. Igo eventually published her first book in 2007 titled ''The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public.'' She republished her dissertation into a social sciences book focused on how the increasing use of surveys, polls and other forms of statistical measurements have shaped American society. For her efforts, she received the 2007 President's Book Award, which "rewards an especially meritorious first work by a beginning scholar and is judged on the criteria of scholarly significance, interdisciplinary reach and past structures and events and change over time." She also won the Cheiron Book Prize and was named a finalist for the C. Wright Mills 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 ...

. Prior to leaving the University of Pennsylvania, she co-founded the National Forum on the Future of Liberal Education with Peter Struck. In 2008, Igo left the University of Pennsylvania to become an

Associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

of history at

, where her husband also worked. Upon joining Vanderbilt, Igo began working on her second book ''The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America.'' In order to write her book, she received a Short Term Visiting Scholarship from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the New Directions Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. After years of research, Igo published ''The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America'' in 2018, which focused on why and how privacy became a concern to American citizens. It went on to win the 2019 American Philosophical Society's Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History, the Merle Curti Intellectual History Award, the

Ralph Waldo Emerson Award The Ralph Waldo Emerson Award is a non-fiction literary award given by the Phi Beta Kappa society, the oldest academic society of the United States, for books that have made the most significant contributions to the humanities. Albert William Levi ...

and the Chancellor's Award for Research. In the same year, Igo was appointed to the residential faculty of E. Bronson Ingram College to "help expand the student learning experience beyond the classroom" and the Committee on Enhancing Faculty Voices in the Public Sphere. On September 20, 2019, Igo was promoted to the Andrew Jackson Endowed Chair in American History.

Personal life

Igo and her husband, historian Ole Molvig, have three daughters together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Igo, Sarah E. Living people 1969 births University of Pennsylvania faculty Vanderbilt University faculty Harvard College alumni Princeton University alumni American women non-fiction writers American women academics