Scholarship Donor Invests in Sociology, a Data-Driven Field for a Complex World

To invest in the next generation of changemakers and practitioners, a Fordham alumna is creating a scholarship for students majoring in sociology—in her words, a “big picture” discipline ideal for making sense of a complex world.

Sociology is “unrecognized in its potential,” said Josephine Ruggiero, Ph.D., GSAS ’70, ’73, professor emerita of sociology at Providence College. It presents rich possibilities for cross-disciplinary research and often refutes widely accepted notions about societal problems.

“One of the things sociologists have done more and more … is to test out ‘common sense’ notions against real data and to see whether they are supported,” she said. “Many times, in fact, they’re not.”

After spending her career helping sociology students grow as researchers and future professionals, Ruggiero created a scholarship, via a bequest, for undergraduate students majoring in sociology who are aiming for public service or social justice-related careers.

“Sociology was the first great love of my life,” she said, “because it really helps you to understand not only yourself and the life circumstances from which you come and the situations into which you move but also the bigger picture of how other people operate.”

Ruggiero taught sociology at Providence College for 41 years and founded the New England Undergraduate Research Conference in Sociology, which ran at the college for 20 years, through spring 1995. She later developed two internship courses that placed sociology and women’s studies students across the government, public, and nonprofit sectors.

Today, she serves as editor in chief of an online journal she founded in 2014, Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics, which features research on sociology, global studies, political science, and health services.

To learn more about making a bequest gift like Josephine, please contact us.