Department of Sociology (M/C 312) (312) 413-3757 Office

1007 West Harrison Street (312) 996-3005 Department

University of Illinois at Chicago (312) 996-5104 Department FAX

Chicago, IL 60607-7140 pamela@uic.edu

After completing my Ph.D. in Sociology at Cornell University in 1992, I joined the Sociology Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). I am a member of the departmental concentrations in Work, Labor Markets and Organizations (WLMO), and Race, Ethnicity and Gender (REG).

Research

My research focuses on the relationship between organizations, broadly construed, and personal social networks. In particular, I am concerned with structural explanations of personal network form and content, particularly the marked demographic homogeneity found in most personal networks. I trace this homogeneity to people's involvement in demographically restricted organizations, and to the sequences, patterns, and overlaps of memberships in multiple organizations. I am presently exploring some of these ideas using data on undergraduate student personal networks, which vary in their degree of gender and race/ethnic homogeneity. I attempt to connect this variation with patterns of participation in student organizations, classes, work, and family.

Much of my early work, with J. Miller McPherson and Sonja Drobni, addressed the effects of personal network ties on the demographic structures of voluntary organizations. I have also studied the effects of personal network ties on worker promotion opportunities, and the formation of inter-organizational network ties.

Teaching

I regularly teach statistics courses on the undergraduate (Soc 201) and graduate (Soc 401) levels, as well as advanced methods courses on event history analysis and network analysis (Soc 509). I also offer substantive courses in organizational theory (Soc 447/Mgmt 447), and on organizations and networks (Soc 547, with John Walsh). This fall, I am leading the department's Teaching Colloquium for graduate students (Soc 593).

Selected Publications

1999 Popielarz, Pamela A. "(In)Voluntary Association: A Multi-Level Analysis of Gender Segregation in Voluntary Organizations." Gender & Society 13(2):234-250.

1999 Popielarz, Pamela A. "Organizational Constraints on Personal Network Formation." pp. 263-281 in Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 16, edited by Steven B. Andrews and David Knoke. Stamford, CT: JAI Press.

1995 Popielarz, Pamela A. and J. Miller McPherson. "On the Edge or In Between: Niche Position, Niche Overlap and the Duration of Voluntary Association Memberships." American Journal of Sociology 101(3):698-720.

1992 J. Miller McPherson, Pamela A. Popielarz and Sonja Drobni. "Social Networks and Organizational Dynamics." American Sociological Review 57(2):153-70.