Pamela B. Walters
Professor Pamela B. Walters teaches and
conducts research on social inequality, with a particular focus on American
education. In her research she explores the tensions between the role of
education as one of the most important forms of state social provision in
modern societies – a social right, an entitlement that follows from
citizenship – and the ways in which education reproduces and legitimates
existing social inequalities. Her work situates education in its larger
political and social context and closely examines the political struggles
between potential winners and potential losers over access to valued
educational resources. She served as editor of Sociology of Education,
the major journal in her field. She currently co-chairs the Study Committee
on Education Research co-sponsored by the Social Science Research Council and
the National Academy of Education and directs the Indiana University Center
for Education and Society, an innovative cross-field research center and
graduate training program that brings together faculty and graduate students
in education and in the social sciences. Professor Walters is the Indiana
University Sonneborn Lecture award recipient for 2004.
