Alford A. Young, Jr. has recently been elected the 118th president of the American Sociological Association. On September 1, he will begin his one-year term as president-elect, followed by a one-year term as president during the 2026-2027 academic year.
At the University of Michigan, Dr. Young serves as the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and the Edgar G. Epps Collegiate Professor of Sociology within the departments of sociology and of Afro-American and African studies. He also directs the university’s Center for Social Solutions. Throughout his nearly three-decades-long tenure, he has served in a number of other leadership capacities at the University of Michigan, including chair and director of undergraduate studies for the department of sociology.
As a scholar, Dr. Young explores the social experiences of African Americans, using ethnographic interviewing as his primary data collection method. He has conducted research on a variety of topics, including how urban-based, low-income African Americans view work; how African American scholars connect their research to their academic purpose; and the experiences of faculty and students of color in higher education. He is the author of several books, including From the Edge of the Ghetto: African Americans and the World of Work (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019).
Dr. Young is an honors graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology, psychology, and Afro-American studies. He holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago.
