Sociology Department Chair Reappointed to New Term

Paul Lasley, chair of the Department of Sociology at Iowa State University, has been reappointed to a second term. Lasley has served as chair since 2002 when he was appointed to a three-year term. He has a year left on his original appointment, and will serve to 2010. Lasley joined Iowa State in 1982 after earning a doctorate in rural sociology at the University of Missouri. He created and coordinates the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, the longest-running survey of its kind, which annually gathers the opinions of 2,000 Iowans. Iowa State’s sociology department offers majors in sociology or in public service and administration in agriculture and course work for a minor in criminal justice studies. The department has nearly 300 undergraduates, about 60 graduate students and 34 faculty members.The department's research and extension activities are focused on social issues that include the implications of changing family structures, leadership training, community and rural development, youth development and processes of preventing delinquency, international development and the adoption of new practices and ideas, demographic analysis and implications for towns and agencies. The department is jointly administered by the colleges of Agriculture and Liberal Arts and Sciences.