Erwin O. Smigel Award
The deadline to apply for the Erwin O. Smigel Award is March 15, 2026.
HISTORY
The Erwin O. Smigel Award was established in 1975 to support conference attendance by unemployed and underemployed sociologists. The award is based on demonstrated financial need; retirement alone is not considered sufficient justification. Retired applicants are eligible, but they must demonstrate financial need. Eligible applicants should be sociologists with an advanced degree who are not full-time students and who are not fully employed.
Erwin O. Smigel was a professor and Chair of Sociology at New York University and the author of The Wall Street Lawyer as well as other works. He served as the second editor of Social Problems from 1958 to 1961. Known as a friendly and good-humored man who supported colleagues exceptionally well. The fund was established in his honor the year he passed away.
CRITERIA
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The Smigel Fund monies are to be used to pay for three or four unemployed or severely underemployed sociologists’ transportation to and registration fees for the SSSP Annual Meeting.
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Applicants must be current members who are presenting a paper at the main SSSP meeting (rather than at an adjacent workshop or meeting) or participating as a SSSP elected or appointed officer or committee member;
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A maximum of $500 dollars is to be granted to any one recipient.
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Preference will be given to applicants who did not receive support from the Erwin O. Smigel Award in the previous year.
APPLICATIONS
Applicants may only apply to one travel fund.
- Unemployed and underemployed sociologists must apply to the Erwin O. Smigel Award.
- Students must apply to the Lee Student Support Fund. A student is defined as someone who is currently enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral program at an institution of higher learning.
- International students must apply to the Lee Student Support Fund.
- Non-U.S. based international scholars from politically, economically, and culturally oppressed groups in disadvantaged countries not considered part of the Global South must apply to the Lee Scholar Support Fund.
- International scholars from the Global South as defined by the American Sociological Association must apply to the Transnational Initiatives Fund.
All online applications must be submitted no later than March 15, 2026.
Please address all questions to:
Dr. Tracy Vargas, Chair
Erwin O. Smigel Award Committee
tracy.vargas@uncp.edu
