Alejandro Portes (born October 13, 1944) is a Cuban-American sociologist. He is a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

, and of the board of trustees and the Scientific Council at the IMDEA Social Sciences Institute. He also served as the president of the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

in 1999. His academic studies have focused on

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

to the United States and factors affecting the fates of immigrants and their children. He has also done work on shack settlements in Latin America. His work is highly cited in the sub-fields of economic sociology, cultural sociology and race and ethnicity.

Career

Portes attended the University of Havana (1959–1960), Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires (1963) and received his BA from Creighton University in 1965. He received his MA in 1967 and PhD in 1970 in sociology from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. Portes has held the

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century. The overridi ...

Chair in Arts and Science at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and the Emilio Bacardi distinguished professorship at the University of Miami. He has also previously taught at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. In 1993 his book ‘City on the Edge’ won awards for best book in urban and community sociology and in urban anthropology. In 2002, he received the Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award from the

for ''Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation''. In 2008, Portes was awarded the

NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing The NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing is awarded by the United States National Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "to recognize authors whose reviews have synthesized extensive and difficult material, rendering a signific ...

from the

. He holds honorary degrees from The New School for Social Research, the University of Genoa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2019, Portes was awarded the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for career achievements in social sciences, the highest form of recognition of the Spanish Crown.

References

External links

Official profile from PrincetonAmerica 2050: Immigration and the Hourglass (an essay by Portes)
American sociologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Presidents of the American Sociological Association American people of Cuban descent 1944 births Living people University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education alumni Princeton University faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society {{US-sociologist-stub

Career

See also

References

External links