Steven Fredrick Messner (born February 27, 1951) is an American sociologist and Distinguished Teaching Professor in the

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...

department at

University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

Education

Messner received his undergraduate degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

and his master's and doctoral degrees from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

Career

Prior to joining the faculty of the University at Albany, Messner taught at

and

Nankai University Nankai University (NKU or Nankai; ) is a national public research university located in Tianjin, China. It is a prestigious Chinese state Class A Double First Class University approved by the central government of China, and a member of th ...

Research

Messner is known for researching

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the object ...

, especially

homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

. Specific topics he has studied include

social disorganization theory In sociology, the social disorganization theory is a theory developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social disorgan ...

and spatial patterns of crime, homicides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, and monthly variations in homicide rates.

Honors, awards and positions

Messner was elected a fellow of the

American Society of Criminology The American Society of Criminology (ASC) is an international organization based on the campus of Ohio State University whose members focus on the study of crime and delinquency. It aims to grow and disseminate scholarly research, with members wo ...

in 2002, and served as its president from 2010 to 2011. He has served as the chair of the Crime, Law, and Deviance Section 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 fif ...

and on the executive committee for the

Eastern Sociological Society Eastern Sociological Society is a non-profit organization with a mission of "promoting excellence in sociological scholarship and instruction". It publishes a peer-reviewed journal ( Sociological Forum) and holds a yearly academic conference An a ...

. He received a Collins Fellowship from the University at Albany in 2007, and an award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities from the University chancellor in 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Messner, Steven Fredrick Living people University at Albany, SUNY faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Princeton University alumni Presidents of the American Society of Criminology American criminologists 1951 births