Distinguished Faculty AwardJames L. Spates P'00, P'09
JAMES L. SPATES P’00, P’09
Professor Emeritus of Sociology
1971-2014
A Professor of Sociology at the Colleges from 1971 to 2014, Spates enriched the lives of HWS students for more than 40 years through courses in sociology and urban studies, with special attention to the study of values and human nature. Through his flagship course “Two Cities,” co-taught for more than 20 years alongside Emeritus Professor of Economics Patrick McGuire L.H.D. ’18, Spates redefined the boundaries of the classroom by bringing students to New York City and Toronto to analyze urban life at the “street-level” through a bidisciplinary lens.
After joining the faculty in 1971, Spates earned an early promotion to become a full professor at the Colleges in 1984. He became the first faculty member to be awarded the Classes of 1964 Endowed Chair, having been elected to the position by the faculty and unanimously voted in favor of by the HWS Board of Trustees. Spates received more than a dozen Faculty Research Grants during his tenure, in addition to awards for his contributions to the curriculum (1985-86) and to the Colleges’ community life (1979-80).
His scholarship has focused on the quality of social and city life and on the life and work of Ruskin, about whom he wrote his book, The Imperfect Round: Helen Gill Viljoen’s Life of Ruskin. Currently, he is at work on another book, Availing Toward Life: The Radical Social Thought of John Ruskin. In addition, he is the author of numerous scholarly articles about Ruskin, is the author of the website Why Ruskin, and has frequently lectured on him in venues both in the U.S. and abroad. Read more here.
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