Dr. Hui Liu accepts position as MSU Sociology Graduate Program Director

August 17, 2021

MSU Sociology Chair Aaron McCright announced that Dr. Hui Liu has accepted the position as Graduate Program Director.

"I’m excited to announce that Dr. Cathy Liu has signed on to serve as our Graduate Program Director (GPD) for the next two years.  She officially started her position earlier today.  Dr. Liu is highly motivated to continue strengthening our doctoral program and support all of our students as they follow their paths toward their degrees," said Dr. McCright.

Dr. Steve Gold, professor of sociology, completed his term as Graduate Program Director this summer. 

Dr. Liu is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Family and Population Health (FPH) Laboratory at Michigan State University. Before joining MSU in 2008, she received her B.A. and M.A. in economics from Nankai University, China, her M.S. in Statistics, and Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research is broadly guided by the aging and life course perspective to study social determinants of population health. Specifically, Dr. Liu has focused on using innovative quantitative methods to develop, test, and promote scientific understanding of marriage and family processes related to population health and well-being over the life course. Her interests in marriage also extend to other “marriage-like” intimate relationships such as LGBTQ relationships and partnered sexuality, and how they are linked to population health and well-being. Dr. Liu has received several prestigious national awards including an NIH Career Award (Mentored Research Scientist Development Award). Her research has been widely reported in prominent national and international news outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, USA Today, US News and World Report, TIME, ABC News, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Daily Mail, Sydney Morning Herald, The Times of India, China Daily and Iran Daily.