MSU Sociology Associate Professor Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship

April 11, 2021

Dr. Brendan Mullan, Associate Professor of Sociology, has been selected for a Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Award, announced by the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board in a letter April 5.

"Your grant is a reflection of your leadership and contributions to society," wrote Paul Winfree, Chairman of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Dr. Mullan will use his Spring 2022 four-month Fulbright Fellowship at the University of the Aegean in Greece to develop and expand his research agenda on the demography of inequality in Greece, to build collaborative relationships with faculty, to enhance geo-demographic knowledge and expertise, and to build productive, sustainable broader community relationships across the Aegean.

Professor Thanasis Kizos will be the major liaison at the University of the Aegean facilitating Dr. Mullan’s introduction throughout the School of Social Science and the School of the Environment, all based in Mytilene on the island of Lesvos in Greece.

Dr. Dimitrios Papageorgiou, Vice-Rector for Administrative Affairs, will facilitate Dr. Mullan’s introduction across the University of the Aegean’s schools, departments, and interdisciplinary programmes. Given Dr. Mullan’s research and teaching background in demography and migration studies, Dr. Papageorgiou will facilitate introductions to the Department of Statistics within the School of Sciences based in Karlovasi, Samos and to the School of Business based on Chios island and the School of Humanities, based in Rhodes.

Also as Vice-Rector for Administrative Affairs Dr. Papageorgiou will facilitate introductions to the Rector and Vice-Rector administrative leadership structure of the university to share Dr. Mullan’s administrative leadership experience in university management, especially in education abroad programming and curriculum development.

Project Scope and Potential Impact:

A demographer with practical and academic experience who understands the relationships between population change, migration, and inequality, Dr. Mullan’s project (“Demography, International Migration, and Inequality in Greece”) has the clear potential to build valuable collaborations with faculty and students at the University of the Aegean and within broader communities on Lesvos, Samos, Chios and Rhodes.  This potential will be realized through the project’s research, teaching, and community outreach components.

Research

Utilizing the Department of Geography’s computer and tele-communication facilities Dr. Mullan will work with faculty and students to access and analyze data sets from the Hellenic Statistics Authority (ELSTAT), the European Social Surveys for Greece (ESS), the statistical office of the European Union (EUROSTAT), and other data sources (World Bank, Pew, OECD) to build socioeconomic and socio-demographic profiles of neo-inequality, population change, and migration in Greece.

Teaching

With his expertise in the demography of migration and refugees, Dr. Mullan will deliver public lectures on “Borders and Trans-border Zones” and “Political Geopolitics.” His research on “Inequality and the Rise of Neo-Inequality” will also serve as the basis for a seminar series of the same name. A public lecture series on “The Demography of Covid-19 in Greece,” with a focus particularly on Lesvos and other refugee-hosting islands will also be delivered.

 The University of the Aegean also plans to capitalize on Dr. Mullan’s experience and expertise in managing short-term Education Abroad programmes and his university administrative experience to discuss how the University of the Aegean might expand its international undergraduate and post-graduate portfolio of classes, certificate programmes and online curriculum offerings. 

 The author-editor of 3 books and 100+ scholarly and policy publications, presentations, and reports on demography, development, migration, and inequality, elected President of the North Central Sociological Association (NCSA), Dr. Mullan gave his presidential address (“The Sociology of Inequality and the Rise of Neo-Inequality”) to the combined meetings of NCSA and the Midwest Sociological Society in 2016.  Dr. Mullan was elected founding secretary/treasurer of the Sociology of Development section of the American Sociological Association and currently serves on the editorial board of Sociological Focus. In 2017 he received The Aida Tomeh Award for Distinguished Service from the North Central Sociological Association. He has published in Demography, The American Journal of Sociology, International Migration Review, International Migration, and The International Journal of Sociology.

Dr. Mullan served as Executive Director of the MSU Dubai Campus in the United Arab Emirates (2008-2010), as Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, and as Acting Director of the Center for Integrative Studies both in the College of Social Science.

Dr. Mullan co-leads the MSU “Contemporary Culture, Politics, and Society in Greece” education abroad summer program. He teaches SOC214 (Social Inequality), SOC281/2 (Research Methods), SOC310 (Global Migration), ISS315 (Global Diversity and Interdependence), SOC852 (Migration and Social Change), and PSY292 the College of Social Science Scholars introductory research seminar.