MSU Sociology Professor Steven Gold receives College of Social Science’s Lifetime Achievement Award

February 26, 2026 - Karessa Weir

For more than 30 years, Dr. Steven Gold has been teaching, researching and serving in the College of Social Science’s Department of Sociology.  

These three decades have earned him the highest recognition given by the College – the Lifetime Achievement Award for Teaching, Research and Service.  

“Your record of impactful research and scholarship, outstanding instruction and mentorship, and your service to the public and profession make you an ideal recipient of such a prestigious award at a College and University dedicated to the Land Grant Mission to conduct research for the benefit of society,” wrote CSS Dean Brent Donnellan and Carl Davison, Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.  

In his time at MSU, Dr. Gold has authored more than 200 journal articles and nine books. He served as MSU Sociology Graduate Program Director for 12 years and chaired 23 PhD dissertations.  He also has had significant contributions to Jewish Studies at MSU, said Sociology Chair Dr. Carla Pfeffer.  

“It was such a delight to nominate Steve Gold for the highest honor that our college bestows to award lifetime achievement as Steve begins his transition into retirement and Professor Emeritus status. In support of his nomination, colleagues from across the university and the country shared heart-warming vignettes that highlight not only Steve’s extensive scholarly research accomplishments, but also his deep kindness and collegiality, supportive mentorship, effectiveness as a teacher, and astute and thoughtful vision behind the camera lens as a key contributor to the growth and development of visual sociology,” Dr. Pfeffer said. 

His teaching impact is also broad with via 45 unique academic courses, reaching 9,249 students.  

“To me, this award is a heartening acknowledgement of my endeavors in teaching, research, and service at a land grant university. Within this environment, I tried to teach a wide range of theories and methods to assist students in enhancing their awareness of a diverse array of research settings,” Dr. Gold said.  

“One of the most exciting aspects of being a professor is attending thematic conferences and interacting with a wide range of attendees: activists, government officials, foundation workers, students, colleagues and others. Such events are hospitable and provide real opportunities for engagement, research, correspondence, mastery of fields of interest, site visits and other events. In many cases, the possibility of jointly writing chapters and articles with well-known scholars and being engaged in other scholarly activities is facilitated. It can be really exciting to meet a scholar whose work has been a major influence for decades. Another exciting aspect is helping students succeed. I have been privileged to have several students who have achieved successful academic careers.,”  

 

Outside of MSU, Dr. Gold served as Chair of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association and President of the International Visual Sociology Association. He received the Charles Horton Cooley Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Sociology from the Michigan Sociology Association in 2007 and the Distinguished Career Award from the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association in 2019.  

“For each of these distinctions and more, your legacy within the Department of Sociology, the College of Social Science, Michigan State University and the discipline of sociology is both deep and profound,” wrote Drs. Donnellan and Davidson.  

Dr. Gold, who will be honored at a reception in the fall, was nominated for this award by Sociology Associate Professor Stephanie Nawyn. 

“It was a pleasure and an honor to write a letter in support of Steve’s nomination for the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was my faculty mentor when I first came to Michigan State, and he was endlessly generous with his time. He shared a number of opportunities with me, including inviting me to co-edit the Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies which put me into contact with so many important scholars in our field. Steve himself is among those luminaries, but you would never know talking with him. He has virtually no ego and never puts himself in the spotlight, so I am delighted that he is getting this attention from our College,” Nawyn said. 

 

Educated at Brandeis University, University of California Santa Cruz, and University of California Berkeley, Dr. Gold joined MSU in 1994. His research focuses on international migration, ethnic economies, ethnic community development, qualitative field methods and visual sociology.