Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

Madonna Harrington Meyer Named University Professor

Wednesday, July 17, 2019, By Kelly Homan Rodoski
Share
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

Madonna Harrington Meyer, professor of sociology in the Maxwell School and Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, was recently named a University Professor by Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly.

The prestigious distinction—a four-year, renewable appointment—is granted to faculty who excel in their fields and who have made extraordinary scholarly contributions as judged by their peers nationally and internationally.

Woman in a blue dress

Madonna Harrington Meyer

“Professor Harrington Meyer’s work is focused on some of the most persistent, difficult and relevant issues facing our society.  Her research and teaching challenge us to think through and find solutions that better our communities,” says Wheatly. “She is highly deserving of this distinction. Her approach to scholarship, research and teaching is the kind of academic excellence that defines Syracuse University and attracts students and faculty alike.”

Harrington Meyer, a faculty affiliate at the Aging Studies Institute and a senior research affiliate in the Center for Policy Research, is a nationally recognized expert in social policy, aging, gender and life course.

“Professor Harrington Meyer’s scholarship has been at the forefront of issues related to gender and care work, insurance access for women, poverty and inequality among elderly populations, aging and social policy, and more recently on grandparents as critical support structures in fragmented and poor families,” says Maxwell School Dean and Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy David Van Slyke. “She is also known on campus as an excellent and popular teacher who is rigorous and engaging, fair, supportive of students, clear and passionate about teaching. I’m delighted that she has been recognized for her significant contributions to the University and the exciting work she’s engaged in.”

“I am deeply honored by and grateful for this award,” Harrington Meyer says. “It enables me to remain focused on research that explores how public policy shapes people’s everyday lives—and how that varies by key sociodemographic variables such as gender, race, class, disability or immigration. These issues are central to many of us in the Maxwell School specifically and Syracuse University more broadly.”

Harrington Meyer is author of “Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs” (2014), which explores the stresses and benefits that come from caring for grandchildren by grandmothers who are often fully employed themselves. The book makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the complex family dynamics of the 21st century.

That book, along with her co-authored book, “Market Friendly or Family Friendly? The State and Gender Inequality in Old Age” (2007), won the Gerontological Society of America’s Kalish Book Award.

She is co-editor, with Ynesse Abdul-Malak, of “Grandparenting in the United States” (2016) and co-editor with Elizabeth Daniele of “Gerontology: Changes, Challenges and Solutions” (2016). Harrington Meyer is the editor of “Care Work: Gender, Labor and the Welfare State” (2000) and co-editor of the Routledge Society and Aging Series with her colleague Jennifer Karas Montez, professor of sociology in the Maxwell School.

In 2016, Harrington Meyer was named recipient of the Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Aging and the Life Course.

She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, a distinction that represents the society’s highest class of membership.

Harrington Meyer received a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Minnesota in 1987 and a Ph.D. in sociology from Florida State University in 1991.

  • Author

Kelly Rodoski

  • Recent
  • Former Orange Point Guard and Maxwell Alumna ‘Roxi’ Nurse McNabb Still Driving for an Assist
    Tuesday, July 8, 2025, By Jessica Smith
  • Empowering Learners With Personalized Microcredentials, Stackable Badges
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Hope Alvarez
  • Rose Tardiff ’15: Sparking Innovation With Data, Mapping and More
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By News Staff
  • Paulo De Miranda G’00 Received ‘Much More Than a Formal Education’ From Maxwell
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Jessica Youngman
  • Law Professor Receives 2025 Onondaga County NAACP Freedom Fund Award
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Robert Conrad

More In Campus & Community

Former Orange Point Guard and Maxwell Alumna ‘Roxi’ Nurse McNabb Still Driving for an Assist

As point guard for the Orange women’s basketball team, Raquel-Ann “Roxi” Nurse McNabb ’98, G’99 was known for helping her teammates ‘make buckets’—a lot of buckets. The 1997 Syracuse University Athlete of the Year, two-time team MVP and three-time BIG…

Empowering Learners With Personalized Microcredentials, Stackable Badges

The University is enhancing its commitment to lifelong learning with digital badges, a tool that recognizes and authenticates the completion of microcredentials. The badges aim to support learners in their professional and personal development by showcasing achievements in short, focused…

Rose Tardiff ’15: Sparking Innovation With Data, Mapping and More

While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in geography in the Maxwell School, Rose Tardiff ’15 became involved with the Salt City Harvest Farm, a community farm near Syracuse where newcomers from all over the world grow food and make social connections….

Paulo De Miranda G’00 Received ‘Much More Than a Formal Education’ From Maxwell

Early in his career, Paulo De Miranda G’00 embarked on several humanitarian aid and peacekeeping assignments around the world. “When we concluded our tasks, we wrote reports about our field work, but many times felt that little insight was given…

Law Professor Receives 2025 Onondaga County NAACP Freedom Fund Award

College of Law Professor Suzette Meléndez, director of the Syracuse Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, was honored with a 2025 Onondaga County NAACP Freedom Fund Award at their 45th Annual Freedom Fund Award Dinner. Meléndez received the Maye, McKinney & Melchor Freedom…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.