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

Sociologist Shannon Monnat to Lead Maxwell’s Center for Policy Research

Monday, May 16, 2022, By Jessica Youngman
Share
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public AffairsResearch and Creative

A demographer and sociologist whose work focuses on population health will serve as the next director of the Center for Policy Research (CPR), the oldest interdisciplinary social science research program at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion and professor of sociology, will begin the position on July 1. She currently serves as the director of the Maxwell School’s Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and co-directs the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab.

Shannon Monnat

Shannon Monnat

“Professor Monnat is a nationally recognized sociologist and interdisciplinary policy scholar who brings energy and intellectual leadership to the Maxwell School and Syracuse University. Her timely and highly cited scholarship informs and benefits public policy and the public good. Her previous leadership as director of the Lerner Center resulted in significant achievements in research, extramural funding, programming and student engagement. She is well-qualified to lead CPR,” says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke.

Monnat studies demographic and geographic trends and disparities in health and mortality, with an interest in rural health and health disparities. One area of her research has focused on the factors that explain why drug overdose rates are higher in some places in the U.S. than others.

More recently, her research has examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. She is the principal investigator (PI) for a five-year research project that will examine the impacts of the state’s mitigation policies, such as stay-at-home orders and extended unemployment benefits, on adult psychological health, drug overdose and suicide.

The COVID research project is funded with $1.95 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). All told, Monnat has been the PI or co-investigator for over $10 million in external research funding from the NIH as well as the National Institute of Justice, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Monnat serves as the PI for the National Wellbeing Survey which collects information on physical, mental and psychosocial well-being of working-age adults in the U.S. She has authored or co-authored nearly 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 50 book chapters and research briefs. In March 2022, she served as a panelist for a Congressional briefing on demographic trends in rural America. She also served on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus committee that produced a report in 2021 on rising working-age mortality rates in the U.S.

Monnat joined Maxwell in 2017. Since then, she has served as a senior research associate for CPR as well as an affiliate to the Center for Aging and Policy Studies and the Aging Studies Institute.

She succeeds Leonard Lopoo, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of public administration and international affairs, as director of CPR.

“CPR is home to some of the top scholars in the country who conduct policy-relevant research on the most pressing social, economic, health and environmental issues of our time,” Monnat says.

“I am excited to build on the strong foundation left by the current director, Len Lopoo, to support our faculty and students in conducting rigorous policy-relevant research and disseminating knowledge that enables leaders to develop effective solutions to these critical challenges.”

Established in 1994, CPR includes faculty from across Maxwell—mostly economics, public administration and sociology—to research and offer students a wealth of opportunity for discussions while providing advice on their own research, along with the possibility of research assistantships. CPR also provides a base for visiting scholars from across the country and abroad. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, faculty typically work on various research related to public policy involving graduate students as assistants. Faculty also consult regularly with government agencies and other institutions concerned with the issues they are studying.

  • Author
  • Faculty Experts

Jessica Youngman

  • Shannon Monnat

  • Recent
  • Co-President of Disability Law Society Eyes Career in National Security Law in Washington
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Jordan Bruenger
  • National Grid Summer College Scholars Program Invests in Energy Literacy
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Hope Alvarez
  • Lights, Camera, Imagination! Faculty Help Turn Teens’ Ideas Into Films (Video)
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Diane Stirling
  • Bowlers Wanted for Faculty and Staff Bowling League
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By News Staff
  • Lender Center New York Event Gathers Wealth Gap Experts
    Wednesday, July 30, 2025, By Diane Stirling

More In Campus & Community

Co-President of Disability Law Society Eyes Career in National Security Law in Washington

Kaitlin Sommer L’26 is always planning ahead. Throughout her life, she has continuously asked herself, “Is there a better or more efficient way to do this?”, “Am I advocating for what I need?”, “How can I figure this out by…

National Grid Summer College Scholars Program Invests in Energy Literacy

National Grid and Syracuse University’s Office of Pre-College Programs have partnered to inspire the next generation of innovators through the National Grid Summer College Scholars Program. The program will support selected Syracuse City School District high school students for the…

Bowlers Wanted for Faculty and Staff Bowling League

Do you enjoy bowling? Would you like to try bowling? Are you looking for a fun activity with your colleagues? The Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) Faculty and Staff Bowling League is seeking new…

Lender Center New York Event Gathers Wealth Gap Experts

Nearly 30 Syracuse University faculty and postdoctoral researchers and nationally known thought leaders who study the wealth gap in America explored the issue at a recent event in New York City hosted by the Lender Center for Social Justice. The…

Registration Now Open for Orange Central Homecoming 2025

Mark your calendars and get ready to celebrate your Orange pride! It’s time to sign up for Orange Central Homecoming 2025, Oct. 17-19. Syracuse University alumni are invited back home for an amazing fall weekend packed with tradition, connection and…

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.