Accomplishments

Although her career is far from over, Margaret Andersen’s resume already possesses various prestigious awards, honors and positions. From the University of Delaware alone, where she has held positions ranging from instructor to Interim to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs since 1974, she has received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Science as well as the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award. She has also been awarded the Faculty Mentor Award from the McNair Scholars Program, a program designed to encourage students of color to pursue graduate degrees specifically in the social sciences and sciences. She has also been awarded the E. Arthur Trabant Institutional Award for Women’s Equity. While serving as Dean of the College of Arts and Science, she also received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to modify undergraduate education by improving the quality of introductory level courses across the set of courses offered. Furthermore, Dr. Andersen, as an important figure in the sociology of gender, was the 2006 recipient of the American Sociological Association’s Jessie Bernard Award; an award given “in recognition of scholarly work that has enlarged the horizons of sociology to encompass fully the role of women in society.” In acknowledging the outstanding and invaluable work Margaret Andersen has brought to the disciplines of sociology and women’s studies, the American Sociological Association describes her as “[having] tremendous feminist vitality, [as well as] enormous integrity and a commitment to supporting other women at faculty and student levels.” In short she is viewed by her colleagues as “a model for current and future gender scholars.”
Dr. Andersen has also been the editor of Gender & Society for five years, and was the first person to teach Women’s Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. Twenty years later in 2004, she received the Feminist Lecturer Award from the Sociologists for Women Society in acknowledgement of the benefits her work provided women as well as the I. Peter Gellman Award from the Eastern Sociological Society. She has also been honored with the AAUW Outstanding Young Scholar Award by the state of Delaware and has been a member of the Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honors Society as well as Phi Kappa Phi; the nation’s oldest and most selective all discipline honor society.

Although she has received a plethora of awards in recognition of her outstanding work, Dr. Andersen’s most meaningful accomplishment is the publication of her most recent book On Land and On Sea; as well the continual success of her book Thinking about Women—a book which has lived on with a multitude of revisions, for the past 25 years.