Biography
William Sewell was born on November 27, 1909, in Perrinton, Michigan. He attended the Michigan State University where he received his BA in 1933 and his MA in 1934, both in sociology. He then attended the University of Minnesota, where he received his PhD in sociology in 1939. He briefly taught at Michigan State and Oklahoma State before he became a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1946, where he stayed until becoming the chancellor in 1967.
Sewell was known for his research in the sociology of inequality, especially in schooling, as well as his empirical approach to sociology.
William H. Sewell became Chancellor of the Madison campus in 1967, in the midst of the Vietnam War and student protests. After a tough year due to the protesting, in June 1968, he resigned the Chancellorship and returned to research and teaching. In 1971 Sewell was served as the President of the American Sociological Association.
Sewell died in Madison, Wisconsin in 2001.
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