Robert (Bob) Hummer will be joining the UNC Sociology Department July 2015 as the Howard W. Odum Professor of Sociology and a fellow of the Carolina Population Center. Hummer is a sociologist and demographer whose research centers on health and mortality disparities across population groups in the United States.
Bob Hummer has published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters related to health and mortality patterns in the United States and his work has been funded by a number of federal agencies and private foundations. In 2010, he was awarded the Clifford Clogg Award by the Population Association of America for Early Career Achievement. Earlier, his book with Richard Rogers and Charles Nam, Living and Dying in the USA: Health, Behavioral, and Social Differentials of Adult Mortality (Academic Press, 2000), won the Otis Dudley Duncan Award from the Population Section of the American Sociological Association for its contribution to the field of social demography.
His current research projects continue to focus on the accurate documentation and more complete understanding of health and mortality disparities in the United States. Over the course of his career, he is most proud of chairing or co-chairing 26 completed dissertations (to date). His former students have gone on to leading positions in academia, both in the United States and internationally, as well as in academic administration and the federal government. His classroom teaching interests mirror his research interests and focus on demography, population health, and aging and the life course.