Faculty Directory

Pamela Ann Roby
  • Title
    • Professor, Emerita
  • Division Social Sciences Division
  • Department
    • Sociology Department
  • Affiliations Feminist Studies Department, Merrill College
  • Email
  • Office Location
    • Rachel Carson College Academic Building, Rachel Carson College 218
  • Mail Stop Rachel Carson College Faculty Services
  • Mailing Address
    • 1156 High Street
    • Santa Cruz CA 95064
  • Courses SOCY 148 Sociology of Learning: Gender, Race and Class Perspectives; SOCY 153 Sociology of Emotions; SOCY 176 Women and Work; SOCY 208 Writing Practicum; SOCY 242 Feminist Research; Merrill 20N Re-evaluation Counseling

Summary of Expertise

Feminist Research; Sociology of Learning; gender, race and class perspectives; Women and Work; Sociology of Emotions; Re-evaluation Counseling.

Research Interests

- "A Governess' Story: The Letters, Work and Family of Joanna Young Scammon of Pittston, Maine, 1821-1892."

Biography, Education and Training

B.A., University of Denver
M.A., Syracuse University
Ph.D., New York University

Pamela Roby has published four books and dozens of articles on infant and early childhood development policies, social and economic inequalities, higher education, trade union leadership, and women and work.

Dr. Roby has served as President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (1997-98), vice-president of the Pacific Sociological Association (1996-97), president of Sociologists for Women in Society (1978-80), and chair of the American Sociological Association's Section on Sex and Gender, as well as vice-chair of the National Commission on Working Women. She has also served as an elected member of the Research Council of the International Sociological Association, the Executive Council of the American Sociological Association, and the Executive Committee of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Vocational Education Research and Development, and the National Academy of Sciences/Ford Foundation Sociology Dissertation and Post-doctoral Fellowship Review Committee (2007-2011).

At UCSC, Professor Roby has directed the Sociology Doctoral Program (1988-91, 2007), and chaired the Department of Sociology (1998-2001). She also chaired the Academic Senate's Graduate Council (1990-91) and the Senate's Committee on Academic Personnel (1995-96).

Nationally, Dr. Roby is listed in American Men and Women in Science (Twelfth Edition, 1973) and in Who's Who in America, Fifty-fourth Edition (2000) – Seventieth (2016). Her autobiography is one of twenty included in Individual Voices, Collective Visions: Fifty Years of Women In Sociology (A. Goetting, S. Fenstermaker, eds.), Temple University Press, 1995, pp. 319-33.

Students and and colleagues have recognized Professor Roby's teaching. She is listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers (seventh edition, 2002–tenth edition, 2006). She was the recipient of a 1993 University of California, Santa Cruz, Academic Senate Innovations in Teaching Award. At UCSC, she was named Favorite Faculty Member of the Kresge College Class of 2002; and the Merrill College Class of 2009, 2011 and 2012. In 2012 she was also the Keynote Speaker for Phi Beta Kappa.

Honors, Awards and Grants

- University of California, Santa Cruz, Favorite Faculty Member of the Merrill College Class of 2012.
-Listed in The Marquis Who's Who in America, Fifty-fourth Edition (2000) – Seventieth Edition (2016).
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Phi Beta Kappa, Keynote Speaker, 2012.
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Favorite Faculty Member of the Merrill College Class of 2011.
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Favorite Faculty Member of the Merrill College Class of 2009.
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Favorite Faculty Member of the Kresge College Class of 2002.
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Chancellor’s and Women's Studies' 25th Anniversary Award "For Courage and Vision in Founding Women's Studies," 2000.
- Society for the Study of Social Problems: President, 1996-97.
- University of California, Santa Cruz Academic Senate and Center for Teaching Excellence Innovations in Teaching Award, 1993.
- Sociologists for Women in Society: National President, 1978-1980.
- International Sociological Association: Executive Committee, Member Elected by Research Council, 1978-1982.
-American Sociological Association: Executive Council Member Elected-at-Large, 1975-1978; Section on Sex and Gender, Chairperson, 1974-1975.
- Listed in American Men and Women of Science, Twelfth edition, 1973.

Selected Publications

Teaching Interests

Feminist Research; Sociology of Learning: gender, race, class and perspectives;Women and Work; Sociology of Emotions; Re-evaluation Counseling.