Faculty Research Fellow Ashley Mears Promoted to Full Professor

Ashley Mears, a Faculty Research Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, has been promoted to the rank of full professor of sociology.

Prof. Mears specializes in gender studies and economic sociology, focusing on the intersection of culture and markets and the commoditization of beauty and glamor. She was one of 20 Charles River Campus faculty members promoted to full professor.

“The faculty members we recognize today…are pushing their respective fields forward, forging multidisciplinary collaborations to discover solutions to pressing societal challenges, authoring foundational texts that help advance our understanding of the world, and working to inspire a new generation of young scholars and professionals,” said University provost Jean Morrison. “In doing so, they exemplify each day the excellence and impact of Boston University’s talented academic community.”

As a Pardee Center Faculty Research Fellow, Prof. Mears is working with Prof. Michel Anteby (Questrom School of Business) and Prof. Alya Guseva (Sociology) on a project titled “Precarity and the Future of Work.” By convening a community of scholars across disciplines, the project team is exploring how precarious work (i.e., work that is poorly paid, unprotected, and insecure) makes up a growing share of the U.S. workforce, and what the implications of these new work arrangements might be in coming decades.