Michael Aiken

Michael T. Aiken (* 1932) is an American sociologist , professor emeritus, former provost of the University of Pennsylvania and former chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1993 to 2001).

Life

Aiken received his bachelor's degree from the University of Mississippi in 1954 and his master's degree from the University of Michigan with a Woodrow-Wilson Fellowship a year later . He worked on research projects at the university until he submitted his dissertation in 1964. From 1963 to 1967 he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin , received his full professorship in 1970 and worked from 1980 to 1982 as the deputy dean of the sociological student council at the same university. During this time he also held visiting professorships in the USA and abroad, from 1967 to 1968 at Columbia University , 1983-1984 at Washington University in St. Louis and on four occasions at the Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve ( Belgium ). He took over the chairmanship of the sociological student council of the University of Pennsylvania (UOP). Here he was appointed Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences in 1985. Aiken later became Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The American Aiken is named by eyewitnesses as the initiator for the establishment of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS). At a 1973 conference at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Wassenaar , the Netherlands , Aiken noted that European researchers were very familiar with even second-rate research in America, but had little knowledge of the research of their immediate neighbors. In contrast to earlier attempts at organization, Aiken, who had a remarkable organizational talent, pursued the initiative and convinced Michel Crozier , who in turn contacted the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (MSH) in Paris, through which a meeting of leading sociologists alongside Aiken himself the French Michel Crozier and Werner Ackermann , the Swiss Jean-Claude Thoenig and Peter Atteslander , the Italian Franco Ferraresi and the Austrian Erhard Friedberg , who lives in Paris , the British David J. Hickson and the Dutch Cornelis J. Lammers . Lammers refers to this meeting as the constituent assembly for the foundation of EGOS.

Aiken also showed his organizational talent in leading the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Under his leadership, Aiken raised over $ 1 billion in donations and grants for the university, established a partnership program with Illinois to improve the university's social inclusion, and induction programs for newcomers. During this period, the pay of the employees rose above the national average, and new programs were launched and financed.

Research interests

Aiken viewed organizations, organizing and being organized as a sociological phenomenon, i.e. beyond the economic enterprise as a political and social organization. His research dealt with the living and working situation of American workers in complex organizations, taking into account ethnic origin, age, intellectual disabilities or other influences on social reality. In addition, Aiken also worked on problems of public administration, urban management and the upcoming changes as well as the political decision-making processes.

Honors

In 2004 founding member Michael Aiken was made an honorary member of EGOS. The laudation was given by David Wilson .

bibliography

25 works by Michael Aiken are offered in 58 publications and in two languages ​​by over 3000 libraries worldwide.

• with Roger Depré; Politics and policy in Belgian cities ; Western Societies Program, Center for International Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 1978.
• with others; Coordinating human services ; Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco; 1975.
• with A Eugene Havens and William L Flinn; The adoption of innovations: the neglected role of institutional constraints ; Madison, 1974.
• A preliminary inventory of machine-readable data on urban and other sub-national units in Western European nations and the United States: sources located in the United States. ; Council for European Studies, University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh; 1973.
• with Robert R Alford; Governmental units analysis data ; Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research; Ann Arbor, Michigan; 1972.
• with Paul E Mott; The structure of community power ; Random House, New York, 1970.
• A preliminary guide to sources of ecological and survey data in Western Europe: an investigation on behalf of the Western European Area Studies Program of the University of Wisconsin, June 3 to July 16, 1969 ; University of Wisconsin. Western European Area Studies Program; State Government Publication; Western European Area Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison; 1970.
• with Robert R Alford; Community structure and mobilization: the case of public housing ; University of Wisconsin, Madison; 1969.
• with Louis A Ferman and Harold L Sheppard; Economic failure, alienation, and extremism ; University of Michigan Press; Ann Arbor, Michigan; 1968.
• with Robert R Alford; Community structure and mobilization: the case of the war on poverty ; Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, Madison; 1968.
• with Jerald Hage; The relationship between organizational factors and the acceptance of new rehabilitation programs in mental retardation ; Dept. of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1968.
• Job mobility and the social integration of displaced workers, and the social and political reactions of older Negroes to unemployment ; Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1966 (?).
• Kinship in an urban community ; Diploma thesis / dissertation; 1964.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Bill Murphy; Chancellor Aiken to retire Aug. 20, 2001 ; University of Illinois press release August 22, 2000.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} SAS Dean: Michael Aiken of Sociology ; Almanac, University of Pennsylvanian Journal, May 28, 1985; Vol 31, number 35.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Information on Michael T. Aiken on the Worldcat website , accessed on February 26, 2014.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} David Wilson (2007) Laudation on the appointment of Michael Aiken as honorary member of the European Group for Organizational Studies.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Cornelis J. Lammers (1998) An Inside Story: The Birth and Infancy of EGOS: Memories in Tribute to Franco Ferraresi ; Organization Studies 1998 19: 883; doi : 10.1177 / 017084069801900508 .