Norval Glenn

Norval D. Glenn is the Ashbel Smith Professor in Sociology and Stiles Professor in American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Over more than four decades, and in well over one hundred journal articles, book chapters, and monographs, Norval D. Glenn’s research has probed such topics as the social and demographic correlates of marital success in the United States; geographic patterns of divorce; the culture of courtship on college campuses; the effects of divorce on the religious identities of young people; and trends in scholarship on family change. A past editor of the Journal of Family Issues and member of numerous editorial boards, Professor Glenn is a member of the Research Advisory Groups for both the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative and the Texas Healthy Marriage Initiative, and has consistently sought to bring the best scholarship to bear on the public debate on marriage in America.

Award Comments

A crucial turning point in my career came in 1989. During the few years prior to then I had gradually become convinced on the basis of research findings that, contrary to what I had once thought, some recent changes in the family in the United States and other modern societies were reason for serious concern. Therefore, I responded with interest when I received a phone call from David Blankenhorn to invite me to attend a conference at Stanford University dealing with the extent to which recent family change should be a reason for concern. Although I had never been an avid conference attender, I agreed to participate as a discussant of one or more of the papers to be presented.

The conference turned out to be the most interesting and stimulating one I had ever attended, by a considerable margin. There I got to know David; met Jean Elshtain; and became better acquainted with Dave Popenoe, whom I had met earlier. This was the beginning of a long and very gratifying relationship with the Institute for American Values (IAV). I had reached the point in my career at which I longed to do something other than write for academic journals and to do something that would have a real world impact, and being asked to participate in projects sponsored by the IAV gave me an opportunity to do that. The result has been that the most gratifying work of my career has been during the past twenty years.

Through my involvement with the IAV I have come to realize just how poorly the results of academic research are usually communicated to policymakers and the general public and how important organizations such as the IAV are in facilitating that communication. Among the many other things I’ve learned from the Institute is that many of the smartest people around are not members of the academy, that dealing with journalists and media people doesn’t have to be unpleasant, and that New York City is indeed a nice place to visit. And through my association with the Institute, I have made many wonderful friends. It has been a great ride.

Thank you David for that phone call twenty years ago. And thank all you other IAV stalwarts present on this occasion for helping make my work with the Institute such a great experience. And thank you who selected me to be an honoree at this event. The stature of the other honorees makes me feel honored to an extraordinary degree.