Department of Sociology Faculty

Vincent N. Parrillo

Vincent N. Parrillo(Professor) was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. He received his B.S. degree from Seton Hall University, his M.A.from Montclair State University, and his doctorate from Rutgers University. He teaches the following undergraduate courses: Minority Groups in America, Urban Sociology, Sociology of Socialization, Social Problems, Ethnic and Racial Conflict Resolution, Diversity in America. Graduate courses include Racial and Ethnic Experiences, and Sociology of Intercultural Communication.

His books (see book covers below) include: Strangers to These Shores 9th ed. (Allyn & Bacon, 2008); Cities and Urban Life 4th ed. with John Macionis (Prentice-Hall, 2006); Diversity in America 3rd ed. (Pine Forge Press, 2008); Contemporary Social Problems 6th ed. (Allyn & Bacon, 2005); Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations 3rd ed. (Allyn & Bacon, 2008); William Paterson University (Arcadia, 2005); Millennium Haze: Comparative Inquiries About Society, State and Community (FrancoAngeli, 2000); Ridgewood (Arcadia, 1999); and (ed.) Rethinking Today's Minorities (Greenwood Press, 1991). He is General Editor of the two-volume interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Social Problems (Sage, 2008).

He is the executive producer and writer of two award- winning PBS television documentaries: Smokestacks and Steeples: A Portrait of Paterson (1992) and Ellis Island: Gateway to America (1991). His scholarly articles have appeared in such journals as Social Science Journal,, Sociological Forum, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, and Small Group Behavior, and some of them have been published in eight languages. He is Vice President of the Eastern Sociological Society and was its Robin M. Williams, Jr. Distinguished Lecturer for 2005-2006.

An invited lecturer to dozens of universities in Canada, Europe, and the United States in the past few years, Professor Parrillo has gone on numerous assignments for the U.S. Information Agency to confer with national leaders in Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Romania, and Sweden on issues relating to immigration and intergroup tensions. He has conducted diversity training sessions for NCOs and senior army officers at various military bases, at the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and for managers in the Saint Barnabas Health Care System in New Jersey.

In Spring 2000, Prof. Parrillo was a Fulbright teaching fellow at Palacky Univeristy, Czech Republic, and in 1996, he was asked by the Salzburg Seminar to join a team of four scholars to create a Ph.D. program in American Studies at the North American Studies Center in Lodz, Poland. He has also been the keynote speaker at international conferences in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Romania. In October 2001, his keynote speech, "The Challenge for Educators," given at a bilingual educators conference, was published in Vital Speeches of the Day. In Spring he was a Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Pisa, repeating that position in Fall 2006.

Active in regional theater as an actor in many plays, he has also directed dozens of plays of every genre. In 2003, he directed a cast of Broadway stars (including four Tony nominees) in a staged reading of the rock opera Hamlet at the Lamb's Theatre in New York City and in 2005 he co-produced its world premiere in Prague. In October 2007, it premiered in Seoul to rave reviews and enthusiastic audience responses, and it is still running there. A U.S. production is scheduled to open in Tulso in May 2009 (visit www.hamletrockopera.com) for more details.

A three-term past member of the Board of Trustees for the Greater Paterson YMCA, Prof. Parrillo now serves on the Historic Preservation Commission in his home town of Ridgewood. His pastimes are traveling, theater and the computer.

Selected Articles:

• The Umbrellas of Multiculturalism
• The Thorns and Roses of Multiculturalism

Books published: