Social Activists

Sherry Olson firmly believes that we can understand and explain the world. Indeed, more than a belief it is a responsibility.Disciplined, critical work to understand how we got to where we are now is how we build a better world. For Sherry, only continuous ethical engagement with real-world problems can possibly justify an intellectual’s privileges. In making sense of her long trajectory as both a teacher and a researcher, her life-long commitment to working with people of diverse backgrounds and skills to overcome problems has been far more important than any formal training. The scholar celebrated in these pages was decades in the making.