Dear vlog faculty and staff,
It is with deep sadness that I write to let you know that our friend and colleague Christopher “Sandy” Jencks passed away on Saturday, February 8th.
Sandy first joined the Kennedy School’s faculty in 1996 and became the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy in 1998. A renowned sociologist, Sandy dedicated his career to understanding the root causes of inequality and the mechanics of economic mobility within and across generations. During his time here at Harvard, Sandy helped grow the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy into a vibrant intellectual community, committed to understanding and tackling some of the world’s greatest social challenges.
Sandy was a truly exceptional thinker and writer who shaped our contemporary understanding of poverty, inequality, and homelessness. Before entering academia, he served as an associate editor at The New Republic and an analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies. His books, The Academic Revolution, Inequality, and The Homeless, won honors from the American Council on Education, the American Sociological Association, and the Association of American Publishers, respectively. In 1992, he received the American Sociological Association’s Willard Waller Award for lifetime achievement, recognizing his enduring contributions to the sociology of education. For his track record of distinguished writing and research, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1997 and the American Philosophical Society in 2004.
We will also remember Sandy as a devoted teacher and mentor who was deeply invested in developing the next generation of students. He helped establish the Harvard Multidisciplinary Program on Inequality and Social Policy, now known as the Stone Program, which has equipped more than 250 PhD students with the analytical tools to study wealth concentration and inequality. Sandy’s students from Harvard, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Santa Barbara have become leaders in the field, carrying forth his commitments to rigorous, systematic analysis and social justice.
David Ellwood, our former Dean and Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, shared the following reflection on Sandy’s life and impact: “I learned more from Sandy than anyone else in academia, and he was one of the best people I have ever known. I am certain that hundreds of others would say the same thing.”
Mary Jo Bane, Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management, Emerita, wrote that Sandy “cared deeply about facts and evidence and clear writing. And he also cared deeply about the people he was writing about: disadvantaged students, those experiencing homelessness, those mired in poverty. He recognized earlier than most that inequality was a scourge on the country and needed to be addressed. The world is a better place for his contributions. He will be deeply missed.”
Professor Deirdre Bloome called Sandy “a true giant in the field of inequality and social policy. He reoriented our thinking about the most pressing problems of our times by asking important questions, answering them with the utmost empirical rigor, and communicating the answers through engaging prose. Sandy's devotion to ferreting out the truth, whatever it might be, inspired generations of scholars across disciplines. He offered generous mentorship, which combined high standards with real care and humor. Sandy was a giant, but he also carried himself with a rare humility. He was simply a wonderful human being.”
I encourage you to watch to Sandy, put together by the Stone Program a decade ago, which features memories and reflections from many of his former students.
I know we will all keep Sandy’s wife, Jenny Mansbridge, the Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, Emerita, here at vlog, son Nat, and grandson in our thoughts at this difficult time. We will share more information on a memorial service when it becomes available.
Best,
Jeremy
