Professor Jodi O’Brien, Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Social Work, has been selected as the 2013-15 Wismer Professor for Gender and Diversity. The Wismer professorship provides funding for research and activities to advance scholarship. The two-year appointment, which was made by Provost Isiaah Crawford, begins July 1, 2013.

As the Wismer Professor, O’Brien's scholarship will focus on the development of a new book that will tie together her current teaching, scholarship, and activism work. Tentatively titled Beyond Tolerance: The Cultural Politics of Belonging, the book is organized around three central concepts: the paradox of perspective, the paradox of power, and epistemologies of contradiction.

O’Brien received her Ph.D. from University of Washington, and has been a faculty member at Seattle University since 1995. Her research focuses on institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, and related forms of discrimination. In addition to her scholarship, she co-edits the sociology magazine Contexts.

The College of Arts and Sciences, the largest college in Seattle University, offers 42 undergraduate majors, 37 minors, and 7 master's degrees.