Mark Suchman, ABF Research Professor and Executive Director, has joined the Purdue University faculty in the College of Liberal Arts as a Professor of Sociology.
Suchman comes to Purdue from Brown University, where he led the Sociology Department’s Work, Organizations, and Economy Program and directed the Organizational Studies academic track. He has studied law and entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, business disputing practices, and patient privacy in the American healthcare system. His research on how legal conditions create, or foreclose, opportunities for innovation and technological change has been supported by major grant-giving organizations, including the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others. His work has been featured in a number of scholarly journals, including Law & Social Inquiry, the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, and Academy of Management Review.
“Both as a sociologist who studies law, innovation and entrepreneurship and as the Executive Director of the American Bar Foundation, I’m thrilled to be joining Purdue’s outstanding sociology faculty,” Suchman said. “Purdue has an excellent community of scholars who study not only the legal organizations that create and enforce our laws, but also the non-legal organizations — businesses, schools, healthcare providers — that shape how those laws affect our daily lives.”
“The ABF, for its part, is the world’s premier research institute for the interdisciplinary empirical study of law, legal institutions, and the legal profession,” Suchman said. “Although the ABF’s offices in downtown Chicago are two hours away from Purdue’s main campus in West Lafayette, I hope that my role at each will help to bring the two closer together both institutionally and intellectually. Purdue and the ABF offer a unique blend of complementary strengths that can enrich not only my own work but also the work of my new colleagues, collaborators, and students in both locales.”
Suchman received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Stanford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He earned his A.B. in Sociology from Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Prior to his time at Brown, Suchman served as a Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has also served as Program Director at the National Science Foundation’s Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure; chaired the American Sociological Association’s sections on Sociology of Law and on Organizations, Occupations, and Work; and led the Graduate Student Workshop of the Law and Society Association.
“We are fortunate to have Mark join the Purdue faculty,” said David A. Reingold, Senior Vice President for Policy Planning and the Justin S. Morrill Dean of Liberal Arts at Purdue. “His papers on organizational behavior are among the most cited articles in the management literature. His research will create impact and help us emerge as a leader in liberal arts scholarship.”
Suchman was brought to Purdue through its Moveable Dream Hires program, which is piloted by the deans and provost to attract high-performing, top-caliber faculty to Purdue even when the topic-based openings in a given year do not match the moveable talent. It complements typical topic-based faculty searches across the University and enables the recruitment of faculty who may not be actively on the job market. These recruits are tenure-track or tenured faculty.
“Mark Suchman is truly a dream hire for us in the Sociology Department at Purdue,” said Purdue Distinguished Professor of Sociology Robin Stryker. “With his body of theoretically innovative and influential law and organizations scholarship that is widely cited by social scientists, legal scholars, and scholars of business and management alike, and his concurrent position as executive director of the American Bar Foundation, Mark brings great added prestige and positive visibility to our law and society program. We look forward to collaborating with him and with the ABF to provide exciting new opportunities for our faculty and students.”
“I’m particularly grateful to Linda Renzulli in Sociology, Dean David Reingold in the College of Liberal Arts, and ABF President Jimmy Goodman for making this partnership possible,” Suchman said. “I’m eager to do everything that I can to deepen and broaden that connection in the coming years. Boiler up!”
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About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes, at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.
About Purdue University College of Liberal Arts
The College of Liberal Arts is essential to a Purdue education that prepares graduates for meaningful careers and inspired leadership. Positioned at the intersection of liberal arts and STEM, the College leverages Purdue’s STEM strengths to propel our graduates toward new advances in our disciplines and enhances Purdue’s renowned STEM education by pushing all Purdue students intellectually and challenging them to be independent thinkers who drive decision making as bold, visionary leaders.