ABSTRACT
In 1955, while I was still a research associate at the Columbia Bureau of Applied Social Research, and in the field at Cornell University Medical College, I began to teach as a lecturer in the Barnard College Sociology Department. Bernard Barber was the prime mover in arranging this appointment, which at first was confined to teaching a course in introductory sociology. It did not involve a significant geographic or institutional move. Barnard’s four-acre, urban campus, which stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets, was virtually around the corner from where the bureau was situated at the time, and across the street from the central campus of Columbia University, with which it is associated. Nevertheless, my initial appointment to Barnard was a major move of another sort. It was the start of my professional transition to a full-time faculty position, and my lifelong commitment to a teaching career.
