Urban Sociologist Joseph 'Piko' Ewoodzie Brings Students to the Big Picture

If your car’s air conditioning isn’t working, turning the knob back and forth repeatedly isn’t going to fix it. You must open the hood to see what’s really going on.

“If we see an achievement gap, for example, like black kids aren’t scoring as high on tests, you can’t say it’s the black kids causing the problem,” he said. “That’s like saying the air conditioning just won’t work. Sociologists are lifting the hood of society to see what we don’t understand. What is happening at the very bottom of this issue?”

Ewoodzie arrived in С��Ƶ after growing up in Ghana and making educational and career stops in Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio and the South Bronx. He set his sights on С��Ƶ before a job was even available because he wanted to teach at a small liberal arts institution, in the South, near a city and near a Historically Black College or University (HBCU).

Students work so much harder if the work they’re doing is bigger than their professor.

Joseph Ewoodzie, Malcolm O. Partin Assistant Professor of Sociology

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