Robert Cooley Angell

Robert Cooley Angell (April 29, 1899 – May 12, 1984) was an American sociologist and educator. Committed to the advancement of rigorous social scientific research, Angell's work focused on social integration and the pursuit of a more peaceful world order. Angell was president of the American Sociological Society and the International Sociological Association.

Early life Angell was born on April 29, 1899, in Detroit, Michigan. His father Alexis Caswell Angell, was a lawyer. His grandfather, James Burrill Angell, was president of the University of Vermont (1866–1871) and the University of Michigan (1871–1909). His maternal grandfather was Thomas Cooley, University of Michigan Law School dean and chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Angell was chairman of the Sociology Department at the University of Michigan from 1940 to 1951. During this time he was instrumental in bringing Theodore Newcomb and Ronald Freedman to the department, as well as the groups that formed the Survey Research Center and the Research Center for Group Dynamics.

During World War II, Angell served in the United States Army Air Forces, as a captain from 1942 to 1943, a major from 1943 to 1944, and a Lieutenant Colonel from 1944 to 1945, earning a Bronze Star Medal in 1944.

Angell edited the American Sociological Review from 1946 to 1948. He was elected president of the American Sociological Association in 1951. He served abroad as director of UNESCO's Social Science Department in Paris from 1949 to1950, heading up a project on world tensions. As a result of this work, Angell was instrumental in founding the International Sociological Association and served as the organization's second president from 1953 to 1956.

Angell served as director of the University of Michigan Honors Council, initiating a new four-year program for gifted students in the Literary College from 1957 to 1960, and as director of the Center for Research on Conflict Resolution (1959), and the Journal of Conflict Resolution (1957), both of which he also helped found.

He retired as a professor emeritus in 1969. In retirement, Angell continued to teach at the University of Michigan until his death.

Angell was a member of Alpha Kappa Delta, American Sociological Association, Sociological Research Association, the Michigan Sociological Association, the American Association of University Professors, and American Civil Liberties Union.

Awards and honors Bronze Star Medal, 1944 Deiches Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University, Spring, 1957 Faculty Award for Distinguished Achievement, University of Michigan, 1958 Doctor of Humanities, Western Michigan. University, 1967

Personal life In December 1922, Angell married Esther Kennedy, University of Michigan class of 1922. They had two children, James Kennedy Angell and Sarah Caswell Angell Parsons. The family lived in Ann Arbor.

He died on May 12, 1984, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor at the age of 88.

Publications The Student Mind, Ph.D., University of Michigan, pp. iii + 179. "Report on Methods in the University of Michigan, "(Mimeographed), University of Michigan, pp. 21;published as: "Increasing the Intellectual Interest of Students, "Mich. Alum., 31 (1924-25): 219–20, 230–32, 249, 254–56, 272–75. "Student Participation in the Solution of Curricular and Administrative Problems at Michigan, "Christian Ed., 10 (1927): 226-31 The Campus: A study of Contemporary Undergraduate Life in the American University. New York and London: D. Appleton and Co., 1928, pp. ix + 239 "The Roots of College Evils, " Forum, 79 (1928) : 419–26. "A Study in Undergraduate Adjustment, " Pub. Amer. Sociol. Soc., 23 (1929) : 181–86. The Family Encounters The Depression. 1936, Charles Scribner's Sons The Integration of American Society: The Study of Groups and Institutions. 1941, McGraw-Hill Publications – Sociology The Use of Personal Documents in History, Anthropology and Sociology. 1945, with Louis Gottschalk and Clyde Kluckholn The Moral Integration of American Cities. 1951, University of Chicago Press Free Society and Moral Crisis. 1958, University of Michigan Press Peace on the March. 1969, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company The Quest for World Order. 1979, University of Michigan Press