Marquis Who's Who Millennium Magazine

166 MILLENNIUM O ver the past 45 years, Dr. Walter Gove has made numerous distinguished contributions in the field of sociology, looking at the interface between the attributes of individuals, the functioning of social systems and how they are related to different components of society. Dr. Gove is the co-author of two books, editor or co-editor of five books, and the author or co-author of over 100 professional articles published in major sociology journals. The Web of Science has identified him as a Highly Cited Researcher. In 1979 he won the Reuben Hill Award given by the National Council on Family Relations. He was elected to the Sociological Research Association in 1984 and elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1992. In 1989 he was given an award by the Society for the Study of Social Problems for his contributions to psychiatric sociology and in 2003 received the Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions in Medical Sociology. In 2014 he was added to the Southern Sociology Society’s Roll of Honor. Dr. Gove’s first major contributions were his critique of the labeling theory of mental illness and study of how gender and marital status influence the risk of mental disorder and mortality. This work has provided an important foundation for research across a number of disciplines that continue to demonstrate how social involvements are linked to health and mortality. A process at the heart of much of his research is social integration. This work showed how the excessive demands and negative aspects of social relationships in everyday life affect psychological well-being; it has provided focus and direction to research done on living arrangements, social integration, and mental health since that time. In each of these areas, societal reactions to mental illness, gender and mental health, crowding, and social integration and control, Dr. Gove’s work changed the way that sociologists think. Although his contributions were sometimes controversial, they have led to progress in the discipline. Walter R. Gove, PhD Sociology Educator Boulder, UT