Diane Pike was fortunate to teach Augsburg undergraduates in the areas of organizational theory, sociological theory, research methods and criminology for 41 years. Augsburg’s interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Leadership program brought the opportunity to team-teach graduate courses on the dynamics of change as well as the program’s capstone seminar for over 35 years. She is especially grateful for amazing Department of Sociology colleagues across the decades.
Early in her career, graduating seniors honored Diane with the distinguished faculty teaching award three times; she received the Augsburg University Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award for Academic Leadership in 2011. Her leadership and service roles on campus across her career included: Department Chair, Faculty Senator, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (7years), General Education Revision Team Member, Course Evaluation Revision Project Co-lead, and extensive experience with the Committee on Tenure and Promotion.
At the national level, Diane was awarded the Hans O. Mauksch Award for Undergraduate Teaching and Learning from the ASA Section on Teaching and Learning in Sociology in 2009. In 2012, she received the American Sociological Association’s highest award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching. Her professional commitments included active involvement with Sociologists of Minnesota (President 1991), the Midwest Sociological Society (MSS President 2010-11; current active member) and the American Sociological Association for whom she is an experienced member of the Program Review and Consultants (PRC) group having completed more than 25 department reviews. She has also done extensive consulting on teaching effectiveness and student engagement, curriculum development and assessment. A longtime member of the former Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning, Diane earned their Stuart Bellman Award for advancing college teaching and learning in 2008. She was the inaugural (2015) Editor of TRAILS, ASA’s digital library for pedagogical scholarly work and has presented dozens of workshops and sessions regionally and nationally on effective teaching, higher education and organizational development. She is lead author on the collaborative ASA project, The Sociology Major in the Changing Landscape of Higher Education (2017).
Although emerita status began in 2022, Diane’s professional work continues in the areas of faculty development, program review, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in sociology. She remains active in ASA, MSS, and the discipline. Examples of her published work include: The Sociological Quarterly January 2011. THE TYRANNY OF DEAD IDEAS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING: Midwest Sociological Society Presidential Address 2010; book review of Two Cheers for Higher Education (Brint 2018) in Contemporary Sociology (2022), and the chapter The Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Sociology (Cabrera and Sweet, editors; forthcoming).
Education
- A.B. Connecticut College, Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude
- M.A. Yale University
- Ph.D. Yale University
Areas of Teaching and Responsibilities:
- Introduction to Human Society
- Introduction to Criminology
- Organizational Theory/Organizational Crime and Deviance
- Sociological Theory
- Research Methods
- Social Change