Professor of Sociology (by courtesy)
Globalization and impact of human rights regime;rise of human rights education and analysis of civics, history, and social studies textbooks; transformations in the status of women in society and in higher education; universities as institutions and organizations;education, science and development
Dr. Ramirez conducts cross-national studies on the role of education in the formation of world society and the influence of world society on educational developments. These studies include topics such as patterns of women's access to higher education, the role of education and science in economic development, and the interrelationships among education, citizenship, and human rights. Grants from the National Science Foundation (Sociology Program), the Spencer Foundation, and the Bechtel Initiative on Global Growth and Change have supported both research on education, science, and development and studies of the globalization of human rights and the challenge of human rights education. Ramirez is also a recipient of a Spencer Foundation Mentor Network award.
"The valorization of humanity and diversity are ongoing global processes that pose a challenge to nationalism and the mono cultural narrative once favored in schools and universities. Our explanatory analysis of textbooks shows a growth of cosmopolitan and multicultural emphases. Students are increasingly exposed to world issues and international initiatives calling for greater global consciousness. Students are increasingly exposed to world issues and international initiatives calling for greater global consciousness. Students are also further exposed to a depiction of their own societies as ones filled with validated diversity along many dimensions."
Since 1987:
Associate Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology (1987-1990)
Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology (1990- )
Assistant Professor-Professor of Sociology, San Francisco State University (1973-1987)
“Conditional Decoupling: Assessing the Impact of National Human Rights Institutions” (with W. Cole) American Sociological Review (forthcoming).
‘The Formalization of the University: Rules, Roots, and Routes” (With T. Christensen) Higher Education 2012.
“The World Society Perspective: Concepts, Assumptions, and Strategies” Comparative Education 423-39 2012.
"Student-Centeredness in Social Science Textbooks, 1970-2008: A Cross-National Study" (With P. Bromley and J. Meyer). Social Forces (2011).
The Worldwide Spread of Environmental Discourse in Social Science Textbooks, 1970-2010 (with P. Bromley and J. Meyer) Comparative Education Review (2011).
"Human Rights in Social Science Textbooks: Cross-national Analyses, 1975-2008" (with J. Meyer and P. Bromley). Sociology of Education 83: 111-134. 2010.
"Accounting for Excellence: Transforming Universities Into Organizational Actors”"PP. 54-75 in Val Rust, Laura Portnoi, and Sylvia Bagely, eds, Higher Education, Policy, and The Global Competition Phenomenon. Palgrave. 2010.
"UNESCO and Associated Schools: The Symbolic Affirmation of World Community and Human Rights" (with D. Suarez and Jeong-Woo. Koo). Sociology of Education 82: 197-216. 2009.
"World Society and the Socially Embedded University" Social Science Review 40: 1-30 2009.
"National Incorporation of Global Human Rights: Worldwide Expansion of National Human Rights Organizations, 1966-2004" (with Jeong-Woo Koo). Social Forces. 87:1321-1354. 2009.
"The Valorization of Humanity and Diversity" (with P. Bromley and G. Russell). Multicultural Education Review 1.: 29-54. 2009.
Major Grant "Globalization, Citizenship, and Education: A Cross-National Study of Curricula, 1955-2005" (with J. Meyer and C. Wotipka) 2010-13 $263,000.
Invited lectures on World Society and Human Rights Developments in the Geroge Ekcert Institute in Braunschweig and in the Humboldt University.
"Universities in Crisis" Invited presentation at the Conference on Rethinking Higher Education. Instituto de la Empresa, Segovia, Spain.
"Portraits of Citizenship, State, and Society inn School Textbooks Around the World" Invited lecture, School of Education at Albany University. 2010.
"Comparing Universities: The Experience and Perspective of American Universities" Invited Address at the International Conference on Changing Universities: Governance, Relevance, and Performance” Sabanci University, Turkey. 2009
Invited Keynote address at the International Conference on Multicultural Education, Hanyang University, Korea. 2009.
"World Society and The Socially Embedded University" Department of Public Administration, Yonsei University. South Korea. 2009
"Globalization, Citizenship, and Education" Keynote Address at the first annual meetings of the Peruvian Society for Educational Research. Arequipa, Peru. 2008.
Plenary Lecture at the International Standing Committee in the History of Education, Rutgers University. 2008.
Selected Fellow Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, (2006-07)
Associate Editor, American Sociological Review (2004-07)
Lectures on human rights education at the Korean Association for Multicultural Education, at Seoul National University, and at Sungkyunkwan University, 2011.
"Templates of Excellence in Higher Education" Invited Lecture in the International Symposium CIDUI-CESE Universities, States, and Markets in a Changing Europe: Towards a Creative Governance of Higher Education, Barcelona. 2011.
Lectures on world society at the Georg Eckert Institute Institute in Braunschweig and at the Humboldt University, 2010.
"Universities in Crisis" Invited presentation at the Conference on Rethinking Higher Education. Instituto de la Empresa Segovia, Spain. 2010.
"Comparing Universities: The Experience and Perspective of American Universities" Invited Address at the International Conference on Changing Universities: Governance, Relevance, and Performance, Sabanci University, Turkey. 2009
Invited Keynote address at the International Conference on Multicultural Education, Hanyang University, Korea. 2009.
"World Society and The Socially Embedded University" Department of Public Administration, Yonsei University. South Korea. 2009
"Globalization, Citizenship, and Education" Keynote Address at the first annual meetings of the Peruvian Society for Educational Research. Arequipa, Peru. 2008.
“Human Rights National Institutions: Institutionalist versus Realist Perspectives’ Harvard Law School Workshop on Sociological Institutionalism and Human Rights. 2007.
Lectures on Human Rights Education and on Changes in Higher Education at the International Christian University, Tokyo. 2007.
“World Society and The Rationalized University” Keynote Address at the First RESUP International Conference on Universities and Their Markets in Sciences Po, Paris. 2007.
Guest Lectures on Education and Development at the Singapore Management University, 2006
“Higher Education as a World Institution” School of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 2006.
“Re-thinking Educational Incorporation” Department of Sociology, University of Arizona. 2006.
“The State of the Sociology of Education in the United States: Beyond Variabilization” Keynote Address at the meetings of the Spanish Sociology of Education Association in Santander. 2005.
"Reflections on The Institutionalization of Universities in Germany and the United States” University of Halle-Wittenberg. 2005.
“Women’s Studies Curricula in Europe: Emergence and Institutionalization” Conference on Education and Communication, Humboldt University. 2005.
“Common Ideals and Diverse Peoples” 47th International Comparative Education Conference. International Bureau of Education. Geneva. 2004.
Globalization and Education lectures at the University of Cape Town,, Kwazulu-Natal, Pretoria, and Witwatersrand in South Africa. 2004.