Dr. Arthur B. Shostak

Drexel University bade farewell in late November to 66-yearold Art Shostak, Êa "veteran" of 36 years as a sociologist at the Philadelphia university (and a 11-year Narberth homeowner, and 42 -year area resident).

Drexel reports that Art had several accomplishments of note: No other member of the faculty in the University's 112 year history had published as many books (26), many of which are for sale at Amazon or Powell's online site.

No other had as many Google citations, and other forms of public and media recognition (his ideas have been cited in Business 2.0, Fast Company, N.Y.T. Book Review Section, Time, Wired, etc.).

Prof. Shostak created the first-ever courses at Drexel in Race and Ethnic Relations, Urban Sociology, Social Implications of 20th Century Technology, Social Change and Social Planning, and Futuristics. He most recently created the first Drexel E-Learning course in Industrial Sociology.

Often an elected representative of his college to the Faculty Council. and later, to the Faculty Senate. he was vice-president for several recent years as well of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

An adviser to various student groups, he enjoyed chairing the Senate Committee on Student Life for several years.

With rare exception Prof. Shostak gave a referred paper every year at one or another of the Annual Meetings of the state, regional, or national sociology associations - and served as president of the Pennsylvania Sociological Association, and chair of the Section on Sociological Practice of the American Sociological Association (the only Drexel faculty to ever hold these posts).

Prof. Shostak specialized in researching topics previously unexplored by sociologists - such as the situation of males in abortion clinic waiting rooms, the uses labor unions might make of computer power, insights sociologists might uncover in their own private lives, ways in which utopian thinking might help in real life, post-war prospects for Iraq, and so on.

He enjoyed being interviewed on Oprah Winfey's TV show Ê(when she was in Chicago), Donohue (when he was on NBC-TV News), and on various local TV talk shows. Ê

His ideas were cited in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, all the Philadelphia papers, and other media outlets, including Business 2.0, FAST COMPANY, WIRED, etc. Ê

Over the years, Prof. Shostak earned research grants from the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Marshal Plan Swedish-American Foundation, the US IA (State Department), the Danforth Foundation, and others.

For 25 years (1975 to 2000) he served as the first and only Adjunct Sociologist at the AFL-CIO George Meany Center for labor Studies in Silver Spring, MD. Êhe continues as a consultant to various labor unions.

A popular public speaker, Prof. Shostak enjoyed giving as many as 25 commissioned talks annually somewhere in the USA or Canada on sociological topics and aspects of the future.

In retirement Prof. Shostak is busy editing two new open-ended series of books written for high school students. One series will attempt to make sense of the Iraq war and its aftermath (five volumes are at press). The second series will explore aspects of the future of special interest to teenagers. ÊBoth series are sponsored by a local area publisher, Chelsea House, Broomal, PA.