Elaine Howard Ecklund, the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences at Rice University in Houston, Texas, has been elected president of the Religious Research Association.
The Religious Research Association, founded in 1951, aims to expand understanding of how religion affects people and society through social science and other scholarly methods. The association fosters professional development and cooperation of scholars from a variety of disciplines while also promoting research. The interfaith and international association includes college, university, and seminary faculty; religious leaders; organizational consultants; laypersons; and other professionals interested in the intersection of religion and society.
Dr. Ecklund joined the faculty at Rice University in 2008 as an assistant professor of sociology, after teaching at the University at Buffalo. She was promoted to full professor in 2013. She also serves as the director of the university’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance.
Professor Ecklund holds a bachelor’s degree in human development, a master’s degree in sociology, and a Ph.D. in sociology, all from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.