William J. "Beau" Weston
National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Sociology

Telephone: 859-238-8789
E-mail: weston@centre.edu

Born in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, Weston earned a B.A. with high honors from Swarthmore College and subsequently completed an M.A.R. from Yale Divinity School and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Yale University. Prior to coming to Centre, Weston served for three years as a research associate in the Office of Research of the U.S. Department of Education.

Weston has a special interest in the sociology of religion, especially in the Presbyterian Church. He is the author of Presbyterian Pluralism: Competition in a Protestant House (1997, University of Tennessee Press), Leading from the Center: Strengthening the Pillars of the Church (2003, Geneva Press), and editor of Called to Teach: The Presbyterian Mission in Higher Education (2003, Geneva Press). Weston previously was an editor of and contributor to Education and the American Family: A Synthesis of Research, published by New York University Press in 1989. He is now completing a history of Centre College. Weston also writes the blog, The Gruntled Center: Faith and Family for Centrists.

This Centre professor has pursued research and taught courses on a number of topics related to family life and major contemporary social issues. He recently served on the national task force on Changing Families for the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 2004 he won the Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Weston has presented papers at a number of professional meetings and has participated in the Kentucky Humanities Council speakers bureau. He has received honors including membership in Phi Beta Kappa, and he served a term as president of the Anthropologists and Sociologists of Kentucky.

Weston is an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He and his wife, Susan, have three children: Molly, Nora and Joe.

College news contact:

Communications Office
Centre College
Danville, KY 40422
Telephone 859-238-5719

File last updated: 10/3/06