UC Merced's Flores Honored for Work with the Community and Labor Center

The Pacific Sociological Association recently honored UC Merced sociology Professor Edward Flores, faculty director of the university's Community and Labor Center, with its Distinguished Contribution to Sociological Praxis Award.

According to the selection committee, Flores earned the distinction for his contributions to improving the lives of working families and underserved populations in California's Central Valley.

Under Flores' leadership, the Community and Labor Center has used applied scholarship in several major initiatives, including a series of research briefs on Central Valley social and working conditions of low income and immigrant workers, and leading a disaster relief survey of immigrant worker families flooded in the city of Planada in early 2023 that helped lead to $40 million in state and local compensation for working families of Planada and Pájaro.

"It means a lot to receive this award," Flores said. "Working with the Community and Labor Center has been the most meaningful experience of my academic career, and it is a privilege to be part of such a strong public-serving mission."

The Pacific Sociological Association was established in October 1929 by a group of university sociologists based on the idea that "where there is contact of human minds, there an association exists; where there is no contact, there is a state of isolation." The group works to promote both sociological research and the teaching of sociology in universities, colleges, community colleges and high schools in the Pacific region.