Contact Information
3084 Lincoln Hall
Urbana, IL 61801
M/C 454
217-300-6960
Office Hours
Biography
Professor Reuben A. Buford May, Ph.D. is the Florian Znaniecki Professorial Scholar, Professor of Sociology, and Department Head. He is also a Center for Social and Behavioral Science affiliate. He has been a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visiting professor at MIT. May received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago, and works in the areas of Community and Urban Sociology, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and Race Gender and Class. He was recently named a Fellow to the President's Executive Leadership Program—a unique professional development program designed to broaden participants’ understanding of higher education issues and to strengthen their leadership skills related to overseeing a public institution at the university or system level. May is the winner of numerous Undergraduate teaching awards and was most recently named a Finalist for the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching—a national teaching award that honors outstanding professors with proven records as extraordinary teachers with positive, inspiring, and long-lasting effects on students, along with records of distinguished scholarship. In addition to his awards, books and other scholarly publications, May has been featured on radio and television and in print media for sociological insights in his music under the performance name Reginald S. Stuckey.
Research Interests
Community and Urban Sociology; Racial and Ethnic Minorities; Race Gender and Class; Sociology of Sport
Research Description
My research is at the intersections of community and urban sociology and race, gender, and class. I focus on problems that manifest in urban contexts, specifically as they relate to the use of public and private space by racial and ethnic groups. My current project is a study of the ways in which nightclub owners limit access to nightclubs through exclusionary practices. I utilize ethnographic methods, interviews, media reports and audit pairs to collect data and uncover these practices. My analysis uses racial social systems theory and critical race theory perspectives to draw connections between law, institutional practices and interactional dynamics at the thresholds of nightclubs. Given that this research has legal implications, I have served as an expert witness in several civil rights lawsuits.
In addition to this main line of research, I also conduct research on mentor and protégé relationships in college and university, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs as well as conduct research examining the social consequences of youth participation in sport. I have appeared in several media outlets discussing various aspects of the sociology of sport.
Education
Aurora University, BA, Criminal Justice
DePaul University, MA, Sociology
University of Chicago, Ph. D., Sociology
Grants
2019 Louis Stokes STEM Pathways and Research Alliance: (Texas A&M University System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation [TAMUS LSAMP]) $4,000,000. National Science Foundation. Co-PI: Reuben May. Funded.
2016 Funded April, 2016. Dress codes and Discrimination in Urban Nightlife: African American, Hispanic, and White Men’s Access to Urban Nightclubs. $15,454. Texas A&M University, College of Liberal Arts, Seed Grants Program. PI: Reuben May
Awards and Honors
2024 Fellow, President’s Executive Leadership Program (PELP). The President’s Executive Leadership Program represents a unique professional development opportunity and experience for selected senior-level faculty and administrators across the University of Illinois System. The Board of Trustees supports the program as a mechanism for identifying and developing a diverse group of potential future university and system leaders. https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/7559/715829792
2018 Recipient of the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award in recognition of teaching excellence in the State of Texas. University and college presidents from across the state nominate a professor from their home institution and ten professors are recognized annually (awardee receives $5,000 award, certificate, and gold pin). https://today.tamu.edu/2018/06/13/sociology-professor-reuben-may-named-piper-professor-by-minnie-stevens-piper-foundation/
2017 Recipient of the Texas A&M University, Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence Award, the most prestigious faculty honor bestowed at Texas A&M University (awardee receives $25,000 award, a plaque and the title designation of Presidential Professor for the remainder of their career. http://today.tamu.edu/2017/05/10/texas-am-honors-two-profs-with-teaching-excellence-award/)
2017 Recipient of the Texas A&M University Chapter of the NAACP, “Best Professor Award” for excellence in undergraduate education and outstanding contributions to the educational goals of Texas A&M University.
2015 Recipient of the Glasscock University Professorship in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence (awardee receives $5,000 additional salary each year for three years along with $5000 to support teaching and related professional development http://today.tamu.edu/2015/09/02/four-faculty-honored-with-professorships-for-undergraduate-teaching/).
2013 Recipient of the Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in the area of Teaching, Texas A & M University (one of the highest university honors, awardee receives $4,000 and a distinctive watch).
2010 Recipient of a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professorship, School of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2009 Recipient of a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellowship, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University.
2003 Recipient of the General Sandy Beaver Teaching Professorship, University of Georgia (only 1 given; awardee receives $7,800 additional salary each year for three years).
2001 Recipient of the Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching Award, University of Georgia (one of 3 given annually University-wide; $5,000 cash award).
2000 Recipient of the Special Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award, Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Teaching Award, University of Georgia (one of 4 given annually College-wide; $2,800 cash award).
Courses Taught
Soc 225 Race and Ethnicity
Soc 396 Sociology of Sport
Soc 583 Qualitative Methods
Additional Campus Affiliations
Head, Sociology
Professor, Sociology
Affiliate, Center for Social & Behavioral Science
External Links
Highlighted Publications
Urban Nightlife: Entertaining Race, Class, and Culture in Public Space, Rutgers University Press, 2014
Living Through the Hoop: High School Basketball, Race, and the American Dream, New York University Press, 2008
Talking at Trena’s: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern, New York University Press, 2001
May, R. A. B., & Pattillo-Mccoy, M. (2000). Do You See What I See? Examining a Collaborative Ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(1), 65-87. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040000600105
May, R. A. Buford (2009). The Good and Bad of It All: Professional Black Male Basketball Players as Role Models for Young Black Male Basketball Players. Sociology of Sport Journal, 26(3), 443-461. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.26.3.443
Recent Publications
Kokandakar, A. H., Lin, Y., Jin, S., Weiss, J., Rabinowitz, A. R., May, R. A. B., Small, D., & Deshpande, S. K. (2025). Adolescent Sports Participation and Health in Early Adulthood: An Observational Study. Youth and Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X241310245
Buford May, R. A., Stanley, C. A., Soto-Arzat, A., & Ackerman, J. R. (2024). DOES RACE, ETHNICITY, OR GENDER OF THE MENTOR AFFECT WHETHER THEY WILL BE A “GOOD MENTOR”? A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 30(6), 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1615/JWOMENMINORSCIENENG.2023045429
Kokandakar, A. H., Lin, Y., Jin, S., Weiss, J., Rabinowitz, A. R., Buford May, R. A., Small, D., & Deshpande, S. K. (2024). Pre-analysis protocol for an observational study on the effects of adolescent sports participation on health in early adulthood. Observational Studies, 10(1), 11-35. https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2024.a929115
May, R. A. B. (2022). Exploring the Use of Exclusionary Practices Against African American Participation in Urban Nightlife. Sociological Forum, 37(1), 91-110. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12780
Jin, S., Rabinowitz, A. R., Weiss, J., Deshpande, S., Gupta, N., Buford May, R. A., & Small, D. S. (2021). Retrospective survey of youth sports participation: Development and assessment of reliability using school records. PloS one, 16(9 September 2021), Article e0257487. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257487