Rate My Professor Chuck O'Connell

Chuck O'Connell, also known as Charles T. O'Connell, serves as Lecturer Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. He earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA in 1990, an M.A. in Sociology from UCLA, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Loyola. His career includes roles as Teaching Fellow at UCLA from 1985 to 1987, Adjunct Lecturer at Pierce College from 1988 to 2010, Visiting Lecturer at UCLA from 1993 to 1995, and Visiting Lecturer at UC Irvine from 1995 to 2010. O'Connell has taught a variety of courses, including Introduction to Sociology, Race – Ethnicity - Nationality, Sociology of the Viet Nam War, Political Sociology, Social Change, African-American Protest: The Black Marxists, Sociological Theory, Readings in Marx, The War on Terrorism, Political Film and Social Theory, and The Rise and Fall of Soviet Power.

O'Connell's research interests include the Viet Nam War, race/ethnicity/nationality, international relations/imperialism, political sociology, science and knowledge, social movements, African-American political history, fascism and the Holocaust, the Soviet Union, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and labor studies. His central research theme explores the process through which social organizations shape scientific research, exemplified by his analysis of Soviet Area Studies at Harvard during the Cold War, where philanthropic and military sponsors influenced research agendas. Key publications comprise Reader for Introductory Sociology (Pearson/Prentice Hall, Third Edition, 2002), Reader for Race and Ethnicity (Pearson/Prentice Hall, Third Edition, 2002), the article 'The Munich Institute for the Study of the USSR: Origins and Social Composition' in the Carl Beck Papers from the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the spoken word CD NATO’s Balkan War (Liberation Records, 1999). He is preparing a book titled Soviet Studies at Harvard: Social Science in Service to the Cold War. O'Connell received the Outstanding Professor award from UC Irvine's School of Social Sciences in 1997, 1998, 2000 through 2010, the 'Last Lecture' Award in 1996, and the Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher award from the UCI Sociology Department in 1989. He delivered a lecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1989 on 'Science and Politics at Harvard University during the Cold War.'