Beau Weston
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The personal website of William J. Weston

Van Winkle Professor of Sociology
Centre College

The gruntled Center
Picture
I have been teaching sociology at Centre College since 1990 in the Anthropology and Sociology program. 
I am a loyal son of my alma mater, Swarthmore College, and am grateful for my graduate training at Yale University and Yale Divinity School.
My brief c.v. is here. My mailing address is Centre College, 600 W. Walnut St., Danville, KY 40422.

My core courses are Introduction to Sociology and Social Structure.  My senior seminar is on Class Culture.  I teach fun electives on the Happy Society, on coffee houses, and on American religion. My signature course is on family life.

My new book, Between Bohemia and Suburbia: Boburbia in the U.S.A., will come out from Routledge in 2019.  It describes the kind of dense, mixed-use, walkable neighborhood favored by "bourgeois bohemians," based on an empirical study of Louisville.

I have written quite a bit on the Presbyterian Church, including the books Presbyterian Pluralism, Called to Teach, and Leading from the Center.

To serve Centre College I have been mentor or advisor to many student groups, including the Brown Fellows, the Posse Scholars, Alpha Phi Omega, Centre Democrats, and the Badminton Club. I am also the pre-Social Work advisor. I try to be involved in every initiative to diversify Centre. I also wrote the history of the college, for which I won a Kentucky History Award. 

To serve the Danville community I have been a general busybody, most recently in organizing a multi-year initiative to plant trees in town. I spend time each day at the Hub Coffee House and Café. 

To serve the Presbyterian Church I am a Ruling Elder, teach Sunday School, was a commissioner to the General Assembly, and have served on national task forces on higher education and on family life.

Through my blog, The Gruntled Center: Exploring the Happy Society, I try to promote and explore contentment, gratitude, happiness, and centrism. (The big button, above, will take you there.)

I am blessed with a wonderful wife, Susan Weston, and three fine voting-age children, Molly, Nora, and Rebecca.