{{Short description|American sociologist}} {{Infobox academic |name = Kenneth A. Bollen |image = |caption = |birth_name = |birth_date = {{birth year and age|1951}} |birth_place = |death_date = |death_place = |discipline = Sociology, Psychometrics |title = |workplaces = General Motors Research Laboratories<br>Dartmouth College<br>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |field= |education = Drew University<br>Brown University |thesis_title = Political democracy : a macro-theoretical and empirical analysis |thesis_year = 1978 |thesis_url = https://bruknow.library.brown.edu/permalink/01BU_INST/661ovh/alma991004924479706966 |other_names = |known_for = |doctoral_students = |awards = Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award (2000) |website = {{URL|http://bollen.web.unc.edu/}} }}
'''Kenneth Alan Bollen'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bollen |first=Kenneth Alan |date=1978 |title=Political democracy : a macro-theoretical and empirical analysis |website=Brown University |url=https://bruknow.library.brown.edu/permalink/01BU_INST/661ovh/alma991004924479706966}}</ref> (born 1951) is the Henry Rudolf Immerwahr Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bollen joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 1985.<ref name=cv /> He is also a member of the faculty in the Quantitative Psychology Program housed in the L. L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory. He is a fellow at the Carolina Population Center, the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also the Director of the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science from 2000 to 2010.<ref name="cv" /> His specialties are population studies and cross-national analyses of democratization.
Bollen is the author of several books and over a hundred papers,<ref name=cv /> which have attracted a [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eY3VhFcAAAAJ very large number of citations over the years]. His best known publication, ''Structural Equations with Latent Variables'', has been [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eY3VhFcAAAAJ cited over 32,000 times]. It integrated a diverse body of literature from several disciplines, and helped define the area of structural equation modeling (SEM).<ref name=nsf />
According to the National Science Foundation, "His best known substantive research is on the measurement, determinants, and consequences of liberal democracy in nations. The research revealed conservative and liberal biases in democracy measures and provided new measures that minimized the bias. He and colleagues delivered the first empirical estimates of the effects of British colonial history, world system position, and religious traditions on democracy."<ref name=nsf /> The National Science Foundation has Bollen on its Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences.<ref name="nsf1" />
== Education and career == Bollen studied sociology and mathematics at Drew University, where he graduated in 1973 with a B.A. He attended graduate school at Brown University, obtaining an M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology in 1975 and in 1978, respectively. From 1978 to 1982, he was a research scientist at the Social Analysis Department at General Motors Research Laboratories. He joined Dartmouth College as an assistant professor of sociology in 1982 and remained there until 1985, when he moved to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and became an associate professor. In 1989, he became a full professor of sociology.<ref name="cv"></ref>
== Honors and awards == In 2018, he won a career award of Psychometric society for lifetime achievement.<ref name="Psychometric Society" />
In 2011, he was an Elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association.<ref name="nsf" /> For the period 2010–2012, he was Elected Chair, Chair, Past Chair of the Section on Social, Economic, and Political Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).<ref name=nsf /> In 2008, he was and Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<ref name=nsf />
In 2002, he was added to the ISI Highly Cited database of "highly cited researchers" in the Social Sciences category<ref name=nsf /> as well as being recognized by a Reuters list.<ref name="highlycited" />
In 2000 he was the recipient of the ''Lazarsfeld Award for Methodological Contributions in Sociology'', the highest award for methodologists given by the American Sociological Association.<ref name=nsf /><ref name="ASA Methodology Section Home Page" />
== Books == *{{Cite book |last=Bollen |first=Kenneth A. |title=Structural equations with latent variables |date=1989 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-01171-2 |series=Wiley series in probability and mathematical statistics. Applied probability and statistics |location=New York}} * {{Cite book |title=Testing structural equation models |date=1993 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=978-0-8039-4506-7 |editor-last=Bollen |editor-first=Kenneth A. |series=Sage focus editions |location=Newbury Park |editor-last2=Long |editor-first2=J. Scott}} * {{Cite book |last=Bollen |first=Kenneth A. |title=Latent curve models: a structural equation perspective |last2=Curran |first2=Patrick J. |author2-link=Patrick J. Curran |date=2006 |publisher=Wiley-Interscience |isbn=978-0-471-45592-9 |series=Wiley series in probability and statistics |location=Hoboken, N.J}} * {{Cite book |last=Bollen |first=Kenneth A. |title=Elements of structural equation models (SEMs) |date=2026 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-31282-0 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY}}
== References == <references>
<ref name="Psychometric Society">{{cite web |url=https://www.psychometricsociety.org/content/ken-bollen-wins-2018-career-award-lifetime-achievement |title=KEN BOLLEN WINS 2018 CAREER AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT! |date= |accessdate=2018-08-22 |archive-date=2018-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822145525/https://www.psychometricsociety.org/content/ken-bollen-wins-2018-career-award-lifetime-achievement |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="ASA Methodology Section Home Page">{{cite web|url=http://www2.asanet.org/sectionmethod/Awards/pastawards.html |title=ASA Methodology Section Home Page |publisher=.asanet.org |accessdate=2013-08-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407084745/http://www2.asanet.org/sectionmethod/Awards/pastawards.html |archivedate=2014-04-07 }}</ref>
<ref name="cv">{{cite web |url= http://bollen.web.unc.edu/files/2013/04/BollenCVFeb13.pdf |title= Bollen's CV |access-date= 2013-08-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130702054415/http://bollen.web.unc.edu/files/2013/04/BollenCVFeb13.pdf |archive-date= 2013-07-02 |url-status= dead }}, University of North Carolina</ref>
<ref name="highlycited">[http://highlycited.com/names/B.html Highly Cited List: B], see entry for Kenneth A. Bollen. Accessed August 14, 2013</ref>
<ref name="nsf">[https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/advmembios/Bollen.pdf Kenneth A. Bollen Kenneth A. Bollen biography], Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences members, National Science Foundation, accessed 31 August 2013</ref>
<ref name="nsf1">[https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/advmembers.jsp SBE Advisory Committee Members], National Science Federation, accessed 31 August 2013</ref>
</references>
== External links == * [http://bollen.web.unc.edu/?doing_wp_cron=1371470510.2285230159759521484375 Homepage] at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * [http://www.cpc.unc.edu/people/fellows/bio?person=bollen Homepage] at CPC the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130825051316/http://www.niss.org/content/kenneth-bollen-0 Bio] at NISS
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bollen, Kenneth A.}} Category:American sociologists Category:American statisticians Category:1951 births Category:Dartmouth College faculty Category:Living people Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Category:Fellows of the American Statistical Association Category:Brown University alumni Category:Computational social scientists Category:Drew University alumni Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Category:General Motors people Category:Psychometricians