Sheldon Ekland-Olson

Sheldon Ekland-Olson
Born	1944 (age 79–80) California
Alma mater	Seattle Pacific University University of Washington
Known for	Being provost of the University of Texas at Austin Co-author of The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle
Scientific career
Fields	Sociology
Institutions	University of Texas at Austin
Thesis	The rise and fall of student involvement in law school (1971)

Sheldon Ekland-Olson (born 1944 in California) is an American sociologist and Rapoport Centennial Professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin).

Education and career

Ekland-Olson received his bachelor's degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1971. He went on to serve as a special assistant to the chancellor of the University of Texas system from 1988 to 1991. He was the associate dean of the University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts from 1991 to 1993, whereupon he became the College's dean. In 1998, he became the executive vice president and provost of UT-Austin, a position he held until 2006. He has also been the director of UT-Austin's School of Human Ecology.

Books

• The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle (with James W. Marquart and Jonathan R. Sorensen, University of Texas Press, 1993)