Susan Cotts Watkins *80

Susan died Aug. 26, 2024, in Santa Monica, Calif.  She was 85.

Born Oct. 26, 1938, she earned a bachelor of arts degree from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton’s Population Studies Center in 1980.

Susan studied social networks and demographic transitions in the modern age. She taught first at Yale, then as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and finally as a visiting scholar at UCLA’s California Center for Population Research.

Susan initially studied historical demography, as it linked her interest and work in family planning with a love of history. She sought ways to use historical context and human social networks to better understand demographic transitions, first in Western Europe in the 20th century and later in sub-Saharan Africa.

Susan’s work provided an interpretation of large historical demographic processes in terms of day-to-day problem-solving by ordinary people, including most recently 21st-century Malawians working out their own strategies to prevent HIV and AIDS. Of the many Malawians she recruited to work on her various projects spanning generations, many called her “Gogo” or grandmother because she had transformed their lives.

Susan is survived by her children, Katherine and Timothy; and four grandchildren. 

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.