Strangers to These Shores

About our authors Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Vincent N. Parrillo experienced multiculturalism early as the son of a second-generation Italian American father and Irish/German American mother. He grew up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, developing friendships and teenage romances with second- and third-generation Dutch, German, Italian and Polish Americans. As he grew older, he developed other friendships that frequently crossed racial and religious lines.

Professor Parrillo came to the field of sociology after first completing a bachelor's degree in business management and a master's degree in English. After teaching high school English and then serving as a college administrator, he took his first sociology course when he began doctoral studies at Rutgers University. Inspired by a discipline that scientifically investigates social issues, he changed his major and completed his degree in sociology.

Leaving his administrative post but staying at William Paterson University, Parrillo has since taught sociology for more than 40 years. He has lectured throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and often conducted diversity leadership programs for the military and large corporations. His keynote address at a bilingual educators' conference was published in Vital Speeches of the Day, which normally contains only speeches by national political leaders and heads of corporations and organizations.

Parrillo was a Fulbright Scholar in the Czech Republic and Scholar-in-Residence at both the University of Pisa and the University of Liege. Currently a Fulbright Senior Specialist, he has been a keynote speaker at international conferences in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Korea, Poland and Sweden. He has met with government leaders, nongovernment agency leaders, law enforcement officials and educators in more than a dozen countries as a consultant on immigration policy, hate crimes and multicultural education. He has done on-air interviews with Radio Free Europe and Voice of America, appeared on national Asian, Canadian, and European television programs, and often has been interviewed by numerous Asian, Canadian and European reporters.

Parrillo's ventures into U.S. media include writing, narrating and producing 5 award-winning PBS documentaries: Ellis Island: Gateway to America; Smokestacks and Steeples: A Portrait of Paterson; Gaetano Federici: The Sculptor Laureate of Paterson; Paterson and Its People; and Silk City Artists and Musicians. Contacted by reporters across the nation for his views on race and ethnic relations, he has been quoted in dozens of newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times, Cincinnati Inquirer, Houston Chronicle, Hartford Courant, Omaha World-Herald, Orlando Sentinel and Virginian Pilot. He has also appeared on numerous US radio and television programs.

Parrillo is also the author of other Pearson books: Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations, 5th Edition; Contemporary Social Problems, 6th Edition; Cities and Urban Life, 7th Edition (with John Macionis); as well as Diversity in America, 4th Edition, and Rethinking Today's Minorities. His articles and book reviews have appeared in journals such as Sociological Forum, Social Forces, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Journal of American Ethnic History, The Social Science Journal, Encyclopedia of American Immigration and the Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society. He was General Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Problems for Sage Publications. Several of his books and articles have been translated into other languages, including Chinese, Czech, Danish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian and Swedish.

An active participant in various capacities throughout the years in the American Sociological Association and Eastern Sociological Society, Parrillo has been listed in Who's Who in International Education, Outstanding Educators of America, American Men and Women of Science and Who's Who in the East. Recipient in 2013 of the Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Expression from William Paterson University, he was Robin M. Williams, Jr. Distinguished Lecturer (2005 to 2006) and vice president (2008 to 2009) of the Eastern Sociological Society.