A "workshop celebration" to honor Sidney Tarrow, the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government and professor of sociology, upon his retirement after 40 years at Cornell, June 3-4 at the A.D. White House, attracted scholars from as far away as Korea and Australia.

The celebration, "Politics, Power and Movements," included workshops on the areas of study in which Tarrow has been most influential, including Italian politics, comparative politics and social movements. All the papers presented were original, "delivered by some of the top scholars in these areas," said conference organizer Sydney Van Morgan, Ph.D. '03, associate director of the Cornell Institute for European Studies (CIES). David S. Meyers, University of California-Irvine, and Sarah Soule, Ph.D. '95, Stanford University Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior, organized the academic side of the conference.

In his talk, University of Washington Professor Jim Caparoso celebrated Tarrow's role in "charting a middle ground between grand theory and empirical research," noting his ability "to arbitrage bodies of knowledge that would otherwise remain fragmented." And Stanford University sociology professor Doug McAdam called Tarrow "one of the pre-eminent scholars in comparative politics."

Tarrow co-founded Cornell's Western Societies Program with Mario Einaudi, which eventually became the Institute for European Studies. "It is not an exaggeration to say that without Sid, the institute would not exist," said Van Morgan. "His influence in shaping this program is monumental."

During the conference, Van Morgan announced the establishment of the Sidney Tarrow Fellowship Fund, commemorating the profound influence Tarrow has had on CIES and on Cornell. "We hope this fund will eventually be large enough to support ongoing activities and scholarships that extend the legacy of Sid's path-breaking work in comparative political science, European politics and social movement studies," Van Morgan said.

Although Tarrow's legacy as a scholar was the central theme of the conference, Tarrow's greatest legacy is as a mentor, said Peter Katzenstein, Cornell's Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of International Studies, in an interview, a point echoed by many at the conference.

Said Soule: "We all remember the way he and [his wife] Susan opened up their home to us … the way he is always there for us when life throws us a curve ball. I am a better person and a better scholar for having the good fortune of having [Sid] as a mentor."

The author of more than a dozen books, Tarrow nevertheless noted in a conference speech that it is "better to measure your distinctions not by your published work, but by the success of your students." He emphasized how much he has learned from those he has mentored.

Tarrow's many honors include the American Sociological Association's prize for the best book on collective behavior and social movements for "Democracy and Disorder: Protest and Politics in Italy, 1965-1975" and fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Science. His current work centers on the relationships among war, state building and rights. He will begin his retirement by co-teaching a course on law and society for the Cornell Law School this fall.

The conference was sponsored by CIES, the Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Chair of International Studies, the Center for the Study of Inequality, the Department of Government, the Department of Sociology, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the John L. Senior Chair of American Institutions.

Linda B. Glaser is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.