RAY, Marcella Ridlen 1941-

PERSONAL:

Born August 31, 1941, in Oakland, IA; daughter of Maynard J. (a farmer) and Emma Mae (a ceramics teacher and homemaker; maiden name, Armstrong) Ridlen; married Charles G. Ray, May 17, 1970. Education: Dana College, B.S., 1963; University of Nebraska, M.A., 1967; Cornell University, certificate in employee and industrial relations, 1986; attended Oxford University, 1998; George Mason University, Ph.D., 2000.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Public Policy, George Mason University, 4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA 22030. E-mail—mray@gmu.edu; mridlenray@aol.com.

CAREER:

Teacher at public schools in Bellevue and Lincoln, NE, 1963-66; Texas Lutheran College (now University), Seguin, instructor in psychology, 1968-69; Summit Oaks Achievement Center, Laneville, TX, staff psychologist and directors of Girls' Program, 1970-73; Escambia County Commission, Pensacola, FL, director of Division of Employment and Training, 1974-82, budget planner and analyst, 1982-84, director of human resources, 1984-85; Western Missouri Mental Health Center, Kansas City, director of human resources, 1986-89; Superior Court, Washington, DC, mediator for Small Claims Division, 1990-94; George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, faculty member and senior fellow at School of Public Policy, 2000—, Fenwick fellow at Fenwick Library, 2003-04. America's Industrial Heritage Project, investigator, 1993; Virginia Economic Bridge Initiative, investigator, 1994. Elections pool officer for Fairfax County, VA; past member of Florida Task Force on Employment and Training of Public Assistance Recipients and Florida Region IV Coordinating Council for Adult and Vocational Education; Community Equity Investment, Inc., former member of board of directors; Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City, former host of International Visitors Program.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Kellogg Foundation travel grant, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, 2000.

WRITINGS:

The Changing and Unchanging Face of U.S. Civil Society, Transaction Publishers (Piscataway, NJ), 2002.

Contributor to books, including Contemporary Directions in Human Resource Management, edited by Clark C. Cassell, National Council of Community Mental Health Centers (Washington, DC), 1990; and Civic Engagement in American Democracy, edited by Theda Skocpol and Morris P. Fiorina, Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), 1999. Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Labor Research, State and Local Government Review, and Armenian Women.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A research project, Social Institutions: Messages from American Bestsellers for Educators, Civic Leaders, and Policy Makers.

SIDELIGHTS:

Marcella Ridlen Ray told CA: "Underlying all of the projects that I have undertaken is a large question: how does society work? I like the challenge of unraveling the complexities of particular social phenomena, such as the institution of democratic civil society, as I have done in my first book. Writing is an essential, but playful, aspect of this kind of thinking, investigation, and learning. I find great satisfaction in working and refining a written analysis from several pages to one or two paragraphs. It reminds me of molding something from clay, but using words as a medium. The result is greater clarification of what we all do each day, often without much awareness, to coproduce community and society. This is my motivation for my written work and the subjects that I choose."