Professor at Michigan State University Dr. Fayyaz Hussain receives Tomeh Award

February 19, 2024 - Patti McDonald

Professor at Michigan State University Dr. Fayyaz Hussain recently received the Tomeh Award from the North Central Sociological Association. The Tomeh Award is given annually to recognize an NCSA member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the association, either through a single exceptional activity or throughout his/her professional career. 

Hussain has been an NCSA member since 1987, when he was a graduate student at MSU. He was elected as NCSA’s president in 2020 and served from 2021 until 2022. Hussain said he hasn’t missed a meeting since he first joined over 30 years ago. 

“I really love this organization. Everyone knows each other and we all help each other,” he said. “The focus is on teaching, and I really have learned a lot from these professors and some of them have been my friends for the last 25 to 30 years. It really is an honor to be recognized by this organization.” 

Hussain's teaching career began in Pakistan in 1975, after he completed his M.A. in Sociology. He continued teaching Sociology in Nigeria and Canada before moving to East Lansing in 1986. At MSU, he has taught in the Department of Sociology, the Center for Criminal Justice, and for the past 26 years, in the Center for Integrative Studies in Social Sciences. 

Over his career, Hussain has received more than 10 recognitions and awards including the John F. Schnabel Teaching Award from the NCSA and the MSU Excellence in Teaching Award. 

“I am one of a very few minorities who received this [Tomeh] award and the John F. Schnabel Teaching Award, from the NCSA,” Hussain said. “It is an honor to be recognized in this way by an organization I have belonged to since I was a graduate student.”