Walter Reynolds Farley

Reynolds Farley is a research scientist at the Population Studies Center, the Dudley Duncan Professor Emeritus of Sociology, and a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Farley's research interests concern population trends in the United States, focusing on racial differences, ethnicity, and the changes occurring in the nation's cities. His current work focuses upon the revitalization of Rust Belt metropolises, particularly Detroit. He maintains a website describing the history and future of Detroit (www.Detroit1701.org) with picture of an information about 300 buildings and history sites in the Detroit area. He teaches a short Ford School course on the history and future of Detroit. To assist in preparation for Census 2020, he served on the Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Complete Count Committees. There is convincing evidence that there was a substantial undercount of the city of Detroit in Census 2020. He serves with a group nominated by Mayor Duggan to challenge the Census 2020 count of Detroit. 

Farley earned his doctoral degree from the University of Chicago in 1964 in demography and sociology, taught at Duke University and has been teaching at the University of Michigan since 1967.

Educational background

• PhD in demography and sociology, University of Chicago (1964)