Richard D. Alba (born December 22, 1942) is an American sociologist, who was a Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Center, CUNY[1] and at the Sociology Department at the University at Albany, SUNY,[2] where he founded the University at Albany’s Center for Social and Demographic Analysis (CSDA).
[3] He is known for developing assimilation theory to fit the contemporary, multi-racial era of immigration, with studies in America, France and Germany.
[6] Alba grew up in New York City, where he attended the Bronx High School of Science, followed by undergraduate and graduate training at Columbia University, where he earned his B.A.
[7] Alba's text on cultural assimilation theory (written with Victor Nee), Remaking the American Mainstream (2003) won the Thomas & Znaniecki Award of the American Sociological Association and the Eastern Sociological Society’s Mirra Komarovsky Award.
[10] His Blurring the Color Line: The New Chance for a More Integrated America (2009) applied these ideas to non-white Americans.