Sari Biklen was never content to just watch a movie.

Whenever Biklen, the former director of the Institute on Popular Culture, watched a movie with someone, she would always conduct an informal sociology seminar with the person afterwards, said Marjorie DeVault, a sociology professor who worked with Biklen.

Biklen would often talk about the race and gender relations represented in the movies she watched and what the film challenged the audience to think about, DeVault added.

This attitude extended to all parts of Biklen’s life as she always encouraged her students and fellow professors to think about new ideas relating to education, gender and pop culture, DeVault said.

Biklen, 68, died on Tuesday. Biklen retired from the School of Education in May of 2014 after working at Syracuse University for 38 years. During her tenure, Biklen served as the department chair of the Cultural Foundations of Education and the director of the Institute on Popular Culture. In addition, Biklen held a courtesy appointment in the sociology department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She was also the wife of former School of Education Dean Doug Biklen.

“I learned a lot from her, and because she was always concerned with access and inclusion and social justice issues she was always a model for us about how to be an engaged faculty member,” she said.

When DeVault thought of Biklen, she said she pictured a look of enthusiasm on Biklen’s face as she discussed an issue and the meals DeVault shared with Biklen and her husband at their home.

“She and her husband Doug loved to cook,” DeVault said. “So I just remember a lot of wonderful meals with great food and great conversation.”

Biklen also helped develop the women’s and gender studies program, which did not exist when she and DeVault began working on campus. Biklen assisted in establishing a sequence of courses for qualitative research for graduate students in the sociology and cultural foundations of education departments, she added.

But Biklen did more than just research and publish books about gender, education and pop culture, said Barbara Applebaum, who worked with Biklen for 11 years, in an email.

“She lived by what she wrote,” said Applebaum, the current department chair of the cultural foundations of education. She took over as chair when Biklen retired in May.

Biklen was not afraid to speak up, and she always stood by her personal convictions even when there were personal consequences for doing so, Applebaum said.

She added that Biklen was a generous mentor and caring friend, who showed her the importance of having a powerful voice in support of social justice on campus and in her field of education studies.

Applebaum added that she owes a lot to Biklen for her recent appointment as the department chair for the cultural foundations of education. She said that transitioning from being a member of the team in the department to leading it was a challenge. But Biklen encouraged her “to see over the horizon” and to look ahead in order to envision her own way to lead the department into the future.

“Sari challenged us and was not afraid to be an instigator in the name of justice,” she said. “I will always remember Sari for her vision, her compassion, her courage.”

Published on September 22, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu