"Age and Immigration," presented by Marta Tienda of Princeton University for the Morrison Institute Winter Colloquium.

Event Details:

Unlike Australia, New Zealand, and other countries that welcome immigrants, the United States does not take age into account in determining eligibility for admission. Prof. Tienda argues that the broadened definition of "immediate relatives" authorized by the 1965 Amendments to the INA, coupled with family chain migration, is a primary driver of late-age immigration. In addition to illustrating regional variations in the age composition of immigration since 1980, she considers the implications of arrival age for integration prospects of adolescents and seniors.

Marta Tienda is Maurice P. During ’22 Professor of Demographic Studies and Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where she directed the Office of Population Research. Prior to joining the Princeton faculty in 1997, Dr. Tienda held appointments at the University of Chicago, where she served as chair of the Department of Sociology and editor of the American Journal of Sociology, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Tienda is past president of the Population Association of America, and chaired the National Academy of Science panel on Hispanics from 2004 - 2006.

Professor Tienda’s research has focused on the demography of racial and ethnic inequality, social policy, and international migration.  She recently completed a decade-long study about equity and access to higher education, and is undertaking research about the lifecycle timing of migration and the wage consequences of literacy among immigrants. She has begun a new research initiative to study the formation of teen romantic relationships using diaries administered on smartphones.

Dr. Tienda received a B.A. from Michigan State University (Spanish, 1972) and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin (1976).

Admission Info

Free and open to the public.