Professor of Sociology Mary Osirim has been named co-president of Sociologists for Women in Society along with Melanie Heath from McMaster University. In 2017, Osirim received the group's Distinguished Feminist Lecturer Award.
Osirim served as Bryn Mawr's acting provost from 2013-2015 and provost from 2015-2020.
She has also served as the College’s dean of graduate studies, chaired the sociology department, served as a co-director of the College’s Center for International Studies and its Center for Ethnicities, Communities, and Social Policy (now the Center for Social Sciences), and as director of its Africana Studies program.
As an academic, Osirim has conducted fieldwork on women, entrepreneurship, and the roles of the state and non-governmental organizations in the microenterprise sectors of Nigeria and Zimbabwe. She is currently engaged in two research projects: one on identity and transnationalism among African immigrant communities in the U.S. and another on the socialization of young women in historically Black communities.