Vincent N. Parrillo is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at William Paterson University, USA. An internationally recognized expert of immigration and Fulbright scholar, he has been Scholar-in-Residence at universities in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Italy, and has given keynote lectures at several international conferences. A past vice president of the Eastern Sociological Society, he was its Robin Williams Distinguished Lecturer in 2006. He is author of Strangers to These Shores: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States (13th edition, 2024), Defenders of Freedom (2015), and Guardians of the Gate (2011), and co-author of Cities and Urban Life (8th edition, 2024) and Hearts and Minds: Hizmet Schools and Interethnic Relations (2022). He is also the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Problems (2 vols., 2008) and writer/executive producer of six award-winning PBS documentaries.