College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

Theo Majka, a recently retired sociology professor whose classroom instruction and community engagement aligned with social justice, died Sept. 19. He was 77.

Majka retired from the University of Dayton in May after more than 40 years of teaching, research and service as a valued member of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty. He distinguished himself as a teacher and scholar with an emphasis on community empowerment and critical, engaged sociology focused on the common good.

Majka and his late wife, Linda, joined the UD Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work in 1981. They were deeply involved in the local community, and Majka often encouraged his students to use what they were learning.

For most of his courses, he had students go into the community to work on research, such as refugee resettlement in Dayton or service projects, like the annual Roosevelt-Westwood community survey, a multi-year project that led to plans for a new community center.

Pat Donnelly, professor emeritus of sociology, former department chair and former associate provost, worked on multiple projects with Majka. Donnelly said Majka was easy to work with, and made their projects and publications better with his ideas and writing skills.

“Theo was just a wonderful colleague,” Donnelly said. “In meetings he had a way of advancing discussions or projects with suggestions or alternative perspectives rather than criticisms. He loved teaching, especially working with students outside the classroom.” 

Majka was very welcoming and often served as a mentor to new faculty, colleagues said. "I will always remember the ways he connected me to community work in immigration justice, and I will always be grateful,” said Miranda Hallett, associate professor of cultural anthropology and director of human rights studies.

Sister Laura Leming, FMI, an associate professor of sociology, first met Majka when she came to UD in the early 1980s as a campus minister.

“One of the Sisters I lived with collaborated with the Majkas in supporting the migrant workers at a farm camp in Tipp City,” Leming said. “She had the greatest respect for the way they integrated their scholarship and active engagement in serving the people. When I went back to the University to teach in 1999, I found Theo a remarkably supportive colleague.”

Linda Majka and Theo Majka were joint recipients of the College of Arts and Sciences 2011-12 award for outstanding service, and were honored for their work in the Dayton community and the University. They were leaders in Dayton’s Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Caucus, a program initiative of the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton; organized forums on immigration at UD in 2008, 2009 and 2012; and helped create the Welcome Dayton: Immigrant Friendly City initiative.

After Linda died in 2014, Theo continued his work on issues related to immigrant groups in the Dayton area. During that time, he established two endowments in her memory:

• The Linda C. Majka Research Award on Human Rights to support UD undergraduate or graduate students engaged in human rights research, preferably with a local focus.
• The Linda Majka Social Justice Scholarship to support College of Arts & Sciences students with a Sociology or Human Rights focus. The award was renamed the Linda and Theo Majka Social Justice Scholarship this year following his retirement.

Sociology wasn’t Majka’s initial calling. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at the College of William and Mary, and became a sociologist in graduate school at the University of California at Santa Barbara. His dissertation examined the agency and social change efforts of the farm labor unionization movement, which as he demonstrated in his research, revolutionized union recruitment and organizational strategies.

This work led to the publication of his first book Farm Workers, Agribusiness, and the State (Temple University Press, 1982), which was nominated for the C. Wright Mills Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, a prestigious award in the field of sociology.

“Theo Majka had a boisterous laugh and the ability to find good humor in everyday situations,” said Leslie Picca, professor of sociology. “He was fiercely devoted to students who often reached out to him even decades after graduating from UD. He will be deeply missed, but his legacy in social justice and supporting students will continue.”