Pamela Oliver is a Conway-Bascom professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She was raised in Southern California, received a BA in sociology from Stanford University in 1971, and a master's in 1972 and a PhD in 1977 from the University of North Carolina in 1977. She was an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Louisville 1976-1980 and an assistant, associate and full professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin Madison since 1980. She is the author of numerous articles and a book. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation. She won the John D. McCarthy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Social Movements in 2012. She has been involved with many local groups around racial disparities in criminal justice including the Wisconsin Governor's Commission to Reduce Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice 2007-08 and the Dane County Racial Disparities Task Force 2008-2009.