Annemette Sorensen, an associate professor of sociology at Boston University, has been chosen as the new director of Radcliffe College's Murray Research Center.

A scholar in gender inequality and the social changes of the lifespan, Sorensen will assume her new post as early as February, Radcliffe officials said.

"Sorensen possess both the administrative expertise and the academic focus to lead the Murray Research Center," Radcliffe spokesperson Michael A. Armini said yesterday.

Sorensen could not be reached for comment. Radcliffe will formally announce the appointment later this week.

The Murray Center, which employs about 15 staff members, compiles and archives statistical data about women and gender. The center hosts visiting scholars and funds doctoral and post-doctoral research.

Sorensen will fill the position vacated this past summer by developmental psychologist Anne Colby, who departed the Murray Center after 18 years at Radcliffe. Colby currently serves as a senior scholar at the California-based Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Sorensen's hiring makes one fewer vacant post for Fay House to fill, as the Radcliffe administration seeks replacements for Vice President for Finance and Administration Nancy Dun and Director of Communications Lyn Chamberlin. Both departed Radcliffe in the last month.

Sorensen was selected over Murray Center co-acting director Jacquelyn B. James, who was the expected choice for the position, according to one Radcliffe source.

James declined to comment on the appointment yesterday.

Armini said Sorensen's selection was the result of a thorough process.

"When you do a nationwide search, you look at all institutions and all candidates. You never want to limit yourself, even with all the fantastic people we have at Radcliffe", he said.

Sorensen was selected from a pool of four finalists, Armini added.

In addition to her work at Boston University, Sorensen has served as a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Bergen in Norway.

She was also the program director for sociologyat the National Science Foundation in 1991-92.

Sorensen is married to Professor of SociologyAage B. Sorensen.

Together with the Bunting Institute, theRadcliffe Public Policy Institute and SchlesingerLibrary, the Murray Center forms the backbone ofRadcliffe's research endeavors. The center wasfounded in 1976