Mayo, Selz C. (Selz Cabot), 1915-1983

Rural sociologist and educator. Professor and Department Head of Rural Sociology and of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University 1939-1981. As a sociologist and activist, Mayo concentrated on the rural community, organizations, demography, health services, and education. His most significant work dealt with the study of farm labor requirements with Horace Hamilton during World War II. The Selective Service used this information as a guide for draft procedures in agriculture. Mayo, a prolific writer, published in a number of journals and edited the Rural Society.

Selz Cabot Mayo was born in Pamlico County, North Carolina on September 20, 1915. After attending high school, he received a B.S. in Sociology from Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in 1935. Mayo went on to earn an M.S. degree in Rural Sociology from North Carolina State College in 1938 and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina in 1942.

Mayo joined the faculty of North Carolina State in 1939 as an instructor, and remained with the University for 42 years, until 1981. During that time, Mayo was a professor in the Department of Rural Sociology, and became the head of the department in 1960. In 1963, he was named head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology as well, and in 1965 the Department of Rural Sociology was absorbed into the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Mayo remained the head of this department until his retirement in 1981. During his career at North Carolina State, Mayo also taught courses at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Shaw University.

Always active as a professor as well as a community member, Mayo had broad interests, including farm labor, demography and population, health services, education, and social change. All of his interests revolved around his main professional focus, rural communities and their development. Mayo edited the journal Rural Sociology from 1941 to 1951, and was a member of the American Sociological Association, the Population Association of America, the North Carolina Rural Church Institute, and the Rural Sociology Society, in which he served as Vice President in 1963 - 1964. He also served as President of the Southern Sociological Society from 1963 - 1964, after being the Secretary-Treasurer of that organization. In 1974, Mayo was elected President of the North Carolina Sociological Association. In addition to his membership in many organizations, he also published over 150 articles and essays.

Upon Mayo's retirement in 1981, Frederick L. Bates remarked, "His career-long goal has been to bring the message of sociology and its research methods to other fields, particularly to fields such as education, engineering, and to the technical fields of agriculture, and to social work." Mayo continued to work after his retirement on a history of sociology at North Carolina State University. Mayo died at the age of 68 on November 16, 1983.