| Scott Lipton | |
| Fullname: | Scott Myers-Lipton |
| Birth Date: | 15 September 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Plays: | Left-handed |
| Singlesrecord: | 6–14 |
| Highestsinglesranking: | No. 105 (September 12, 1983) |
| Usopenresult: | 2R (1983) |
| Doublesrecord: | 2–4 |
| Highestdoublesranking: | No. 375 (January 2, 1984) |
Scott Myers-Lipton (born September 15, 1959) was a former professional tennis player in the early 1980s, and sociologist at San José State University for 24 years, where he focused on teaching students about democracy and power by launching and working on campaigns to change policy.
A left-handed player from San Jose, California, Lipton won the Central Coast Section (CCS) in high school and the Northern California Sectionals in the Boys 18s in 1977, and then went on to be a three-time All-American college tennis player at the University of San Diego, before competing on the professional tour from 1981 to 1984.[1]
Lipton was twice featured in the main draw of the US Open. In 1982 he lost a fifth set tiebreak to Vincent Van Patten to exit in the opening round. Returning in 1983 he played another five set match to start the tournament, but won on this occasion, over Jim Gurfein. He was beaten in the second round by 16 year old Aaron Krickstein.[2] Myers-Lipton finished 2nd overall on the Dutch Satellite Tour in 1980 as an amateur, and won a singles Satellite Tournament in Varna, Bulgaria in 1981.
On the professional tour, he reached his best ranking of #105 in the world in 1983. His best performance on the Grand Prix circuit was a semi-final appearance at the 1983 Swedish Open, where he beat world #7 Henrik Sundström in the quarter-finals.[3]
Scott Myers-Lipton was a professor of sociology at San Jose State University from 1999 to 2023. Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at San José State University, is the author of five books, including:
In addition, Dr. Myers-Lipton is the lead author of the Silicon Valley Pain Index and the author of Racial and Social Justice at San José State University.
Currently, Dr. Myers-Lipton is the Director of Teaching Social Action. In addition Dr. Myers-Lipton serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Human Rights Institute at SJSU.
Myers-Lipton is a public intellectual. He was the faculty advisor to his students' successful effort to raise the minimum wage in San José from $8 to $10, and the Gulf Coast Civic Works Campaign, an initiative to develop 100,000 prevailing wage jobs for local and displaced workers after Hurricane Katrina. In the 1990 and 2000s, he helped students develop solutions to poverty by taking them to live at homeless shelters, the Navajo and Lakota nations, the Gulf Coast, and Kingston, Jamaica. For over 17 years, he taught a social action course at SJSU. Social action is unique in that it is designed to do democracy; instead of just reading about social change, students learn about power and democracy by launching and working on campaigns to change a policy. Myers-Lipton is working with Bobby Hackett at the Bonner Foundation to mainstream teaching social action across the country on college campuses (https://www.bonner.org/social-action-course-initiative-launched). Below is a list of some of the victories that social action students have had at San José State:
In addition, Myers-Lipton was a member of “Commemorating A Legacy Project Committee” at SJSU, which developed the Tommie Smith and John Carlos statues. After the statues were erected, Myers-Lipton founded the “Ad Hoc Tommie Smith and John Carlos Committee” since the university was not planning to commemorate October 16, the day they raised their fists in Mexico City. For 17 years, Myers-Lipton ensured there was a campus event to commemorate this day (https://blogs.sjsu.edu/coss/2018/10/01/tommie-smith-and-john-carlos/comment-page-1). In addition, he suggested the idea to give honorary doctorates to Tommie and John, and wrote part of the language to the CSU Chancellor's Office in this successful effort.
As a public intellectual, Myers-Lipton felt compelled to respond to the murder of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, and the shooting of Breonna Taylor, and the global uprising that took place. In response, Myers-Lipton created the Silicon Valley Pain Index, which has been published annually since 2020 by the SJSU Human Rights Institute. This annual report is a meta-analysis of recent studies exploring institutionalized racism in Silicon Valley.
Myers-Lipton is the recipient of the Manuel Vega Latino Empowerment Award, San José/Silicon Valley NAACP Social Justice Award, the Elbert Reed Award from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Santa Clara County, the Changer Maker Award from the Silicon Valley Council of Non-Profits, the Teaching Effectiveness Award from the SJSU College of Social Sciences, and the SJSU Distinguished Service Award.
Scott lives with his wife, Diane, in the Bay Area. He has two children.