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MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN For many months—under the encouraging leadership of President Darryll J. Pines—we worked as a community to plan and prepare for the Fall 2020 semester. Our ongoing goal is to create learning, teaching, research and engagement opportunities that are as enriching, dynamic, and safe for our students as possible. I am proud of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni as we work diligently to navigate challenges and to share successes. We continue these efforts as we map out the Spring 2021 semester, and beyond. In some ways, our work has been disrupted. But we have evolved, we have pivoted, and we have collaborated as never before. Across the varied avenues of our disciplines, we continue to address the most important issues of our times. Our Social Data Science Center researchers teamed up with Facebook to create a survey tool that provides a global view of the worldwide COVID-19 crisis—where it’s spreading, where it’s abating, and where the next “hot spot” could develop. We also launched new Graduate Programs in Public Safety Leadership and Administration, designed to prepare public safety personnel in a broad array of careers to better serve their communities. These programs are a joint endeavor of the Departments of Criminology and Criminal Justice and of Sociology, as well as the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore. This semester—thanks to the generosity of its namesake alumni— we opened the Joel and Kim Feller Advising and Career Center, which offers tailored academic and career-related programs. In all that we do, the BSOS community works to Be the Solution to the world’s great challenges. We are strengthening our diverse and inclusive campus community, in person and online. Thank you for continuing to support these efforts. Please connect with us online and on social media. Together, we are working to stay in good health and in good spirits—united, Terrapin Strong.
Gregory F. Ball • Dean and Professor
The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences is home to 10 diverse, interdisciplinary departments and many programs, all committed to investigating the causes of behavior and social structures, and thus improving the human condition. Our students, faculty, alumni, staff and partners work to be the solution to the world’s great challenges. bsos.umd.edu
AFAM African American Studies ANTH Anthropology CCJS Criminology & Criminal Justice ECON Economics GEOG Geographical Sciences GVPT Government & Politics HESP Hearing & Speech Sciences JPSM Joint Program in Survey Methodology PSYC Psychology SOCY Sociology
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BSOS POINTS OF PRIDE Several of our graduate programs and areas of specialty are ranked among the best in the country:
#1 Criminology #1 Counseling (PSYC & EDUC) #3 Geographical Sciences #10 Audiology
#12 Sociology of Population
#16 Speech-Language Pathology #21 Economics #24 Sociology #29 Political Science #33 Clinical Psychology #39 Psychology
Sources: U.S. News & World Report and the National Research Council
BSOS is home to nearly
6,000
undergraduate and graduate students
Our college community includes
190 tenure-track faculty and
376 professional-track faculty
MAJOR BSOS CENTERS Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement Center for Substance Abuse Research Center for the Study of Business Ethics, Regulation and Crime Maryland Cochlear Implant Center of Excellence Maryland Population Research Center National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism University of Maryland Autism Research Consortium
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GLOBALLY THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK IS RATED #9 IN THE WORLD FOR GEOSCIENCES BY U.S NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
Dr. Frauke Kreuter
BSOS, ISCHOOL LAUNCH SOCIAL DATA SCIENCE CENTER BSOS and the College of Information Studies (iSchool) launched a new Social Data Science Center (SoDa). Facebook is supporting the center’s research and education programs over the next three years. SoDa leverages UMD’s strengths in survey methods, measurement, information management, visualization, and analytics to advance the university as an international leader in research, education, and application of social data and measurement. The center is co-led by Dr. Frauke Kreuter, director of BSOS’s Joint Program in Survey Methodology, and Dr. Brian Butler, senior associate dean of the iSchool. SoDa researchers are working with other universities and with Facebook on a public survey tool that is helping to track the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. The researchers hope to predict virus “hot spots,” both in the United States and around the world. socialdatascience.umd.edu
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RESEARCH, LEARNING & TEACHING ADDRESSING MENTAL HEALTH, SUBSTANCE USE STIGMA ALONGSIDE INFECTIOUS DISEASE A UMD research team is partnering with the South African Medical Research Council on two projects focused on tuberculosis (TB) and HIV patients in South Africa. The principal investigator for both projects is Assistant Professor of Psychology Jessica Magidson. One project, supported by a $600,000 award from the National Institute of Mental Health, involves training community health workers making home visits to HIV and TB patients. The program aims to reduce stigma around mental health and around substance use, and to develop effective ways to re-engage patients who are struggling with these problems. The second project, funded by a $360,000 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will evaluate how to integrate people with a personal history of substance use into HIV care teams to reduce stigma, a strategy that Magidson’s team has been evaluating in the United States in response to the opioid crisis. Magidson also was recently awarded a $245,000 supplement from NIH to explore these questions locally in opioid treatment centers in Baltimore.
go.umd.edu/magidson
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BSOS RESEARCH AND LEARNING PRIORITIES • In Summer 2020, BSOS launched an initiative to further coordinate, publicize and enhance our efforts to identify, disrupt and prevent antiBlack racism. Led by Professor Rashawn Ray of the Department of Sociology, the BSOS Anti-Black Racism Initiative draws on knowledge and leadership from numerous entities throughout the university, including our endowed peace chairs; the Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. Center for Education, Justice and Ethics; and faculty in our Department of African American Studies. go.umd.edu/bsosinitiative • Our leadership promotes the investigation of major questions that cut across the social sciences and have significant impact on human societies. Our areas of focus include those related to race and ethnicity, decisionmaking, social perception, international relations, environmental science, and health. A special focus this year has been understanding and addressing factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including health inequities, public attitudes about political decisions, and mapping the spread of the virus and predicting “hot spots.” • Experts in our Department of Government and Politics, our Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, and many other units have shed light on the 2020 presidential election and on other important elections and political moments. Our Washington Post-University of Maryland Poll and our Critical Issues Poll, in particular, have helped us to provide context and analysis related to public perception of candidates, the electoral process, and the most important issues of the day. BSOS hosted a series of post-debate and post-election virtual events for students and alumni. A number of events were moderated by noted journalist Mike Viqueira, GVPT ’86. cdce.umd.edu
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MILLION+ IN EXTERNAL RESEARCH FUNDING IS BROUGHT IN ANNUALLY BY BSOS FACULTY AND STUDENTS Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle
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UMD IS RANKED AMONG ALL U.S. UNIVERSITIES IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH.
FACULTY ACTIVITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS The outstanding faculty members of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences are committed to teaching and engaging their students, and to making significant contributions to their fields. Included here are just a few faculty activities, awards and honors. bsos.umd.edu
• The 2020 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research was conferred upon John Haltiwanger, the Dudley and Louisa Dillard Professor of Economics ECON.
• Katharine Abraham ECON, JPSM was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Andrea López ANTH was named as the Edward McK. Johnson Jr. Endowed Fellow for the 2020–21 academic year.
• Sarah Croco GVPT was named as the Kekst Family Endowed Research Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year. • Sonalde Desai SOCY was elected as President of the Population Association of America.
• Frauke Kreuter JPSM received the Warren Mitofsky Innovators award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
• Catherine Nakalembe GEOG was named as a 2020 Africa Food Prize Laureate. • Rochelle Newman HESP was named as a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. • Peter Reuter CCJS was named as a Distinguished University Professor. • Joel and Kim Feller Professor Joseph Richardson, Jr. AFAM, ANTH and colleagues were awarded a Brain and Behavior Initiative Seed Grant Award. Their project explores the biological, psychological, and sociological factors associated with Black men’s experiences of trauma by drawing on complementary quantitative and qualitative methods for both basic and applied research.
Catherine Nakalembe
• Nazish Salahuddin PSYC was named as the Department of Psychology’s Assistant Chair of Equity and Inclusion.
NEW ONLINE MASTER’S PROGRAM DESIGNED FOR PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS A new online master’s degree program developed jointly by BSOS and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law prepares public safety officials for careers in a rapidly changing landscape. The Master’s of Professional Studies in Public Safety Leadership and Administration (PLA) was launched for the Fall 2020 semester.
The curriculum is a response to a growing need for advanced training in leadership, policy, and law for police, public safety officials and other public servants. Faculty members designed
this program alongside law enforcement professionals and criminal justice practitioners who are dealing with new phenomena and working with members of their communities every day to keep people safe. The program is funded by The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State. go.umd.edu/plamaryland
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ENGAGED ALUMNI & DONORS TRANSFORMATIVE GIFTS More than 1,400 donors made gifts to BSOS in the past fiscal year. Included here are just a few of the transformative gifts that have strengthened BSOS and opened doors for our faculty, students and alumni. go.umd.edu/givetobsos • Dean Gregory Ball established a $50,000 BSOS Student Experience Fund. • Dr. Oscar Barbarin AFAM established a $50,000 Maryland Promise scholarship. • Associate Dean Katherine Russell and George L. Askew, M.D., established a $25,000 Student Experience Fund. • Jingli Yang, Ph.D. GEOG ’95, and Dr. Peter Li established a $100,000 endowment to support graduate students in GEOG. The endowment fund will be awarded on a merit basis to graduate students in the department in pursuit of summer research opportunities, specifically those focused on developing remote sensing and geographic information systems projects. • In April, a group of Chinese scholars who either graduated from the Department of Geographical Sciences, or worked in GEOG as visiting students or scholars, donated 17,550 surgical masks in honor of the department to help with the COVID-19 response in the College Park region. go.umd.edu/geogsupport
Jingli Yang and Peter Li
GIVING OPPORTUNITY: UMD STUDENT CRISIS FUND
With the continued COVID-19 pandemic, Maryland students have been hard hit by campus disruptions and need help with getting food, housing and basic day-to-day necessities. Since March, the UMD Student Crisis Fund has distributed more than $1 million to nearly 2,500 students. Thank you for your support and consideration!
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STUDENT ACTIVITIES, AWARDS & HONORS OUTSTANDING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS • Samantha Chiu JPSM received the Rick Valliant Student Award from the Joint Program in Survey Methodology.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Michael Igwemezie, ECON ’21
• Marina Cox and Danielle Zukerman HESP were awarded the Karin E. Young Memorial Scholarship, which supports awardees who are interested in pursuing careers in audiology. • The 2020 recipient of the Jingli Yang Geographical Sciences Summer Research Fellowship is Xueyuan (Eric) Gao GEOG. • Four students and alumni from the Department of Government and Politics are among UMD’s 12 recipients of 2020–21 Fulbright U.S. Student Grants: Ivana Ke, Sean Rao, Alina Saif, and Katelyn Turner GVPT. • Zhiyong Lin and Gordon Rinderknecht SOCY were selected as corecipients of the 2020 Janes Award. The award is presented to students who demonstrated excellence in all facets of the graduate program of the Department of Sociology. • Erica Puentes Martínez AFAM was named among UMD’s Undergraduate Researchers of the Year. • Alexander McCarren ECON received the Peggy Rae and John Sapienza Scholarship, which supports hardworking students in the Department of Economics, and encourages them toward graduation. • Adriane Michaelis ANTH received a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. • Three BSOS students and alumni received 2020 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships: Taiwo Mustafa GVPT, Erica Ryan ECON, and Jessica Shotwell SOCY. • Lauren Oddo PSYC won a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse to study alcohol and drug misuse among college students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. • Monique Small CCJS received the James Otis Williams Cultural Leadership Award, one of UMD’s annual student leadership awards.
EVERY YEAR, BSOS CONFERS ABOUT 25% OF DEGREES FOR GRADUATING STUDENTS ACROSS CAMPUS
78% OF BSOS UNDERGRADUATES PARTICIPATED IN AT LEAST ONE INTERNSHIP WHILE AT UMD
Through outside internships and opportunities on campus, Michael Igwemezie has been preparing for the future. Igwemezie spent the summer of 2019 interning for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the Division of Financial Stability, with economists and research assistants, to conduct a comprehensive capital analysis review to determine if banks have requisite capital to respond to economic shocks. On campus, Igwemezie is a part of ECON’s Promoting Achievement and Diversity in Economics (PADE) program, run by Jessica Goldberg. “The PADE program has been very influential,” Igwemezie says, “It’s helped me formulate plans for summer internships, and also for my career.” Recently, Igwemezie completed a virtual summer 2020 internship in Global Transaction Services with Bank of America, Merrill Lynch. After graduation, he plans to work full-time with Bank of America, Merrill Lynch before pursuing a graduate education in business administration, where he hopes to utilize his background in policy, theory, and analytics.
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Office of External Relations 0145 Tydings Hall 7343 Preinkert Dr. College Park, MD 20740 bsos.umd.edu /bsosumd
Alumni Gift Opens Doors:
The Joel and Kim Feller Advising and Career Center As parents and as Terps, Joel J. Feller, GVPT ’90 and Kim A. Feller ’89 know firsthand the challenges that young people face when planning and starting their careers. The longtime UMD supporters have given BSOS students meaningful support in that process through a new $4 million gift, the single largest donation the college has ever received. Because of their generosity, the Joel and Kim Feller Advising and Career Center opened online and in Tydings Hall this semester. The center supports academic and career-related programs, as well as dedicated staff members.
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“In the past few years, Kim and I have realized that there is something missing from the current academic experience. We want students to be prepared for not only the academic rigors of college, but for networking and landing a job,” Joel Feller said. “We’ve seen how important it is for students to connect with talented alumni, to gain exposure to businesses and to real-life work situations.” fellercenter.umd.edu Illustration by Chris Campbell