ANNUAL UPDATE 2023–2024
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MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN IN THIS ISSUE Page 4 Research, Learning & Teaching Page 5 Faculty & Staff Achievements Page 6 Student Activities, Awards & Honors Page 7 Engaged Alumni & Donors
John T. Consoli/University of Maryland
Greetings from our beautiful campus! It has been another productive and exciting semester here in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS). When I think of the past few months, I am amazed by the growth we have experienced as a college. We’ve welcomed many new faculty members, who are focused on important topics such as social justice, climate change, complex political systems, human interactions, and so much more. Our faculty members, staff and students work in and with innovative centers, initiatives, labs and programs, and are actively addressing the most pressing challenges of our times.
The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences is home to nine diverse, interdisciplinary departments and many programs and centers, all committed to 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
In addition to all they are learning inside the classroom, our students are taking on exciting experiences such as study abroad, internships, research projects, and academic competitions. In all that they do, BSOS students are fully supported by our faculty and staff.
ANTH
As you read these pages, I hope you’ll be as proud of being a part of this community as I am. BSOS alumni and friends help to make so much of our work possible. Thank you for your continued engagement and support. I am so honored to be a part of the Terp community!
Economics
Anthropology
CCJS Criminology & Criminal Justice
ECON GEOG Geographical Sciences
GVPT Government & Politics
HESP Hearing & Speech Sciences
PSYC Psychology
Susan M. Rivera • Dean and Professor
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THE COLLEGE OF BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
SOCY Sociology
POINTS OF PRIDE
BSOS is nationally ranked
#1 IN CRIMINOLOGY AND IN COUNSELING
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Several of our graduate programs and areas of specialty are ranked among the best in the country:
#1 Criminology #1 Counseling (PSYC & EDUC) #6 Geosciences (globally) #10 Audiology
#14 Sociology of Population #16 Speech-Language Pathology #22 Economics #24 Sociology #28 Political Science #30 Psychology #33 Clinical Psychology Source: U.S. News & World Report
BSOS WELCOMES TALENTED NEW FACULTY MEMBERS In the fall, BSOS proudly welcomed many new faculty members. Included among the new faculty is a cohort of scholars focused on addressing racial inequality. They are the college’s first “cluster hire” of faculty focused on addressing an important topic from multidisciplinary angles. BSOS leadership are in the process of hiring the next cluster hire cohort, this time focused on resilience, diversity and social justice. New hires are supported throughout the academic year by the Vision Team for Faculty Success, a group of senior BSOS faculty who are designing a framework for robust mentoring, networking and professional development opportunities for junior faculty in the college. “I am so proud to welcome our new faculty members, knowing that they are fully supported by our community,” Dean Rivera said. “It is not enough to attract talent to our college; we want to make sure they can feel at home here, and can soar.” Learn more about our new faculty members at
BSOS IS HOME TO NEARLY
6,000
go.umd.edu/bsosnewfaculty2324
undergraduate and graduate students
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RESEARCH, LEARNING & TEACHING COLLEGE UPDATES
SAVE THE DATE: MAY 2 – BSOS RESEARCH SHOWCASE Please save the date for Thursday, May 2, 2024, from 4-5:30 p.m. as BSOS will feature the excellent work of faculty and students at a Research Showcase featuring the Inequality Research Hub. The event, to be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, will include poster presentations and videos across themes related to identifying and addressing inequality.
There will also be direct interactions with dozens of BSOS researchers, where you will learn more about their work. This event builds on the success of last year’s Research Showcase, which highlighted the college’s Resiliency Research Hub. Learn more: go.umd.edu/bsosinequalityhub
PROGRESS INITIATIVE SEEKS TO ADDRESS, PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE Joseph Richardson AFAM/ANTH and Woodie Kessel of the School of Public Health launched the PROGRESS (Prevent Gun Violence: Research, Empowerment, Strategies and Solutions) initiative, which is housed in BSOS.
and scientific evidence to support effective gun violence prevention; to foster the will to support evidence-based laws and policies to prevent gun violence; and to set a strategic course for related community-based actions.
The core goals of PROGRESS are to advance the knowledge base
Learn more: go.umd.edu/progress
• With $1.25 million in support from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, HESP is launching a new program designed to spark underrepresented students’ interest in pursuing careers in the communication sciences fields, or in academia. Called Research, Equity, and Access in Communication and Hearing (REACH), the yearlong program provides 10-12 students who are underrepresented—on the basis of race, ethnicity, disability, or who come from first-generation and/or low-income backgrounds—with the opportunity to get paid to work in research labs alongside UMD faculty mentors in HESP, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Linguistics, Psychology, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, Special Education, and Biology. • Supported by a new $450,000 National Science Foundation award, ECON’s Promoting Achievement and Diversity in Economics (PADE) initiative will expand by partnering with Prince George’s Community College to nurture more economics majors who are first-generation, low-income, or who are students from underrepresented minority groups, and by creating a predoctoral program that shepherds bachelor’s degree recipients into UMD’s economics doctoral program. • UMD’s Grand Challenges Grants Program invested $30 million in ideas designed to address the world’s most complex problems. More than a dozen BSOS researchers are helping execute such ideas by serving on multidisciplinary projects.
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FACULTY & STAFF ACHIEVEMENTS The outstanding faculty and staff members of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences are committed to excellence in research and in teaching, and in engaging and supporting students. Included here are just a few of their activities, awards and honors. bsos.umd.edu • Jóhanna Birnir GVPT received the BSOS Excellence in Research award.
Jessica Magidson PSYC— director of the Center for Substance Use, Addiction and Health Research (CESAR)—is taking the peer-based opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment model she and her team developed in Baltimore and in South Africa to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Funded by the National Institutes of Health’s HEAL Initiative, this effort is part of a five-year study evaluating the effectiveness of the team’s “Peer Activate” model in a mobile treatment unit for individuals with OUD. The National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded Magidson and co-principal investigator Sarah Kattakuzhy of the University of Maryland School of Medicine more than $3.8 million to fund the study. In addition to studying individuals with OUD, the researchers will also look at the rising challenge of stimulant use that is hitting rural areas such as Caroline County, Md. Magidson is a newly appointed MPower Professor. The MPower Professorship is awarded to faculty working across the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park campuses to address the most pressing issues of our time.
• Patricia Hill Collins SOCY received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy, a $1 million award for advancing powerful ideas that help shape our world. • UMD bestowed the highest appointment a tenured faculty member can receive—the title of Distinguished University Professor— upon Ralph Dubayah GEOG. • Sandra Gordon-Salant HESP and Colleen Worthington HESP were each awarded the BSOS Dean’s Medal in 2023. This is the highest honor bestowed by the college. • Sharon Harley AFAM was awarded the 2023 Honorary Feminist Sociologist Distinction Award by the Sociologists for Women in Society. • Ethan Kaplan ECON is a co-recipient of the European Economic Association’s MinE Best Paper Award.
• Gary LaFree CCJS is a 2024 recipient of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, a prestigious award given by the Nobel Prize Committee. • Catherine Nakalembe GEOG was awarded the 2022 Al-Sumait Prize for African Development in recognition of her pioneering work to address food insecurity. • Kim Nickerson BSOS was presented with the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service in recognition of his longstanding direction of and service to the Summer Research Initiative. • Joseph Richardson AFAM/ANTH was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. He was recognized for his pioneering work “translating science into the development of innovative interventions to reduce gun violence and firearm-related morbidity and mortality.” • Archilline Tablada PSYC was honored with the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Staff Award in the category of Outstanding Service to Students in an Academic or Residential Environment.
$64 MILLION
IN EXTERNAL FUNDING FOR RESEARCH, SERVICE AND TRAINING IS BROUGHT IN ANNUALLY BY BSOS FACULTY AND STUDENTS BSOS GRADUATE STUDENTS OBTAINED $1.5 MILLION IN EXTERNAL RESEARCH FUNDING DURING THE LAST ACADEMIC YEAR
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STUDENT ACTIVITIES, AWARDS & HONORS OUTSTANDING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS • The John B. and Ida Slaughter Scholarship was awarded to Joy Anyanwu SOCY. • The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation awarded Yazan Hasan GEOG/ENSP with its EVONA Scholarship for Diversity in STEM, and Alexia Hernandez GEOG with its Ken Miller Scholarship for Advanced Remote Sensing Applications.
STUDENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT: VOYAGER SCHOLARSHIP AWARDEES This summer, two BSOS students were named as recipients of the Voyager Scholarship, created by former president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama, along with Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, to help shape college juniors with demonstrated financial need into future leaders. As “Voyagers,” Shreya Jha (left), an environmental science and policy major double minoring in geospatial information science and history, and Astrid Mendoza (right), a psychology major and human development minor, will receive up to $50,000 in financial aid over two years and $10,000 stipends, plus free housing provided by Airbnb, to pursue a summer work-travel experience between their junior and senior years. They will also be invited to attend a summit on leadership in public service and a speaker series featuring a network of leaders, as well as to receive resources and support from the Obama Foundation’s global community after graduation.
John Consoli / University of Maryland
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THE COLLEGE OF BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
• Meghana Kotraiah GVPT was awarded a prestigious scholarship from the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation. • Michael Lebron CCJS received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support a mixed-methods extension of his M.A. thesis, as well as completion of his dissertation research. • Silvana Montañola ANTH, a Ph.D. candidate focusing on medical anthropology, was awarded a Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship. • Lauren Salig HESP/NACS was awarded a William Orr Dingwall Foundation dissertation fellowship. • Tesia Shi PSYC was presented with the university’s Student Wellness and Mental Health Advocacy Award. • The Kirwan Award, one of the annual University Student Leadership Awards, was presented to Divya Swaminathan SOCY. • Kevin Tu ECON was awarded a 2023 Churchill Scholarship, and received full funding to pursue a one-year master’s degree at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
ENGAGED ALUMNI & DONORS
SOCY PROFESSOR CELEBRATES DISTINGUISHED CAREER WITH GIFT After a 36-year career in the University of Maryland’s Department of Sociology SOCY, Joan Kahn retired at the end of June. As a testament of her devotion to the department, Kahn gave a $50,000 gift to establish the Dr. Joan R. Kahn Endowed Graduate Research Support Fund in Sociology. The new fund will be used to offset research expenses associated with the completion of graduate students’ degree programs. “The training of students has been among the most important parts of my career at UMD,” Kahn said. “There were many times where students ran up against budget constraints for their dissertations, and didn’t have the funds to purchase the data they needed, so after thinking hard about how I could give to the department, I decided to create a fund that would allow students to apply for small pots of money to complete their work.”
go.umd.edu/kahnfund
ALUMNI GIFTS SUPPORT INNOVATIVE RESEARCH Andrea Chronis-Tuscano PSYC, an expert on attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), was named as the Joel and Kim Feller Professor—an endowed professorship that was created in 2015 to support the dean of BSOS in recruiting and retaining highly qualified faculty. Chronis-Tuscano’s goal is to continue working with a team of collaborators to enhance existing evidence-based ADHD treatments, and offer them in settings such as schools and pediatric primary care so that they are accessible to all children, including those from marginalized backgrounds. Stacy Kosko GVPT, director of the College Park Scholars International Studies program, was named as the Joel J. Feller Research Professor—an award that has supported professional track faculty in GVPT since 2015. Kosko plans to use the funds associated with the Feller award to complete and publish her findings on marginalized youth (under 35) activists from 11 countries—the barriers they face, and the strategies they deploy to drive successful social and political change. BSOS is grateful to longtime supporters Joel J. Feller, GVPT ’90 and Kim A. Feller, ’89 for their transformational support of students and faculty in our college.
GIVING OPPORTUNITY
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE:
The BSOS Diversity Fund was established to facilitate initiatives and programming related to diversity, equity THE BSOS DIVERSITY GIFT FUND and inclusion within the college. Supporting the events and activities of the BSOS Anti-Black Racism Initiative, the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace, the Summer Research Initiative, and many other programs, your gift will help our community explore and address the root causes of structural racism and social inequalities. go.umd.edu/bsosdiversityfund
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Office of External Relations 0145 Tydings Hall 7343 Preinkert Dr. College Park, MD 20742 bsos.umd.edu /bsosumd
GIVING OPPORTUNITY
BSOS STUDENT EXPERIENCE FUNDS The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS) Student Experience Fund provides BSOS undergraduate students with funding support for experiential learning opportunities that will expand the academic and professional development of talented student recipients by allowing them to participate in an unpaid internship, research or conference travel for which they might not otherwise have funding. go.umd.edu/bsosstudentfund
To learn more, contact Chief Development Officer Kenny Beaver, ’07, at beaver@umd.edu. 8
THE COLLEGE OF BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES