ANNUAL UPDATE
2024–2025
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
Terps, I am proud to share highlights from another remarkable semester in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS).
There has been transformative change and complexity in the United States and around the world, and BSOS faculty continue to shed light on multifaceted issues, from addressing gun violence to promoting mental health care to encouraging civic engagement.
Our students are exploring new courses, majors and minors, and they are participating in exciting research opportunities. BSOS graduate students are publishing in prestigious journals. Our students are making the most of their educational experience, and I have heard from many of them who have been encouraged by alumni mentors, and who are grateful for the support of our donors.
Sometimes, it feels there is so much going on, it can be hard to find time to reflect. I hope that as you take the time to read these pages, you feel encouraged by the activity and mission of our community. As we evolve with and adapt to ever-changing times, one constant remains: we will Be the Solution to the world’s great challenges.
IN THIS ISSUE
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Research, Learning & Teaching
Page 5
Faculty & Staff Achievements
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Student Activities, Awards & Honors
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Engaged Alumni & Donors
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
AAAS
African American and Africana Studies
ANTH
Anthropology
CCJS
Criminology & Criminal Justice
ECON
Economics
GEOG
Geographical Sciences
GVPT
Government & Politics
HESP
Hearing & Speech Sciences
PSYC
Psychology
SOCY
Sociology
Photo by Marco Molinaro
Susan M. Rivera • Dean and Professor
ABOUT BSOS
POINTS OF PRIDE
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Several of our graduate programs and areas of specialty are ranked among the best in the country:
#1 Criminology
#3 Counseling (PSYC & EDUC)
#12 Audiology
#12 Geosciences (globally)
#14 Sociology of Population
#14 Speech-Language Pathology
#22 Economics
#24 Sociology
#28 Political Science
#30 Psychology
#33 Clinical Psychology
Source: U.S. News & World Report
The two undergraduate disciplines in our college that are ranked by U.S. News & World Report are ECON and PSYC. Both are ranked highly, at #9 and #16 respectively, among public institutions.
Economics
#30 overall;
#9 among public institutions
Psychology
#34 overall;
#16 among public institutions
BSOS LAUNCHES NEW STRATEGIC PLAN
Following months of brainstorming, discussion, and collaboration with faculty, staff, students, and alumni, Dean Susan Rivera presented the college’s new Strategic Plan to the BSOS community in September.
“When we set out to craft a new strategic plan, I wanted it to be grounded in our college’s collective past, informed by the present moment, and responsive to the future,” Rivera said. “This strategic plan articulates how BSOS is positioned to contribute to solving new and existing grand challenges. By leveraging our academic, research, and partnership strengths and implementing the objectives articulated in this plan, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences will work toward a better future.”
Learn more at bsosstrategicplan.umd.edu
BSOS IS HOME TO 5,300 UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS
RESEARCH, LEARNING & TEACHING
BSOS INSIGHTS: 2024 ELECTIONS
From determining the barriers to and facilitators of voting, to analyzing public polling data, to offering toolkits and support to government transition teams, BSOS faculty, staff and students helped to engage and educate the public about the 2024 elections.
Faculty members from the Department of Government and Politics, the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement and more also shared their research, views and analysis with media outlets leading up to and after the election.
Read more: go.umd.edu/ bsoselectioninsights24
$2.5M GRANT FUNDS STUDY ON HOW ARMED CONFLICTS ARE LIKELY TO END
Researchers from the Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) are working on a new, three-year study of how conflicts from 1945 to the present have concluded.
“There’s a conventional wisdom about how wars start and how wars end, which is that all these things kind of look a little bit like World War II,” meaning they start for clear reasons and end with a decisive victory or defeat for the initiating country, said Jacob Aronson GVPT, a co-principal investigator of the $2.5 million U.S. Department of Defense-funded study. “But as we know, the real world is a lot more messy than that.”
The majority of wars end without a clear-cut military victory, Aronson said. Usually, one or both sides have the capacity to
keep fighting, but they opt not to once they believe they can no longer gain from doing so. What “military adaptations”—essentially, how combatants change their approaches to gain the advantage over their adversary as wars progress—lead military and political leaders to the conclusion that it’s time to end a war is the study’s focus.
“We anticipate that findings will have significant policy implications for understanding how military adaptation affects war termination, including the current wars in Ukraine and Gaza,” said Paul Huth GVPT, CIDCM director and the study’s principal investigator.
Read more in Maryland Today: go.umd.edu/CIDCMDoD
$60+ MILLION IN EXTERNAL FUNDING FOR RESEARCH, SERVICE AND TRAINING IS BROUGHT IN ANNUALLY BY BSOS FACULTY AND STUDENTS
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.
Four BSOS staff members received Retain Ignite Skill building Explore (RISE) Awards from the Division of Academic Affairs: Arri Abarcar START, Miriam Fraga BSOS, Julie Randolph CESG and Jillian Santos GVPT.
Several BSOS staff members were recognized with UMD’s MVP Impact Awards: Vivre Bell GEOG, Jessica Houchens GVPT, Carolyn Schupbach BSOS and Marshal F. Washington AAAS
Michael Dougherty PSYC won a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Rigor Champions Prize.
John E. Drabinski and Ashley Newby AAAS received a $100,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation in support of their work on “The Black Studies Podcast,” which highlights how far the field has come and current projects.
“In This Place Called Prison: Women’s Religious Life in the Shadow of Punishment” (University of California Press, 2023) by Rachel Ellis CCJS was named as the winner of the 2024 American Society of Criminology’s Michael J. Hindelang Outstanding Book Award.
Matthew Goupell HESP was named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.
John Haltiwanger ECON was named to the American Economic Association’s 2024 Distinguished Fellows list.
Matthew Hansen GEOG was honored with the William T. Pecora Award, jointly presented by the United States Geological Survey and by NASA. The award recognizes innovators in the field of remote sensing.
Arie Kruglanski PSYC was honored with the Association for Psychological Science’s William James Fellow Award.
T.C. Lloyd BSOS was honored with UMD’s Terrapin Innovation Award.
Jean McGloin CCJS was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.
Catherine Nakalembe GEOG was awarded a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship.
Janelle Wong GVPT was named an American Academy of Political and Social Science W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow.
The BSOS Dean’s Medal was awarded to Ann Holmes, who retired in the summer after a long and distinguished career as assistant dean for administration and finance. The Dean’s Medal is intended as the highest honor that the college can bestow, and recognizes an outstanding record of sustained contributions.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES, AWARDS & HONORS
MEET THE CHAIR OF THE DEAN’S STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
Senior Cydney Simmons, a criminology and criminal justice major, serves as chair of the Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC), an undergraduate committee that advises Dean Susan Rivera, and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Katherine Russell, on student needs and perspectives.
Simmons joined DSAC as a junior, after serving as a BSOS Ambassador.
“I love BSOS, and I love talking about how much I love BSOS and my major,” Simmons said. “When Associate Dean Russell came to speak to the ambassadors about DSAC, and the description she gave was that it was for students who wanted to make an impact on BSOS as a whole, and on their major, I thought I would be able to do what I was already doing on a much grander scale, and really see changes happen.”
One of the changes Simmons brought to DSAC this year is “The DSAC Digest,” a monthly blog post on the DSAC website that brings relevant information on timely topics together in one place.
Simmons will graduate in May, and she hopes to work as an advocate for adults or children who’ve experienced domestic and/or sexual violence.
OUTSTANDING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Onyekachukwu Arah SOCY earned a prestigious Beinecke Scholarship. The award provides $35,000 to outstanding students planning to pursue graduate studies in arts, humanities and social sciences.
NASA’s Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology program awarded a $150,000 research grant to Ph.D. student Paromita Basak GEOG.
Four Terps with ties to BSOS were selected for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program in recognition of their successful academic careers and pursuit of NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. The awardees are: Lydia Becker CCJS, Amber Colquhoun GVPT, Sathvik Nair NACS/MNC, and Sarah Wang PSYC.
A team of students in START’s Global Terrorism Studies minor program won first prize and $10,000 in the national Invent2Prevent competition, an experiential learning program encouraging students to design and implement solutions to prevent targeted violence, hate, or terrorism in their communities. The winning students are: Zoe Cross CCJS/PSYC, Aylah Dhruv, Katherine Gonzalez, Theodore Hirsch, Kevin John, Ashton Labarta CCJS, Stefanie Mena-Gonzalez, and Makenna Osterfeld
Desiree Jones PSYC, now a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, was named as a recipient of the International Society for Autism Research’s Dissertation Award. Her dissertation explores how negative social experiences and stigma impact the mental health of Black and white adults with autism.
Samuel McGranahan ECON received the inaugural Mascott Family Endowed Scholarship, which supports BSOS undergraduate students who are pursuing unpaid Congressional internships in the U.S. Capitol.
IN THE LAST ACADEMIC YEAR, BSOS AWARDED 143 UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS AND MERIT AWARDS FROM 71 SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS, FOR A TOTAL OF $218,885 IN SUPPORT OF STUDENTS
ENGAGED ALUMNI & DONORS
BSOS CO-HOSTS CONVERSATION WITH MARYLAND’S FIRST LADY DAWN MOORE
Maryland’s First Lady Dawn Flythe Moore, GVPT ’97, returned to her alma mater in September for a conversation with Deans Susan Rivera BSOS, Stephanie Shonekan ARHU, and Kimberly Griffin EDUC in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
“One of the many reasons that my fellow deans and I invited First Lady Moore to join us today is that she is passionate about children’s mental health, women’s economic empowerment, supporting Maryland’s military families, and championing the arts—all pillars that are important to the work going on in each of our colleges,” Rivera said at the event.
At the end of the evening, Moore urged UMD community members, especially students, to take advantage of their time on campus and get out of their comfort zone.
“Find something bigger than yourself and be a part of it,” she said. “Whether it’s through a religious organization, a community group or through the university … look at all the things you can do to make a difference.”
Read more in Maryland Today: go.umd.edu/dawnmooreevent
ANNUAL CELEBRATION BRINGS TOGETHER DONORS, SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
In October, BSOS alumni, donors and friends gathered in the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center to celebrate the student recipients of numerous scholarships at a special dinner that is held every year to make these important connections.
“The BSOS Scholarship and Donor Recognition Dinner is a chance for our students to meet and thank the donors who make a significant difference in their experience at UMD, and their careers,” said Chief Development Officer Kenny Beaver, ’07. “Our donors appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the students and their future plans.”
In a special video presentation shown at the event, Allison Li, a CCJS and Information Science major and a beneficiary of three funds and scholarships, had a special message for the donors who have bolstered her studies: “Your scholarship has advanced my career, both professionally and academically,” Li said.
Watch the video: go.umd.edu/ bsosdonorimpact24
Office of External Relations
0145 Tydings Hall
7343 Preinkert Dr. College Park, MD 20742
bsos.umd.edu
/bsosumd GIVING OPPORTUNITY THE BSOS MARYLAND PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP FUND
The BSOS Maryland Promise Scholarship supports need-based scholarships for undergraduate BSOS students.
As part of The Clark Challenge for the Maryland Promise Program, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar: go.umd.edu/bsosmarylandpromise.
To learn more, contact Chief Development Officer Kenny Beaver, ’07, at beaver@umd.edu.