Social Sciences

Alexandra Brewer, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded the Donald W. Light Article Award from the American Sociological Association for “Painful Feelings: Opioids as Tools for Avoiding Emotional Labor in Hospital Work,” published in June 2023 in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. The award is given in alternate years to a book or journal article published in the preceding two years that employs the concepts and methods of medical sociology to an applied issue or problem of significance. Brewer’s article, based on a 21-month hospital ethnography, examines how opioids are used to manage clinician emotional labor and shape patient care and workplace dynamics.

Hajar Yazdiha, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded the Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book for The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement (Princeton University Press, 2023). Granted by the American Sociological Association, the award honors the best books in the field of cultural sociology that are notable for their originality, intellectual rigor and contribution to the discipline. Yazdiha’s work critically examines how revisionist appropriation of civil rights memory by various political groups distorts historical understanding and perpetuates racial inequality.

Hanna Damasio, University Professor, professor of psychology and neurology, and Dana Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience, and Antonio Damasio, University Professor, professor of psychology, philosophy and neurology, and David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience, were honored with the Neuropsychology Global Ambassador Award at the first Global Neuropsychology Congress in Porto, Portugal. This prestigious award acknowledges their exceptional achievements and enduring influence on global neuroscience research and education. The Damasios' groundbreaking research has significantly advanced the understanding of brain processes underlying affect, decision-making, consciousness and language.

Jody Agius Vallejo, associate professor of sociology and American studies and ethnicity, has been awarded the 2023 Award for Public Sociology in International Migration. Conferred by the American Sociological Association, the award seeks to underscore the need to foster scholarly collaboration toward a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted causes and consequences of international migration as well as the assimilation of immigrants within host societies. Vallejo was recognized for her achievements in pioneering empirical investigations pertaining to the intricate dynamics of international migration policy.

Evelyn Alsultany, professor of American studies and ethnicity, received the 2023 Richard A. Yarborough Mentoring Award from the American Studies Association. The award, which honors Yarborough’s legacy as an American historian and literary critic, recognizes a scholar for their exceptional commitment and excellence in mentoring and advising other minority scholars and underrepresented faculty.

Jefferey Sellers, professor of political science and international relations and spatial sciences, has received the Daniel Elazar Distinguished Scholar Award from the Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations Section of the American Political Science Association. Citing his most recent book, Multilevel Democracy: How Local Institutions and Civil Society Shape the Modern State (Cambridge University Press, 2020), the section noted how Sellers’ work “truly spans the globe, [with the] unifying theme to approach problems and solutions through the eyes of the local community” and inspires young scholars.

Francille Wilson, associate professor of American studies and ethnicity, history and gender and sexuality studies, has been awarded the Carter G. Woodson Scholar’s Medallion by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The award is presented annually to a trained historian who is active in the association’s scholarly work and whose career is distinguished through at least a decade of research, writing and activism in the field of African American life and history.

Jackie Wang, assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity, has been named American Democracy Fellow by the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University for her book project, The Carceral Laboratory: The Rise of High-Tech Prisons and Police. Wang’s project explores connections between scholarly work in American history with possibilities for the application of historical insights in the realms of public discourse and policy.

Iony Ezawa, assistant professor of psychology, received the Marna Barrett Award for Excellence in Psychotherapy at the Society for Psychotherapy Research Annual Meeting held in Dublin this summer. The award, which includes a $10,000 prize, recognizes and supports “research excellence for the study of psychotherapeutic treatments of mental disorders that disrupt lives and inhibit the pursuit of well-being.” Ezaway received the award in part for her commitment to improving mental health treatment, supervision and training and her track record of scholarly excellence without large-scale funding.