2016 Faculty Awards and Fellowships

These are the awards and fellowships for the current year. Click the following links to view awards and fellowships from previous years: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012.



Edmund Abaka, Associate Professor of History, is the recipient of a J. William Fulbright Fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year.  Professor Abaka also won the Fannie Lou Hamer & Kwame Nkrumah Award from the National Council of Black Studies.


Michael Alessandri, Clinical Professor of Psychology and Executive Director of UM Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD), received the Visionary of the Year Award from Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.  He will be honored at the 2017 Dade County Bar Associate CEO and Corporate Leaders Diamond for “Fostering Inclusion & Diversity” and "Building South Florida Award".


Christine Arce, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures,  received the Victoria Urbino Book Award from the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica for her manuscript Mexico’s Nobodies (SUNY Press, 2017).


Robin Bachin, Charlton W. Tebeau Associate Professor of History and Assistant Provost for Civic and Community Engagement, was invited to serve on the National Advisory Board of Imagining America.


Brendan Balcerak Jackson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, was selected for a Visiting Professorship at the University of Konstanz in Germany.


Magdalena Balcerak Jackson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, was selected for a Visiting Professorship at the University of Konstanz in Germany.


Jomills H. Braddock II, Professor of Sociology, has been selected as a 2016 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow.


Jennifer Britton, Assistant Professor of Psychology (Child Division), received the MUSE Award in Psychology.


Steve Butterman, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, was selected as a Richard E. Greenleaf Latin American Studies Scholar in Residence at Tulane University for spring 2016.


Anne Cruz, Professor Emerita of Modern Languages and Literatures, was chosen to receive the La Orden de Don Quijote, Sigma Delta Pi's highest international honor.


Heather Diack, Professor of Art and Art History, has been appointed the Terra Foundation for American Art Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin, 2016. Read more.


Jill Deupi, Beaux Arts Director and Chief Curator, has been recognized in Miami Today's The Book of Leaders for her excellent leadership of the Lowe Art Museum.


Jennifer Ferriss-Hill, Associate Professor of Classics, has been selected by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) as a recipient of the 2016 CAMWS First Book Award for her book Roman Satire and the Old Comic Tradition (Cambridge University Press, 2015)


Michael T. French, Professor of Sociology, was selected as the winner of the 2016 Southern Economic Association Georgescu-Roegen Prize.


Amina Gautier, Associate Professor of English, has been named the recipient of the Chicago Public Library and Chicago Public Library Foundation's 21st Century Award.  Professor Gautier is also a recipient of the Dora Maar Fellowship.

Her collection of stories, Now We Will Be Happy, won a National Silver Medal Independent Publisher Book ("IPPY") Award, International Latino Book Award, and Second Place for the Royal Palm Award.

Her book, The Loss of All Lost Things, won three Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Book Awards: a silver medal in General Fiction, a gold medal in Literary Fiction, and a gold medal in Short Fiction. It also won the Royal Palm Award.


Marc Gellman, Research Associate Professor of Psychology (Health Division), received the 2016 International Society of Behavioral Medicine Distinguished Career Contribution Award.


Laura Giannetti, Associate Professor in Modern Languages and Literatures, has been selected by the University of Texas at Austin Institute for Historical Studies (IHS) as a visiting research fellow to study its 2016-17 theme, “Food and Drink in History.” She was also selected as Speroni Chair Visiting Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature & Culture at UCLA's Italian Department for Spring 2016


 

Susan Haack, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Law, was awarded the UCD Ulysses Medal, the highest honor awarded by University College Dublin.  


Scott Heerman, Assistant Professor of History, has been granted a Huntington Long-Term Research Fellowship for the academic year 2016-2017.


Aaron Heller, Assistant Professor of Psychology (Adult Division), has been named an APS Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science.


Judy Hood, Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing, was awarded by The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc., for her winning essay, Language Arts, in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition 2016.


Carol Horvitz, Professor of Biology, has received the Society of Women Geographer's Outstanding Achievement Award. This award is bestowed on a member of the Society in recognation of an outstanding contribution or service of lasting benefit to science, the arts, or humanity. Dr. Horvitz recieved this award in honor of her long time contribution to mathemtical ecology.


Amanda Jensen-Doss, Associate Professor of Psychology (Child Division), is a Re-Elected Member at Large for Science and Practice, APA, Division 53.


Neil Johnson, Professor of Physics, was invited to be the opening keynote speaker at a high-profile UN/UNICEF/World Bank Conference on the “Role of Education in Building Social Cohesion and Sustainable Peace.”


Roger Kanet, Professor of International Studies, received a Distinguished Scholar Award in the Post Communist Studies Section from the International Studies Association.


J. Tomas Lopez's, Professor of Art and Art History, photography was showcased among other internationally acclaimed artists by FOTOfusion, Palm Beach Photographic Centre, West Palm Beach, FL.


Louis Herns Marcelin, Associate Professor of Anthropology, is one of only 27 scholars invited to spend four weeks in Northern Italy to participate in the Bellagio Residency Program, a program where fellow residents come together to implement solutions to political, health, environmental, and economic challenges. 


Karen Rose Mathews, Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, won the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI) award from the Renaissance Society of America.


Catherine Newell, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, served as a summer 2016 Coolidge Fellow at the Cross Currents/Auburn Seminary Research Colloquium and was awarded the David B. Larson Fellowship in Health and Spirituality at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.


Mitsunori Ogihara, Professor of Computer Science, received a 2016 Award for Excellence from Emerald Group Publishing in the Outstanding Papers category for Mining Library and University Data to Understand Library Use Patterns.


Alejandro Portes, Professor of Sociology, received an Honorary Doctorate Degree by proposal of the faculty of social sciences and humanities at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.


Vaidhyanathan Ramamurthy, Professor of Chemistry, received the Chinese Academy of Sciences Fellowship. Professor Ramamurthy also received the Fulbright Scholar Award and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Award


Justin Ritzinger, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, was selected as Sheng Yen Visiting Scholar at National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan.


Neil Schneiderman, James L. Knight Professor of Psychology, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.


William Searcy, Professor of Biology and Maytag Chair of Ornithology, was elected President of the Animal Behavior Society.


Shouraseni Sen Roy, Associate Professor of Geography & Regional Studies, received the Ann U. White Fund from the American Association of Geographers (AAG).


Elizabeth Simpson, Assistant Professor of Pscyhology (Child Division), has been named an APS Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science.


Mihoko Suzuki, Professor of English and Director of the Center for the Humanities, received the 2016-17 Ruth and Clarence Kennedy Professorship in Renaissance Studies at Smith College.


Lucina Uddin, Assistant Professor of Psychology, 2016 highly cited researcher by Clarivate Analytics, Thomson Reuters.


Robyn Walsh, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, was awarded a summer research scholarship at the Hardt Fondation for the Study of Classical Antiquity in Vandoeuvres, Switzerland.


Jonathan West, Chair and Professor of Political Science as well as Director of the MPA Program, received the Florida Political Science Association’s 2016 Manning J. Dauer Award at the FPSA conference


Jan Williams-Eddleman, Manager of Freshman Advising, was tapped for the UM chapter of Rho Lambda, an honorary national leadership recognition society.