Members of the University Community to Be Honored for Excellence at One University Awards Ceremony on April 19
Research Center News
Three for One
Falk College’s Sudha Raj, Ken Marfilius and Katie McDonald will be honored at the April 19 One University Awards in Hendricks Chapel.
The One University Awards Ceremony, an annual event to honor members of the Syracuse University community who are making a difference through academics, scholarship, creative work and dedicated service, will be held Friday, April 19, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel.
“Every year, we come together to celebrate the outstanding contributions and tremendous success of our students, faculty, staff and broader community,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “The accomplishments of this year’s recipients reinforce what it means to be Orange. This ceremony also shines a bright spotlight on the work being done around campus, much of which happens behind the scenes. I thank the many members of our community who organized this event and look forward to recognizing this year’s winners.”
Two major awards—the Chancellor’s Medal and the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence—will be bestowed. The ceremony will also include the presentation of the Student-Athlete Award, Judith Seinfeld Scholarship, Meredith Professorship for Teaching Excellence, Teaching Recognition Award, Diversity and Inclusion Award, William Pearson Tolley Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Lifelong Learning and Chancellor’s Forever Orange Award.
Emeriti faculty who retired in 2023 and employees who celebrated years of service milestones in 2023 will also be recognized. This year’s University Scholars, Senior Class and School and College Marshals, and Remembrance and Lockerbie Scholars will also be honored.
All members of the University community are invited and encouraged to attend. A reception will follow in the lobby of the Heroy Geology Laboratory.
American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be provided at the ceremony. For questions about accessibility or to request accommodations, contact Gabe Coleman at gbcolma@syr.edu.
Award Recipients
The Chancellor’s Medal is the University’s highest honor and is awarded to individuals in honor of their trailblazing and extraordinary contributions to the University, to an academic body of knowledge or to society. This year’s recipient is Shiu-Kai Chin, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
The Chancellor’s Citation for Excellencerecognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions in four overarching categories:
- The award for Excellence in Student Research recognizes students who have engaged in collaborative research that has the potential to make a deep and lasting impact on greater society. This year’s recipients are Jingjing Ji, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (graduate), and Ashtha Singh, an international relations major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School (undergraduate).
- The award for Outstanding Contributions to the Student Experience and University Initiatives acknowledges faculty and staff who, through their work, enhance the undergraduate experience for students or make invaluable contributions to supporting and advancing the University’s mission and goals. The recipients are Charisse L’Pree Corsbie-Massay, associate professor of communications in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications (faculty); Maureen Casey, chief operating officer for the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (professional staff); Amy Schmidt, program coordinator of citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School (professional staff) and Jolanta Niwelt, events coordinator at Lubin House (support staff).
- The Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction award is intended for faculty members who are collaborators in work of intellectual richness that has the potential for future impact. The work of these nominees offers possibilities for collaboration within the University and outside in partnership with others. This year’s honorees are Wayne Franits, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Art and Music Histories in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Katherine McDonald, associate dean of research and professor of Public Health in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.
- Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence, Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honors those who have made extraordinary contributions toward advancing all four pillars of excellence over the arc of their careers while at Syracuse University and beyond. This year’s recipient is Shobha Bhatia, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
The other awards to be presented are:
- The Student-Athlete Award recognizes the top female and top male student athletes and are presented to the senior student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade point average over the course of their academic and athletic careers. This year’s recipients are Izabela Krakic, an international relations major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences and member of the women’s rowing team, and Julius Rauch, an entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major in the Whitman School of Management and a member of the men’s soccer team.
- Seinfeld Scholarship: Each year Syracuse University honors the talents of outstanding faculty or students through an award made possible by Judith Greenberg Seinfeld ’56, a distinguished alumna and member of the University Board of Trustees. Awards are made to those who have been determined by their peers to have made outstanding contributions to the beauty of the world, to have added to human values and to ending human abuse anywhere in the world, and to have demonstrated passion for excellence, creativity and originality in academic or artistic fields. This year, the designation is bestowed upon a faculty member, Rebecca Ortiz, associate professor of advertising in the Newhouse School.
- The Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorships for Teaching Excellence were created in 1995 to recognize and reward outstanding teaching among faculty. The 2024-27 Meredith Professors are Joon Park, professor in the School of Information Studies, and Cora True-Frost, Bond, Schoeneck and King Distinguished Professor in the College of Law.
- In 2001, the Meredith Professorship Program was expanded to recognize teaching excellence by non-tenured faculty and adjunct and part-time instructors. Awards are given in two categories: Early Performance and Continuing Excellence. This year’s honorees in the Early Performance category are Kelly Leahy, assistant professor of television, radio and film in the Newhouse School; Farzana Rahman, associate teaching professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Milton Santiago, assistant professor of visual communications in the Newhouse School; Darwin Tsen, assistant teaching professor of Chinese and Chinese language in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Nina Wilson, assistant professor in the School of Architecture. The two honorees in the Continuing Excellence category are Kenneth Marfilius, assistant dean of online and distance education and associate teaching professor of social work in the Falk College, and Sudha Raj, teaching professor and graduate director of nutrition and food studies in the Falk College.
- The Diversity and Inclusion Award recognizes an individual who is integral in helping us achieve academic excellence at a university that is welcoming to all through our investments in a diverse, inclusive, accessible and equitable community. This year’s recipient is Suzette Meléndez, teaching professor in the College of Law and faculty fellow for the Office of Strategic Initiatives and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
- The William Pearson Tolley Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Lifelong Learning is based in the School of Education and honors national or international leadership in support of lifelong learning. This year’s recipient is Rhodia Thomas ’77, executive director of MidPenn Legal Services, adjunct professor of law at Dickinson University and an alumna of the School of Education.
- The Chancellor’s Forever Orange Award recognizes individual students, faculty or staff who—by virtue of extraordinary hard work, good values and commitment to excellence—have come to embody the best of Syracuse University. This year’s recipients are Colleen O’Connor Bench, associate vice president of parent engagement and student experience, and Ian McIntyre, head coach of the men’s soccer team.
An SU News story originally published on April 10, 2024.
2019 Falk Student Research Celebration Takes Place March 26-29
Falk students are invited to submit posters for completed or in-progress empirical, exploratory, policy analytic or hypothesis-driven research projects using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods for display, judging, and awards in the 2019 Falk Student Research Celebration March 26-29. The multi-day event will highlight Falk students’ research collaborations and their dedication to advancing research knowledge.
Poster entry forms are due March 7 and poster submissions are due March 21. Posters will be on display beginning March 26 near the second floor student lounge and the Falk Café on 2 in the Falk Complex, with judging and awards taking place March 27. Students will present their posters from 12 to 1 p.m. on March 27 and 28.
The Falk College Office of Research Development promotes a robust, collaborative research community in which students play an active role. At Falk, graduate and undergraduate students have the opportunity to work directly with faculty to collect data, analyze findings and draw conclusions on relevant topics surrounding public health, food studies, nutrition, sport management, human development and family science, social work, and marriage and family therapy.
“Conducting research as a student has many benefits, including building a strong relationship with Falk faculty members, improving writing and statistical analysis skills, and creating connections both on and off campus,” says instructor Jessica L. Garay. “Because much of the research in Falk College has real-world implications, we want students to be able to share their findings publicly, and the Falk Student Research Celebration is the perfect opportunity to do so.”
“The student research days is a great showcase of the work our students are doing to understand the world and the human condition,” says assistant professor David Larsen. “It’s always fun to see the new ideas that our students have, and how they are seeking to improve the world we live in.”
Assistant professor Bhavneet Walia agrees. “It’s a great way to quench your curiosity,” she says. “Come see what our students are up to at the Falk Student Research Celebration.”
Winners of the 2018 Falk Student Research Celebration, held March 27-30, 2018, included research in a wide range of topics, such as maternal health, accessibility, and PTSD.
For more information about the 2019 Falk Student Research Celebration, contact Amy Dumas adumas@syr.edu at the Falk College Office of Research Development.
Big Data and Social Policy focus of October 24 Research Colloquium
The Falk College Office of Research Development will host a research colloquium, “Big Data and Social Policy: Current and Future Developments,” with Dr. Philip Gillingham from The University of Queensland, Australia, on Wednesday, October 24 from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. in Falk Complex, 335 White Hall.
Both government and non-government social welfare agencies around the world have been collecting data about service users and service delivery in electronic information systems for many years, as have other government agencies such as health, education, and criminal justice. New methods to combine these datasets and to analyze large amounts of data have emerged in recent years and been labelled big data. Following developments in health, big data approaches are being applied to the data from the social welfare sector but thus far, there has been only limited success and some expensive mistakes.
Drawing from his extensive research experience and knowledge, Dr. Gillingham will explain what big data is, how it works and explore recent developments in how the approach has been applied around the world in the social welfare sector. He will also identify key areas for research and the challenges for the future development of big data in the sector.
Dr. Gillingham is prolific researcher of social work practice based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. He was awarded the prestigious Discovery Early Career Research Award and Future Fellowship by the Australian Research Council. His research investigates technological developments in social welfare agencies and their impacts on social work practice. He is an expert in the field of child welfare and protection. Dr. Gillingham has also practiced social work for 16 years in a wide range of settings in both England and Australia.
The Falk College Office of Research Development helps foster a vibrant disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research community within the College, facilitates individual and collaborative scholarly research by faculty, and supports student research opportunities.
Lunch will be served at the October 24 colloquium. Please RSVP by October 17, 2018 to Katie Gratien at kgratien@syr.edu or (315) 443-5929. If you require accommodations, please contact Katie Gratien by October 17.
For more information on “Big Data and Social Policy: Current and Future Developments” and other upcoming research colloquiums, visit the Falk College Office of Research Development.
Falk College awarded $24,942 grant for children’s trauma intervention project
The Health Foundation for Western & Central New York recently awarded a $24,942 grant to the trauma intervention project, Maternal Child Health Spot Booster, led by Syracuse University’s Falk College Trauma-Informed Scholars in partnership with the Syracuse Trauma Response Team (TRT).
The proposed sustainable intervention strategy aims to help preschoolers in the areas of the Syracuse community most affected by violence and the resulting trauma. Starting this fall, the research team will train Head Start teaching staff and bring mindful yoga intervention to 4- and 5-year-old classrooms at Merrick Head Start, part of the Syracuse City School District and Onondaga County’s federally designated Community Action Agency, PEACE, Inc. The three project phases include:
- Phase 1: Provide two trauma-informed trainings to teachers and staff in local Head Start centers responsible caring for preschool aged children.
- Phase 2: Offer mindfulness training, including yoga, to children under age 5 and their families.
- Phase 3: Falk College Trauma-Informed Scholars and the TRT provide ongoing, sustainable consolidation and follow up.
Project director, Rachel Razza, Ph. D., is an associate professor and graduate director of Human Development and Family Science at Syracuse University Falk College. Her scholarly work focuses on children’s self-regulation—children’s ability to monitor cognitive strategies and adapt behavior to fit situational demands—especially among at-risk children, who are particularly vulnerable to self-regulatory deficits.
“Mindfulness-based practice is being increasing used with teachers and children as a strategy for reducing the negative impacts of stress and trauma,” says Dr. Razza. “Benefits for children include enhanced self-regulation, which has important implications for their school readiness, as well as their future academic and socioemotional competence.”
Falk College receives grants to assist trauma victims of neighborhood violence
Grant awards from the Community Foundation of Central New York and the John Ben Snow Foundation will support a new collaborative project, led by principal investigator, Linda Stone Fish, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy. The project, entitled, “In This Together,” will provide workshops to help social service professionals, educators, health care practitioners, juvenile justice workers, clergy, and mental health counselors learn how to identify and address signs of trauma. The program will also provide grief counseling, healing circles, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and therapy to community members impacted by violence.
Most of the people on the front lines of gang and gun violence, including the residents and the responders assisting them, have witnessed violence and its aftermath personally. Affected individuals often struggle with grief, helplessness and fear, which can lead to substance abuse, revenge violence, and detachment from friends, family, and schooling, among other challenges. “We believe that offering trauma-informed practice in the neighborhoods of greatest violence will begin to address the most often ignored trauma, and may reduce the grief and rage that fuels the next act of violence,” says professor Stone Fish. “Our unique partnership with therapists and Trauma Response Team members who are trusted by the community make us ideal to address this need. In this process, we are training our students in culturally competent and trauma-informed practices so they are ready to meet the community in ways they can be helpful.”
Stone Fish is the co-author of the book, Treating Complex Trauma, which presents the Collaborative Change Model (CCM), a clinically evaluated model that facilitates client and practitioner tools for clients struggling with the impact and effects of complex trauma. The In This Together collaboration includes Tracey Reichert-Schimpff, director of clinical services in the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, Sandra Lane, professor of public health and anthropology, Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate professor of public health, and, Rachel Razza, associate professor of child and family studies, all from Falk College, and Robert Rubenstein, professor of anthropology and international relations, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Psychologists Ron Fish and Bill Cross who specialize in the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) are part of the collaborative efforts. Additional partners include Syracuse University’s Couple and Family Therapy Center, the Syracuse Trauma Response Team (TRT), led by founding director, Timothy ‘Noble’ Jennings-Bey and Arnett Haygood El, both from the Street Addictions Institute, Inc., Mother’s Against Gun Violence, the Syracuse Police Department, and area healthcare institutions and community agencies.
In addition to developing trauma-informed care programs in the community and preparing future practitioners in this area, including a Certificate of Advanced Study in trauma-informed practice, research and practice in the field of trauma is a focal point in Falk College and includes: study and data collection specific to violence and gang activity as ‘street addictions’ to address communities in trauma and public safety as a public health problem; a training program funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to prepare military veterans in conducting research with other veterans; PTSD-focused programming and research, including mindfulness-based stress reduction and healthy eating, designed for the needs of veterans and military families; how veterans’ experiences of complex and morally fraught circumstances in military service in time of war affect their emotional, mental, and spiritual health; neurobiology of trauma; coursework in EMDR Therapy, which relieves many types of psychological distress, and;
courses and an academic track focused on trauma in medical settings with children.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awards $25,000 grant to CFS doctoral student, Kimberly Davidson, and Dr. Jaipaul Roopnarine to study racial-ethnic socialization in children
Child and family studies doctoral student, Kimberly Davidson, working with Jaipaul Roopnarine, Ph.D., have received a $25,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Head Start Research Scholars. Their research project will explore how children learn about race and ethnicity and the roles that home environment, the neighborhood where they live and the child care programs they attend play in their racial and ethnic socialization. The study’s findings have the potential to influence Head Start policy development related to multicultural curriculum, teacher professional development, and parent involvement strategies as well as to increase parent-teacher communication at the community level.
As the U.S. population continues to diversify, early childhood programs strive to meet the needs of culturally diverse families. While parents and teachers are the primary providers of socialization that gives young children the tools they need to thrive in today’s diverse world, they do not often adequately address topics of race and ethnicity, which is detrimental to healthy child development.
Davidson’s and Roopnarine’s study seeks to examine the racial-ethnic socialization of preschool-age children in home and school environments by multiple caregivers. Using cultural-ecological models as a guide, the study looks at components within each socialization setting that include: parents/teachers, physical environments, and the racial-ethnic composition of neighborhoods/child care programs.
Utilizing a proposed sample of approximately 200 three- to five-year-old children and their families that participate in Head Start programs in Upstate New York, the researchers will examine the effects of similar and dissimilar home and school racial-ethnic socialization on children’s socioemotional and cognitive development. The racially and ethnically diverse population of Head Start families will allow the researchers to define typologies of socialization between groups and will speak to the variation of child care needs by cultural orientation.
The Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant supports Davidson’s doctoral dissertation project entitled, “Divergence or Convergence of Home and School Racial-Ethnic Socialization: Effects on Preschool Children’s Racial Attitudes, Socioemotional and Cognitive Development.” It is one of only six grants awarded nationally in a highly competitive process. Davidson presented her project at the Annual Meeting of the Child Care Policy Research Consortium in early November in Washington, DC.
Davidson was honored in 2013 with the Alice Sterling Honig Award for graduate studies excellence in the Department of Child and Family Studies. A member of the Kappa Omicron Nu honor society, she has published several peer-reviewed journal articles, including “Parenting practices in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago: Connections to preschoolers’ social and cognitive skills,” in the Interamerican Journal of Psychology. Along with Roopnarine, she currently has book chapters in press: “Cultural variations in young children’s play: A selective overview,” in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education and “Parent-child play across cultures: Theoretical considerations and suggestions for advancing play research,” in the Handbook of the Study of Play.
Davidson’s master thesis at the University of Tennessee examined the conceptualizations of race and ethnicity in a preschool classroom. Since arriving to Syracuse University, Davidson has worked closely with Dr. Roopnarine in developing seminars for local childhood educators. She also serves as editorial assistant for the journal, Fathering, which is edited by Dr. Roopnarine. Davidson has served as a teaching assistant for several classes in the Department of Child and Family Studies, including Child and Family in Cross-Cultural Perspectives, and the Development of Children and Youth. She is currently independently teaching the CFS course, Family and Child Intervention. She is vice president of the Student Council on Family Relations and is a member of the Society for Research on Child Development, Society for Cross-Cultural Research and the National Association of Multicultural Education.
Falk College Office of Research Development welcomes Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier to present “Negotiating a Global Sustainable Development Agenda: The View from the UN Conference on Trade & Development” February 13
The Falk College Office of Research Development is pleased to announce Chantal Line Carpentier, Ph.D., will be the featured guest speaker on Friday, February 13 as part of its Spring 2015 Research Colloquium Series. Dr. Carpentier will focus on the most pressing sustainable development issues and initiatives from her perspective as chief of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as well as ongoing collaborations to address these issues. The event, which is free and open to the campus community, will take place in 312 Lyman Hall. Lunch will be provided for this special session.
Her presentation, “Negotiating a Global Sustainable Development Agenda: The View from the UN Conference on Trade and Development,” will draw from her extensive experience in applied international science-based policy research and outreach and engagement of the private sector, government officials, academics and non-governmental and community-based organizations in intergovernmental processes.
A Canadian economist, Dr. Carpentier specializes in sustainable agriculture, development, trade, and consumption and production. She joined UNCTAD in July 2014 after seven years of supporting the intergovernmental processes at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. She previously served as head of the Trade and Environment Program of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation and policy analyst for the Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture. A 2006 Yale World Fellow, she has consulted for United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, books, chapters and Secretary General Reports, she regularly publishes on the intricate relationships between sustainable development policies, trade and agriculture. She has co-authored a book on ethical investing published in 2008.
Falk College Faculty Awarded Komen Foundation Grant for Breast Cancer Awareness, Education Programming
Public health professor of practice, Luvenia Cowart, working with Maria Brown, assistant research professor, School of Social Work, has received a $47,293 grant from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure New York Foundation to support the project, “Breast Cancer Awareness and Education Program for African American Women in Underserved Communities.” The project’s aim is to reduce disparities in breast cancer and its associated health risks, and to promote participation in mammography and early detection services for African American women in the Syracuse community.
According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths among African American women. Standard health education has not been effective with minorities, particularly those with lower incomes or less education. Widespread distrust of the formal healthcare system, health literacy issues and a perceived lack of cultural relevance contribute to the challenges. Historically, faith-based organizations have led the movement to reach at- risk African American communities using culturally appropriate health promotion to address chronic diseases.
The Genesis Health Project Network, a community-designed, culturally competent intervention, has developed and started to implement the breast cancer program in the Syracuse community. Co-founded by Cowart in 2004, the Genesis Project is a partnership between minority churches, community and government sponsors and Syracuse University’s Falk College to reduce health disparities in minority populations. Under Cowart’s leadership, the Genesis Project has successfully facilitated health seminars, fitness programs, educational programs at barbershops, and healthy lifestyle activities with churches and universities. Her work and the Genesis Health Project were recognized with numerous honors, including the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Director’s Award in 2008 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health.
Through pastoral health messaging and culturally appropriate strategies, the grant will support efforts to heighten awareness of breast cancer risks and prevention, promote mammography and early detection, and increase awareness of free/low-cost mammography and adoption of healthier behaviors.
Professor Ken Corvo Receives FHL Foundation Grant to Advance Domestic Violence Research
Additional research project on intimate partner violence with University of Granada to be funded by government of Spain
School of social work associate professor, Dr. Ken Corvo, has received a three-year, $50,000 grant from the Frederick H. Leonhardt (FHL) Foundation. This latest grant from the FHL Foundation follows Dr. Corvo’s decade-long professional collaboration with Frederick Leonhardt, foundation president and a former therapist.
The grant award supports Dr. Corvo’s research and writing in the area of theory development in domestic violence and includes the development of academic articles on domestic violence theory and the presentation of conference papers, as well as a possible book over the next two years. The first paper, “Neurotransmitter and Neurochemical Factors in Domestic Violence Perpetration: Implications for Theory Development,” was completed this summer.
Corvo recently received an invitation from a team of psychologists at the University of Granada to participate as co-investigator in a research project award made by the Spanish government for the study, “Neuropsychological and brain functioning in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) perpetrators.”
Dr. Corvo’s areas of academic and research specialization include family and youth violence, theory development, organizational development and leadership, and organizational issues in social work education. His on-going work in theory development provides a scientific framework for policy and practice in social work, criminal justice, and other human service responses to domestic violence.
Falk College Seed Grants awarded for 2014-15
Each year, the David B. Falk College Research Center, in collaboration with the Dean’s Office, awards seed grants on a competitive basis to assist faculty with completing preparatory work for research projects that have a high likelihood to compete for external funding. The 2014-15 seed grant recipients include:
Development and evaluation of a mind-body awareness intervention to enhance self-regulation as a mechanism to promote healthy weight among young children.
Dessa Bergen-Cico, assistant professor, Public Health
Rachel Razza, assistant professor, Child and Family Studies
Cultivating food justice: using photovoice to document the outcomes of a pilot food system intervention program for youth
Evan Weissman, assistant professor, Food Studies
Housing and LGBTQ youth
Maria Brown, professor of practice, School of Social Work and Aging Studies Institute
Deborah Coolhart, assistant professor, Marriage and Family Therapy
How do Iraqi refugees experience and make sense of family relationships as they resettle in a host country?
Rashmi Gangamma, assistant professor, Marriage and Family Therapy
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