Chen named Chancellor's Professor

Chuansheng Chen, Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior, has been named a UCI Chancellor's Professor. This title recognizes Chen as an exceptional scholar who has demonstrated unusual academic merit and has high promise for continued achievement. Chen is a developmental psychologist interested in cultural variations in developmental trajectories. View Video...

Online master’s program ranked No. 1

UC Irvine’s online program for a Master of Advanced Study degree in Criminology, Law and Society has been named the top online graduate criminal justice program in the country by U.S. News & World Report. This is the first year the publication has ranked online criminal justice programs, and UCI excelled in faculty credentials, admissions selectivity and student engagement. Founded in 2002 for full-time workers seeking to further their education, it was the first online degree program in the University of California system. Learn More...

Kubrin educates U.S. Supreme Court on rap music

Charis Kubrin, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, co-authored a brief that was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the case of Anthony Elonis who is in prison after writing Facebook postings in the form of rap lyrics. The brief explained rap music and argued that rap is particularly susceptible to misunderstanding and is often seen as dangerous. View Video...

CLS Faculty honored with American Society of Criminology Awards

The Department of Criminology, Law and Society was honored multiple times at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Convention in San Francisco. Awards included:

• Charis Kubrin, Corame Richey Mann Award from the Division on People of Color and Crime for outstanding contributions of scholarship on race/ethnicity, crime, and justice.
• Valerie Jenness, Saltzman Award for Contributions to Practice from the Division on Women and Crime for for her professional accomplishments that have increased the quality of justice and the level of safety for women.
• Susan Turner, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division on Corrections and Sentencing for her distinguished scholarship in the area of corrections.

Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology

Sarah Pressman, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior, has received the 2014 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology by an Early Career Professional from the American Psychological Association's Division 38 (Health Psychology). Pressman’s research examines the role that positive emotions and social relationships play in influencing health outcomes.

UC Global Food Initiative Fellowship

Victoria Lowerson-Bredow and Sally Geislar, Planning, Policy, and Design Ph.D. students, have been awarded $2,500 fellowships each from UC President Janet Napolitano's Global Food Initiative Student Fellowship Program. Lowerson-Bredow is exploring how to build a more sustainable food system in Orange County and Geislar will research how to preserve and increase the synergy between the UCI community and the local farmers market. Learn More...

Public Impact Fellows

The Public Impact Fellowships supports academically excellent students whose research demonstrates the potential to significantly improve or enrich the lives of people in California and beyond. This year, recipients from the School of Social Ecology include: Sally Geisler, Jeremy Braithwaite, Stacy Calhoun, Jessica Perez and Anaid Yerena.
Pictured: Anaid Yerena and Stacy Calhoun

PPD Distinguished Fellows Mixer

Students, faculty, and Advisory Board members from the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design mixed and mingled on November 14, 2014 with the 2014-2015 class of PPD Distinguished Fellows. The program connects senior community leaders to students and allows two-way interaction and learning to occur. The PPD Distinguished Fellows include: Allen Baldwin, Founding Executive Director, Orange County Community Housing Corporation; Marian Bergeson, Former California State Senator, State Assemblywoman, and Secretary of Education; Celeste Cantú, General Manager, Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA); Shaheen Sadeghi, Founder, LAB Holding.

Donor Wall Reception

The Social Ecology Dean's Leadership Council and other Social Ecology supporters gathered for a reception on November 12, 2014 to honor this year’s additions to the list of supporters on the Donor Wall in the Social Ecology's Dean's Office. The wall recognizes the many transformative gifts made by both alumni and other community members over the last 40 years. This year’s additions include Scott and Laurie Dubchansky, Ronald and Patricia Huff, and Daniel and Jeannette Stokols.
Pictured: Patricia and Ronald C. Huff

Urban Studies Career Night

The Urban Studies Career Night was held on November 19, 2014. The evening featured four alumni panelists working in urban studies related career fields who shared their experiences and educational background with students. Professor Scott Bollens served as the moderator. Interested in volunteering to be on the next alumni career panel? Please email Social Ecology External Relations for more information at secomm@uci.edu
Pictured: Julie Cho, Chris Dominguez, Suzanne Schwab, and Victor Van Zandt

Homecoming

On January 31, 2015, nearly 5,000 alumni, students, faculty, staff and community members attended UCI's Homecoming festival in Aldrich Park, exploration programs throughout campus and basketball game. Social Ecology held a reception to showcase the school's historical timeline that celebrates its unique contributions to the community over the past 45 years. View Timeline...

Supporting experiential learning related to poverty alleviation

The Dubchansky Family recently made a generous gift to the Field Study program to support field-based research and experiential learning related to poverty alleviation. Their gift will allow Social Ecology to offer a new opportunity for extraordinary undergraduates to experience a full-quarter immersion field study with community organizations focused on poverty alleviation and injustice. Students will have transformative experiences and will make a difference locally and abroad.

The Psychology of Social Status

Joey Cheng, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior, is the lead editor of The Psychology of Social Status, a volume published in September 2014. It provides an integrative overview of the key theoretical perspectives that have shaped current research on social status, and highlights the cutting-edge research and future directions in the field. Learn More...

Environmental Security

Richard Matthew, Professor of Planning, Policy, and Design and Director of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (CUSA), has recently finished a four volume series detailing the main and most imperative topics of environmental security. Published in December 2014, the collection of literature provides a comprehensive, historically rich and global overview of its key concepts, findings, contributors and methodologies. Learn More...