Distinction allows associate professor to continue vital climate-change research
Michael Méndez, who has been an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and was an inaugural James and Mary Pinchot Faculty Fellow in Sustainability Studies at the Yale School of the Environment, is now a UC Irvine Chancellor’s Fellow. His three-year term begins July 1.
“This title is intended for faculty with tenure whose recent achievements in scholarship evidence extraordinary promise for world-class contributions to knowledge, and whose pattern of contributions evidences strong trajectory to additional/further distinctions,” states the UC Irvine Office of Academic Personnel. “Chancellor’s Fellow appointments will be used to support retentions, predominantly of mid-level faculty.”
An associate professor of urban planning and public policy, Méndez joins Jodi Quas as the only current Chancellor’s Fellow in the School of Social Ecology. The term for the professor of psychological science ends July 1, 2026.
There is a maximum of two centrally funded Chancellor’s Fellows, per school, at any one time, according to the Office of Academic Personnel. The title may not be renewed past three years.
The Chancellor’s Fellow distinction carries an award of up to $25,000 per year in support of research.
“I am honored to receive this distinction,” says Méndez. “The fellowship will help me to continue my research on climate change impacts to socially vulnerable populations, like migrants and LGBTQ+ people.”
– Matt Coker