Engage Magazine Feature: 2023-2024 Updates from COSSPP’s Chairs and Directors

Many great things happened across Florida State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy during the 2023-2024 academic year.

View updates from each of our units’ chairs and directors below.

Departments/Schools:

• Askew School of Public Administration & Policy
• Economics
• Geography
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Urban & Regional Planning

Interdisciplinary Programs:

• African American Studies
• Demography (Center for Demography & Population Health)
• Emergency Management & Homeland Security
• Interdisciplinary Social Science
• International Affairs
• Public Health

Centers/Institutes:

• Civil Rights Institute
• Claude Pepper Center
• DeVoe L. Moore Center
• Global and Public Affairs Living-Learning Community
• Gus A. Stavros Center
• LeRoy Collins Institute
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
• Pepper Institute on Aging & Public Policy

*Some updates from our units have been consolidated under another unit’s updates. For more information about all of our centers and institutes, click here.

Departments/Schools

Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy

The Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy had a highly successful 2023-2024 academic year. During the year, our graduate students earned 98 Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees and 11 doctoral degrees. In addition, 428 mid-career professionals earned Certified Public Manager (CPM) certificates from our Florida Center for Public Management, which operates the nation’s largest CPM training program.

The creation of our online degree option has enabled the school to substantially expand the MPA program to over 300 students. Over half of our students are mid-career professionals seeking to grow their knowledge and skills. They are taking courses while working in local governments, state agencies, and nonprofit organizations throughout Florida (and in other states in some cases).

Students gave our faculty strong evaluations for the quality of their teaching over the past year, with scores mostly well above the university’s mean. Furthermore, our faculty were highly active in providing service to our community and academic organizations, including the Leon County Children’s Services Council, the City of Tallahassee, and Leon County’s Community Human Services Partnership. Our faculty also served as editors for several prominent academic journals.  

Our faculty continued its long history of outstanding research productivity. In 2023, our faculty members published 34 articles and one book; another 30 articles were under review. Our faculty also made 33 conference presentations, mainly at national and international conferences, and received five research grants and contracts. Additionally, the Askew School was ranked 6th globally (and 2nd among U.S. universities) in ShanghaiRatings’ academic rating of global universities, based on our publications in our field’s leading journals. This represents a very high level of productivity for a faculty of sixteen people.

The Askew School will welcome three new faculty members in Fall 2024. William Jackson, Ph.D., Minyoung Ku, Ph.D., and Ana-Maria Dimand, Ph.D., will join us as Assistant Professors. Sadly, two of our faculty left the school at the end of the 2023-24 academic year. Fran Berry, Ph.D., Reubin O’D Askew Eminent Scholar and Frank Sherwood Professor of Public Administration, retired after over 30 years of service, and James Wright, Ph.D., Associate Professor, moved to Arizona.

As always, we welcome our alumni to visit the school over the next year, talk with our students, and share your advice and expertise with the next generation of public servants.

Department of Economics

The Department of Economics is the largest department in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. We are located on the second floor of the south wing of the Bellamy Building. We have 31 full-time faculty and an active research program. At the undergraduate level, we offer an economics major, an economics minor, and several specialized studies programs. At the graduate level, we offer both a Master of Science program and a Ph.D. program. Our M.S. program has a strong applied focus and is designed to be completed in twelve months. Our Ph.D. program is arguably the most comprehensive in the State of Florida and has graduated over 250 doctoral students since 1967.

The 2023-2024 academic year was another transformative and productive year for the department. We welcomed three new faculty. Anthony Kwasnica, Ph.D., joined the department as the newest Rod and Hope Brim Eminent Scholar Chair in Economics. Both Kalyani Padmakumar, Ph.D., and Katherine Yewell, Ph.D., joined the department as assistant professors. We also welcomed a new administrative associate, David Ramis. Cynthia Yang, Ph.D., and Luke Rodgers, Ph.D., were granted tenure and promoted to associate professor. Carl Kitchens, Ph.D., and John Hamman, Ph.D., were promoted to professor. With mixed emotions, we celebrated the retirement of Paul Beaumont, Ph.D., and Carl Schmertmann, Ph.D., who both enjoyed long and accomplished careers at FSU. Dr. Hamman transitioned into the department’s chair role in May 2024. Over 360 undergraduates claimed economics as their primary major, while 22 students entered the applied master’s program, and seven students started the Ph.D. program. The department offered over 130 sections of courses with more than 7,300 enrollments.

Our faculty maintains their strive for excellence by publishing in top journals and advancing research through conferences and speaking engagements. Randall Holcombe, Ph.D., won the Distinguished Scholar Award by the Association of Private Enterprise Education and the Later Career Research Award by COSSPP. Luke Rodgers, Ph. D., and Carrie Lee, Ph.D., both received COSSPP Faculty Awards for teaching, and Katie Sherron won the university’s Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching.

Department of Geography

The Department of Geography focuses on research, teaching, and service activities that seek to address the interlinked social and environmental challenges of our ever-changing world. We train students in a broad range of skills so they are prepared to develop new interventions that will help make better places. The department balances human, physical/environmental, and Geographic Information Science (GIS) perspectives on the discipline of geography.

The department contributes to the college’s degree programs at all levels. Our undergraduate programs focus on geography and the interrelated interdisciplinary area of environment and society. These programs train students for public and private sector careers in conservation, land and resource management, environmental analysis, parks and tourism, sustainability, and many others. Our master’s programs offer students the opportunity for more in-depth study in geography, whether that be in the traditional subfields of people and/or the environment or in our applied GIS program. At the doctoral level, students work on cutting-edge research with a faculty mentor in their chosen focus area of geography. We count alumni of our graduate programs as faculty at University College London, the University of Toronto, the University of Oklahoma, the University of South Florida, Louisiana State University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Kansas, and more institutions.

The 2023-2024 academic year was a very busy one for geography. In Fall 2023, we welcomed four new tenure-track faculty members: Amber DeJohn, Ph.D.; Ziqi Li, Ph.D.; Emily Billo, Ph.D.; and Carolina Velasquez, Ph.D. We also welcomed a new visiting faculty member, Douglas Allen, Ph.D., to the department. The department also set out on two other searches, including an external search for a new chairperson. Anne Chin, Ph.D., from the University of Colorado – Denver, will be the Harrison V. Chase Distinguished Professor of Geography and the department’s next chairperson starting in August 2024. Mark Horner, Ph.D., completes his three-year term as chair in Summer 2024. Liling Chang, Ph.D., was also hired as a tenure track assistant professor to help support our programs in physical geography and GIS.

The department has a consistent track record of success with research and publication. The 2023-2024 academic year saw many collaborative works involving faculty and students. External grants and contract funding support were also notable in 2023-2024, with department faculty currently funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, U.S. Department of Defense, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Health, and others. These awards fund several graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in the department.

Department of Political Science

The Department of Political Science maintains one of the campus’s most vibrant intellectual communities. The university routinely recognizes our students for their excellence in scholarship and leadership. A recent study published by the American Political Science Association (ASPA) ranked the department’s faculty as the 16th most research-productive in the discipline.

With over 1,300 majors, the Department of Political Science is home to one-third of the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy’s undergraduate students, and these students are among the best at FSU. Last year, 13 political science students were inducted into FSU’s Garnet and Gold Scholar Society, which recognizes FSU undergraduates who excel within and beyond the classroom. Remarkably, 24 of the university’s Torchbearer 100 recipients were from the Department of Political Science. These students were recognized for their impact and leadership at FSU.

The department’s Applied Politics & Policy Learning Experience (APPLE) program is the nation’s only program to give select undergraduates experiential political learning opportunities and leadership training at the local, state, and federal levels of government. The APPLE program leverages FSU’s location in Florida’s capital city to give students an insider’s view of government and politics. The program combines coursework with multiple internship opportunities in the Florida Legislature and Washington, D.C. For undergraduates who want to participate in research, the department’s Research Intensive Bachelors Certificate (RIBC) program provides select students with advanced training within a collaborative research environment. RIBC students routinely present their research at national conferences, and many have gone on to pursue doctoral studies in political science.

The department’s Masters of Applied American Politics and Policy (MAAPP) program continues to be among the leading graduate programs in the country, providing practical career training for political professionals. With over 550 graduates, many of whom hold prominent positions in Florida and national politics, MAAPP students gain access to a valuable network from which to land a first political job or advance in their careers. Indeed, seven recent MAAPP alumni were listed among the “Rising Stars of Florida Politics 2024” by Influence magazine.

Our doctoral program continues to draw talented students from around the world, and the program’s graduates obtain excellent job placements: Matthew Uttermark, Ph.D., will join the University of Florida as a tenure track assistant professor; Alexandra Artiles, Ph.D., will join Boise State University as a tenure track assistant professor; Giulia Venturini, Ph.D., will join Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, as a postdoctoral research fellow, and Ph.D. candidate Weifang Xu will serve as a visiting assistant professor in FSU’s International Affairs Program.

In Fall 2024, the department will welcome two new faculty colleagues, Professor Ryan Owens, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor David Foster, Ph.D. Dr. Owens is currently the George C. & Carmella P. Edwards Professor of American Politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a prolific scholar, and an internationally acclaimed expert in judicial politics. He will also serve as the inaugural director of FSU’s new Institute for Governance and Civics. Dr. Foster is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and is an expert in executive branch politics in the U.S. and public policy.

Other news:

• In November 2023, doctoral alumnus Henry Sirgo, Ph.D., generously established the Henry B. Sirgo Dissertation Grant Endowment. The endowment will award a $1,000 research grant to political science doctoral students beginning their dissertation research. The department is grateful for this extraordinary gift.
• In March 2024, the department hosted the 2^nd Annual APSA Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section Conference and welcomed leading scholars worldwide to FSU’s campus.
• LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar of Political Science and Director of the LeRoy Collins Institute, Professor Lonna Atkeson, Ph.D., received a grant from Public Agenda for its Democracy Renewal Project to contribute to trust-building electoral research.
• Associate Professor Amanda Driscoll, Ph.D., received one of the college’s Mid-career Research Awards. Dr. Driscoll also received the Service Award from the Law and Courts section of the APSA.
• Assistant Professor Dotan Haim, Ph.D., received an honorable mention for the Luebbert Best Article Award from the Comparative Politics Section of APSA and won the SE Asian Politics Section’s Best Paper Award.
• Assistant Professor Aidan Milliff, Ph.D., received the Best Faculty Poster Award at the Political Methodology Conference, Best Paper Award from APSA’s Conflict Process Section, runner-up for the Journal of Peace Research’s Gleditsch Best Paper Award, and two dissertation awards.
• Assistant Professor Kai Ou, Ph.D., received one of the college’s Early Career Research Awards. Last year, Dr. Ou was awarded the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
• The University Honors Program awarded political science undergraduate Arthi Solayappan the Bess H. Ward Honors Thesis Award.
• Political science undergraduate Chloe Wain received the Spring 2024 Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Chapter of Florida Marion Jewell Hay Award. This award recognizes the top student graduating this term at FSU as determined by our Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
• Political science undergraduate Sarah Brophy received the Department of Political Science’s Charles Billings Award, which recognizes students who demonstrate a strong record of volunteerism in public and community service and excellence in the classroom.
• Political science undergraduate Cassidy Branch received the Department of Political Science’s Thomas Dye Award for academic excellence in the political science major.
• After 34 years of distinguished service to the department, college, and university, Professor William Berry, Ph.D., has retired as the Syde P. Deeb Eminent Scholar in Political Science and Marian D. Irish Professor of Political Science. Dr. Berry achieved an extraordinary record of scholarship and teaching. The author of six books and over 50 peer-reviewed articles, his work has garnered over 18,000 citations. The ASPA awarded Dr. Berry the Harold Lasswell Award for Outstanding Career Contributions to Our Understanding of Public Policy Making and the State Politics and Policy Section’s Career Achievement Award. As a teacher, Dr. Berry was central to methodological training in the department over the past three decades, and in 1995, he received the Florida State University Teaching Award. Most importantly, Bill Berry has been a model colleague and mentor within the Department of Political Science.

Department of Sociology

Established over 100 years ago, the Department of Sociology boasts a top-ranked teaching and research program with over 20 faculty and 40 Ph.D. students. The department has some of the nation’s most respected sociologists as alumni, and its faculty have been recognized for innovative, high-quality teaching and award-winning scholarship. The department’s faculty hold a wide variety of research interests in the subfields of demography, health and aging, family, gender, sexualities, social and economic inequalities, and political sociology. In addition, our faculty hold numerous key leadership positions within the broader College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. Deana Rohlinger, Ph.D., is the current associate dean for faculty development and community engagement. Dawn Carr, Ph.D., serves as the executive director of the Claude Pepper Center, and Miles Taylor, Ph.D., serves as the director of the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy. The Center for Demography and Population Health and the Master’s in Demography Program are headed by Director John Taylor, Ph.D., and Associate Director Mathew Hauer, Ph.D., respectively. Katrinell Davis, Ph.D., serves as the director of the African American Studies Program. The Public Health Program has grown under the leadership of Director Amy Burdette, Ph.D., and Associate Director Patricia Homan, Ph.D.

Our alumni have successfully entered additional higher education programs, secured academic positions as professors, researchers, or university administrators, and obtained employment in applied positions with various non-profits, government agencies, political organizations, and private companies. We have a 100 percent in-field employment rate for our recent Ph.D. graduates.

We have some exciting updates to share with you from the 2023-2024 academic year:

• Our faculty were involved in multiple research projects financed with external funding totaling more than $16 million. Funding sources include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute on Mental Health and Health Disparities (NIMHHD), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare (TMH), and the Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging.
• Dr. Rohlinger has taken on the role of editor in chief for Social Science Computer Review.
• Our faculty was awarded numerous awards for their research, teaching, and service. Major recognitions at the university and professional level include:
• Anne Barrett, Ph.D., received the 2024 American Sociological Association Section on Aging and the Life Course Outstanding Publication Award.
• Dr. Hauer was awarded the Early Achievement Award from the Population Association of America (PAA).
• Dr. Homan was awarded Florida State University’s Developing Scholar Award (DSA). The DSA recognizes outstanding research and/or creative activity of eligible Florida State University faculty currently at the rank of Associate Professor.
• Professor Emeritus Charles Nam, Ph.D., was awarded the Torch Award by the FSU Faculty Senate. They gave him the Vires Award, representing moral, physical, and intellectual strength.
• Two of our faculty members received promotions, effective August 2024. Shantel Buggs, Ph.D., and Sourabh Singh, Ph.D., were both promoted to associate professor with tenure.
• Four new tenure-track faculty began their work at FSU during the 2023-2024 academic year.
• Matthew Brooks, Ph.D., from Penn State, joined us in Fall 2023 after he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University. His research spans various topics, including socioeconomic disadvantages across the rural, urban, and suburban United States, primarily those that intersect with family, poverty, immigration, and housing.
• Yao Li, Ph.D., from Johns Hopkins University, joined us in Fall 2023. Before coming to FSU, she was an assistant professor at the University of Florida, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, and a lecturer at the University of Kansas. Her research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to address debates in areas of social movements, environmental studies, political sociology, and race.
• Andy Chang, Ph.D., from UC Berkeley, joined us in Spring 2024 from Singapore, where he held an assistant professor position at Singapore Management University. His recent research has explored the political economy of labor migration in the Global South, which fits into a broader research program that investigates the transnational dimensions of labor processes, family lives, and gender subjectivities.
• Corey Moss-Pech, Ph.D., Ohio State, joined us in Spring 2024 after he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on how individuals navigate educational organizations and enter labor market institutions to better understand social stratification and social mobility processes, paying particular attention to intersecting inequalities based on gender, race, and class. 
• Two new specialized teaching faculty also took positions within the department in Fall 2023.
• Melissa Bamford, Ph.D., from FSU, joined us from Tennessee, where she held a teaching faculty role at the University of Memphis for almost a decade.
• Kelly Russell, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan, joined us permanently after holding a visiting professor position within our department for the past two years.

We’re now looking forward to a wonderful and productive summer and an amazing new academic year!

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning is home to Florida’s oldest, largest, and top-ranked planning program. For more than 50 years, our distinguished faculty has trained professional planners in the field, helping them become change agents who improve the well-being of their communities.

Over the past year, our students and faculty have engaged with practitioners, scholars, community members, and other stakeholders on a wide range of planning issues.

• In the Planetizen national ranking of planning programs, DURP was ranked the #11 planning program among public universities.
• A team of DURP students won the APA Florida Award of Excellence in the Outstanding Student Project category at the Florida Planning Conference in Jacksonville for their project, North Star Legacy Communities: Gadsden County Community Heritage Project.
• We were pleased to welcome Meaghan McSorley, Ph.D., to the department in August 2023. Her work supports planners and communities as they collaboratively imagine their thriving futures and identify steps we can take right now to move towards those futures.
• DURP Planner-in-Residence Dennis J. Smith, AICP, and Ph.D. candidate Karina Amalbert gave a presentation on “Aligning Planning Processes to Make Risk Mitigation & Preparedness Initiatives More Efficient, Effective, and Equitable” to a full house at the 32nd annual Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference.
• Will Butler, Ph.D., was interviewed by NPR about a study done in collaboration with Tisha Holmes, Ph.D. The study discusses the potential financial impacts of chronic flooding.
• Master of Science in Planning (MSP) student Talethia Edwards was invited to speak at the Peace Lecture Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Kelly Kinahan, Ph. D., and collaborators at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and the University of Louisville were recently awarded a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program to conduct research, provide technical assistance, and conduct related outreach on minimizing displacement resulting from brownfields assessment, cleanup, and reuse.
• FSU DURP and Social Work students in the neighborhood development and community development specialization joined the South City neighborhood leader, Ms. Marie Bryant, at a pop-up food giveaway event to survey residents about food access needs in the community.

Finally, we want to express our sincere gratitude to our many dedicated alumni and friends for their generous support of our students over the past year. Your contributions directly supported 15 student assistantships and scholarships and enabled dozens of students to attend professional conferences. This support has enabled DURP to attract highly talented students and for these students to take full advantage of the many opportunities for academic, professional, and community engagement provided by our graduate programs.

African American Studies

The African American Studies Program maintained its high caliber and impactful course and programmatic offerings for the 2023–2024 academic year. Honoring graduating majors and minors, the program held its first-ever student awards ceremony this academic year; African American Studies Affiliate Faculty and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Cameron Beatty, Ph.D., served as the event’s guest speaker. Several students who attended academic conferences focused on Black Studies during the academic year were awarded certificates of scholarly engagement. Nairi Smith was also named the inaugural William R. Jones Memorial Award winner by the African American Studies program. The William R. Jones Memorial Award is given to a deserving senior who has overcome significant obstacles and intends to pursue graduate study. William Jones, Ph.D., a prominent professor-scholar who oversaw the African American Studies program until he retired from FSU in 1999, is the subject of the Jones Award, which was established in his honor. Dr. Jones’ work focused on African American theodicy and Christian theism, Black theology, philosophy, Blacks in philosophy, and racism, mainly how repressive systems function in American society. Finally, the African American Studies program congratulates African American Studies Specialized Faculty DeReef Jamison, Ph.D., for receiving recognition from the Institute of African-Centered Thought as an Africa-Centered Ancestral Healing honoree for his article “Fanon Revisited.”

Center for Demography and Population Health

The Center for Demography and Population Health (CDPH) supports evidence-based public policy through interdisciplinary research on demographic processes and population health, training master’s students seeking careers as applied demographers, and mentoring doctoral students in social demography, population economics, social epidemiology, and environment and health.

This past academic year, the center offered many opportunities to both students in our programs and our community at large through our seminars and the Annual Charles B. Nam Lecture in the Sociology of Population. Additionally, CDPH Associate Director Mathew Hauer, Ph.D., received the Population Association of America’s Early Achievement Award and served as a scholar in residence this summer at the Max Plank Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany.

Alumnus Robert A. Hummer, Ph.D., (Sociology ’93) spoke at our October 13, 2024, Brown Bag Seminar on the topic “Adolescents No Longer: A Sneak Peek at Wave VI of Add Health and Lessons from the Field, as the Cohort Moves Toward Midlife.” Dr. Hummer is the Howard W. Odum Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Faculty Fellow of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Alumnus David Russell, Ph.D., (B.S. Political Science ’02; M.S. Applied Social Research ’03; Ph.D. Sociology ’07), spoke at our December 1 Brown Bag Seminar on “How Deep are the Social Roots of School Shootings? An Evaluation of the Constellation Theory of Rampage School Shootings between 2009-2022.” Dr. Russell is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Sociology at Appalachian State University.

Jennifer Karas Montez, Ph.D., was the guest speaker at The Charles B. Nam Lecture in the Sociology of Population on March 8, 2024. Her topic was “U.S. States and Population Health: What do we know, and where do we go from here?” Dr. Montez is the Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies and Professor of Sociology at Syracuse University; she is also the director of Syracuse University’s Center for Aging and Policy Studies.

As we look ahead to next year, please plan to join us at one of our upcoming Brown Bag Seminars, either in person or virtually, or at the next Charles B. Nam Annual Lecture.

Emergency Management and Homeland Security

The Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program and the Center for Disaster Risk Policy remained active and engaged with students and our community in 2023-2024. Thanks to EMHS’s commitment to providing students with professional opportunities, we brought 27 students to five conferences during the 2023-2024 academic year. The most prestigious of these conferences is the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) Forum, which happens twice a year. EMHS enjoys a unique relationship with NEMA, which is composed of 50 state Emergency Management Directors, senior decision-makers, and federal officials. Selected students maintain NEMA’s social media and draft detailed summaries of every session while networking with senior leaders in the field. Florida State is the only university invited to participate in NEMA in this way. 

Our program also entered a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Through this CRADA, EMHS is researching the collection, analysis, and distribution of remote sensing data to evaluate the impacts of tornadoes and severe storms to define and standardize the methodology for these processes. As part of this CRADA, the EMHS team of faculty and students collected data in response to the May 10, 2024, tornados in Tallahassee.

Our in-house Disaster Intelligence Analysis Laboratory (DIAL) continues to see impressive growth in community partnerships and student involvement. This Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) lab employs student analysts who produce formal reports that stakeholders can use for decision-making purposes. Our students have practiced the intelligence-gathering process from start to finish in various supportive roles, working with stakeholders from FSU PD at football games to nonprofits navigating unrest in Haiti. 

Through EMHS’s partnerships with the U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South, we placed 17 students into highly competitive internships during the 2023-2024 academic year. These students acquired federal security clearances as part of their work with multidisciplinary teams, getting hands-on, real-life experience with intelligence collection and analysis.

Interdisciplinary Social Science

The Interdisciplinary Social Science (ISS) Program is one of the college’s largest undergraduate majors, with over 600 students actively enrolled each academic year. The program promotes academic dexterity and teaches students to develop critical skills that support innovative work and collaboration in their future careers. We focus on providing an environment that supports holistic understandings of complex social dynamics by integrating various disciplinary perspectives across the social sciences and beyond. 

Our program provides students with individualized mentorship from one of our six dedicated faculty members. They each work diligently to guide students and help them advance toward their academic goals. Professors in the program are noted as some of the best instructors at FSU through teaching awards received from the college and the university. This year, Alexandra Cockerham, Ph.D., received a University Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Major. 

Radha Modi, Ph.D., contributed to “Caste and the Diaspora” in The Oxford Handbook of Caste in Fall 2023. She was also nominated for this year’s Florida State Honors Mentoring Award for her dedication to her students, her involvement in her class, and the extracurricular activities she leads. 

Maria Cristina Ramos, Ph.D., authored “Identity Networks as a New Frontier: Conceptualizing, Mapping, and Analyzing Identity Structures and Their Impact on Well-being,” published in the SocArXiv Papers in Fall 2023. She also presented at the 45th Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Annual Meeting, the 118th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, and the 10th International Conference on Computational Social Science. 

Tracy Woodard, Ph.D., received a promotion and will assume her new role as an associate teaching professor in Fall 2024. With a specialization in social innovation and entrepreneurship, Dr. Woodard has served as an assistant teaching professor for ISS’s social innovation and entrepreneurship specialization since joining FSU in 2021. 

We’re proud of our students and alumni’s many contributions to their communities this past year. Recent graduate Jack Hitchcock (B.S. Interdisciplinary Social Science and International Affairs ‘24) served as FSU’s student body president from Spring 2023 until Spring 2024. Hitchcock also served as chairman of the Florida Student Association (FSA) during this time, amplifying the voices of more than 400,000 students statewide.

Recent summa cum laude graduate Daniela Vergara Forero (B.S. Interdisciplinary Social Science ‘24) was inducted into FSU’s Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Honor Society for her academic successes and service to the community. During her undergraduate studies, she worked at Family Promise of the Big Bend, where she initiated programs to assist families in crisis. She currently works for Teach for America Teacher Corps in Tampa.

Our thousands of graduates find success in careers worldwide, including in finance, project management, urban planning, emergency management, and public health-focused roles at companies such as Northwestern Mutual, L3Harris Technologies, EY, Indiana University, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, and many more. Our alumni also go on to graduate programs here at Florida State University and worldwide in the areas of policy, law, medicine, history, urban and regional planning, and more.

Alumni Joe O’Shea, Ph.D. (B.A. Interdisciplinary Social Science & Philosophy ’08) went on to the Rhodes Scholarship program at Oxford and now serves as FSU’s associate provost and dean of undergraduate studies, where he works to lead award-winning student success initiatives. 

I invite you to reconnect with us this upcoming academic year. If you are interested in sharing your time and expertise with our students, please consider contacting our Alumni Engagement Coordinator, Elizabeth Jones, at ejones11@fsu.edu.

International Affairs

This academic year, International Affairs has been restructuring our degree programs to better meet our students’ needs. Asian studies, Russian and East European Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies are now majors under the International Affairs degree. We are also pleased to announce the promotion of Na’ama Nagar, Ph.D., and the addition of two new faculty members: Juan David Irigoyen-Borunda, Ph.D., and Bryant Harden, Ph.D. Dr. Irigoyen-Borunda will teach the latest professional development class for undergraduates and courses on Latin America, and Dr. Harden will teach IDS 2431/2460: Global Perspectives for the Global Citizenship Certificate. 

Two of our alumni, Tanner Taddeo and Amanda Green, participated in a new initiative to teach our graduate students necessary professional skills in a workshop setting. Tanner conducted a workshop on executive pitches, and Amanda gave one on project planning. We would love to have other alumni present workshops on practical skills they wished they had before they joined the workforce. Other alumni served as mentors for our graduate students or gave talks about their careers. We cannot thank them enough for giving back to the program! Our students benefit so much from their knowledge and experience.

Our students continued to earn honors and recognition at an impressive rate. For example, Rose Clermont was awarded a Gilman Scholarship, Auria Rembert a Critical Language Scholarship to study Arabic in Jordan, and Jenna Prunty was selected as a Pickering Fellow. Nadia Rassech won the 2024 Global Citizenship Award and was named the 2024 Undergraduate Humanitarian of the Year. 

Our alumni also excelled in a variety of fields. Renee Michel retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after a 20-year career in the U.S. Army. Ahmed Muhumed represented the U.S. in the World Athletics XC Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Dustin Hopkins played in the NFL playoffs. Brandon Stewart was promoted to associate professor of political science at Troy University. Audrey Chisholm won the Inc. 500 award for the third year in a row. Seeing our alumni’s success in such varied careers is truly inspiring.

Public Health

The Public Health Program is among the newest degree programs within the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. The first Master of Public Health (MPH) degree was conferred in 2004, while the Bachelor of Science in Public Health degree program was more recently established in 2019. 

This academic year, I’m pleased to report that the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredited our Bachelor of Public Health (BSPH) program in February, joining our MPH program.

Many of our graduates have become esteemed medical doctors, while others have succeeded in the public and private sectors. Their achievements serve as a testament to the versatility and excellence of our programs.

Our programs have continued to experience remarkable growth in student enrollment, demonstrating our offerings’ increasing popularity and value. In the 2019-2020 academic year, we had 210 undergraduate students and 65 graduate students. In the 2022-2023 academic year, we saw sustained growth with 713 undergraduate students and a consistent enrollment of 89 graduate students. In 2023-2024, we saw continued growth with 858 undergraduate and 91 graduate students. 

This year, Assistant Teaching Professor, Director of Community Outreach, and Accreditation Coordinator Deanna Barath, Ph. D., received an award for service from the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. 

Chris Uejio, Ph.D., was promoted to professor this year. Dr. Uejio has been at FSU since 2012 and serves in various capacities with our Public Health Program, the Department of Geography, and the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine. This year, he led a NASA study examining risks for extreme heat Illness.

Associate Professor and Public Health Program Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives Patricia Homan, Ph.D., won FSU’s 2023-2024 Developing Scholar Award (DSA). The DSA program recognizes successful FSU faculty who are several years into their careers and have reached the level of Associate Professor. The competitive award is intended to help identify and honor FSU’s future academic leaders. 

With a placement rate of approximately 98 percent in jobs or post-secondary institutions such as medical schools, physician assistant programs, law schools, dental schools, and more, we take immense pride in the accomplishments of our 1,240 graduates.

Civil Rights Institute

The Civil Rights Institute stands as a pioneering beacon within the State of Florida’s University System. It embodies a profound commitment to commemorating, celebrating, and studying the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. With a resolute mission to advance justice and equality within FSU and its broader communities, the institute is a vital hub for scholarship, creative inquiry, policy shaping, and transformative programming.

At the heart of the institute’s endeavors lies a clear and compelling vision: to establish itself as a preeminent authority on civil rights through rigorous research and to provide a national platform for strategic initiatives and engagement across students, faculty, and communities. Upholding a steadfast dedication to excellence, the institute pursues its mission through a multifaceted approach encompassing primary source research, academic inquiry, and active involvement of students, faculty, administrators, and community members.

Central to the institute’s ethos is recognizing civil rights as a fundamental cornerstone of societal progress and inclusivity. Through innovative programs such as the CRI Internship Program, students are afforded invaluable opportunities to engage directly with the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, promoting a culture of inclusive excellence and active citizenship. The institute ensures its impact extends beyond academic boundaries by fostering interdisciplinary collaborations across various educational domains within FSU.

Notably, the institute has garnered national recognition through strategic partnerships, including its official affiliation with the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Network (AACRN) and its involvement in the National Civil Rights Trail. By cultivating these partnerships, the institute is pivotal in preserving civil rights history and advancing scholarly discourse nationally.

This year, CRI announced the creation of the C.K. Steele Speakers Series. Named after Reverend Charles Kenzie Steele, a prominent and dynamic Tallahassee-based leader in the Civil Rights Movement, this series perpetuates Reverend Steele’s legacy through organizing enlightening lectures, workshops, and community discussions. The purpose of the series is to provide a platform for conversations on issues, historical perspectives, and contemporary challenges in the area of Civil Rights. These events will foster a deeper understanding of the significance of the Civil Rights Movement and its enduring impact on society.

As the Civil Rights Institute continues to chart its course forward, it remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering dialogue, promoting understanding, and advocating for justice and equality. Through its tireless efforts, the institute stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of the civil rights movement and a beacon of hope for future generations.

Claude Pepper Center

The Claude Pepper Center (CPC) aims to identify policy solutions that enhance the financial, psychological, cognitive, physical, and social well-being of older adults and their families in Florida and beyond. Our primary goal is to identify solutions that ensure that all older adults have the resources they need to lead active, purposeful, and meaningful lives and remain engaged and valued members of their communities.

In the last year, the CPC has developed several new initiatives. We introduced a new maps and data visualization initiative with a steering committee that leverages expertise across the college. The purpose is to help provide the public with dashboards that show the geographic distribution of the population and highlight areas with the highest need for aging-related resources and interventions. We also launched Opening Minds through Art at Florida State University (FSU-OMA), which is an intergenerational art program that pairs FSU students and people living with dementia. OMA promotes the autonomy and dignity of its older adult participants through creative expression and “no-fail” abstract artmaking.

Finally, the CPC has received new grants and contracts that led to the completion of multiple grant and contract-funded research projects that include issues related to older workers in the U.S., the role of psychological resilience in shaping responses to major stressful events in later life, and evaluation of state public health programs. The CPC is working this year to develop new initiatives and relationships across the university, the local community, the state, and nationally to carry out this mission. The center seeks to forge new strategic partnerships with organizations across the state that can help us work together to identify ways to serve older adults across Florida more effectively.

DeVoe L. Moore Center

The DeVoe L. Moore Center, established by a generous gift by long-time FSU benefactor DeVoe Moore in 1998, focuses on the private sector and market-oriented solutions to state and local government policy problems. The center has grown over the past year, primarily by expanding and leveraging its partnerships with organizations such as the Florida Policy Project, Mercatus Center, Institute for Human Studies, Reason Foundation, and others, with more than 35 students working on internal and external projects.

An important goal in recent years has been establishing an integrated curriculum supportive of a classroom-to-workplace pipeline. Students can now take up to 15 credit hours in courses designed to sharpen their research skills, understanding of economic and policymaking principles, and ability to apply core principles to real-world problems. In addition, students participate in more than a dozen center-sponsored professional development seminars and workshops during the academic year. This integrated program allows students to hone their research skills, develop project management capabilities, learn to communicate orally and in written forms, and focus on organizational mission.

The program’s benefits are evident in our outputs: articles published in the Tallahassee Democrat, blog content, policy students, and honors at research competitions. Over the past academic year, our teams produced a significant policy study on the role of housing vouchers in meeting low-income family housing needs, earned a third-place finish in an international undergraduate research competition sponsored by the Association of Private Enterprise Education, and presented their research at the FSU Undergraduate Research Symposium, Florida Undergraduate Research Colloquium, and at an undergraduate research symposium at Johns Hopkins University. DMC Associate Director Crystal Taylor, Ph.D., won a university-wide award for undergraduate thesis mentoring. 

Our alumni now number more than 275 and are employed by leading private companies such as IBM, Ernst & Young, and Ford Credit and nonprofit organizations such as the Reason Foundation, Institute for Humane Studies, Stand Together, Goodwill Industries, and the Charles Koch Foundation. We are a significant “feeder” into high-quality graduate programs at Florida State, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Georgetown, and George Mason Universities. 

The center’s mission-driven work provides content for its platforms and various external outlets. Over the past year, newspaper commentaries have covered zoning reform, affordable housing, height regulations, and environmental policy. The center’s platforms include an active blog, contributions to independent blogs, social media, and its annual magazine Focus. 

The DeVoe L. Moore Center is entering the 2024-2025 academic year with a strong foundation that will allow us to leverage our research and teaching to achieve an even greater impact.

Global and Public Affairs Living-Learning Community (GPALC)

The Global and Public Affairs Living-Learning Community (GPALC) program offered through University Housing at Florida State gives first-year students the unique opportunity to live alongside peers with similar interests. Students in the GPALC are passionate about the social sciences—political science, international affairs, economics, sociology, and more! We seek to understand society on a deeper level and engage with our local, national, and global communities.

Last year, we had a wonderful cohort of 39 students who lived together in Dorman Hall. We hold a weekly colloquium to learn about and discuss current events, international affairs, and public policy. Some of the highlights from the past year include debating the politics of education reform in Florida, discussing the Israel/Palestinian conflict, previewing next year’s elections, and reconnecting with former alumni of GPALC. We recently created a GPALC LinkedIn page where current and former GPALC students can reconnect with one another.

Our students go on to do wonderful things. Here is a sample of some things our students from this year’s cohort are already doing after only their freshman year:

• Two of our students were elected to the FSU Student Senate
• Several of our students are participating with COSSPP’s Student Leadership Council, and next year, we will launch a mentoring program between that council and our incoming GPALC students.
• Others have arranged internships in state and local government
• This year’s cohort of students was highly involved with several clubs, newspapers, and student government

Our past students often participated in international programs and global exchange programs. Some of our past students have gone on to graduate school and law school at FSU and elsewhere. One student became a Florida Gubernatorial Fellow, and another started a career in Voter Registration with the Florida Democratic Party. Our students are consistently vibrant, eager, and ambitious and will change the world.

Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education

The mission of the Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education is to further free enterprise and economic education in schools and the broader community. The Stavros Center develops and disseminates innovative ideas and materials to help make economics more interesting and understandable. It seeks to help instructors at all levels become great economics teachers.

The Center’s signature program is Unconquered by Debt (UBD), a series of workshops developed to promote financial wellness. The program’s goals are to enhance financial literacy and transform decision-making so that students become wealth creators. The program promotes balanced financial choices so students fully understand they are responsible for their current and future lifestyles. The focus is on crucial life choices: career options, earning, spending, saving, investing, managing credit, evaluating risk, insuring assets, and planning for retirement. The center seeks to build relationships around campus to promote and implement the program. 

UBD Program Director Jen West Kantor and 21 student workers propelled the program to record levels in the 2023-2024 academic year. The center hosted over 120 workshops with more than 1,500 participants. Partnerships with the Center for Academic Retention & Excellence (CARE), the Engage 100 Program, and the Career Center were vital in expanding the program’s reach to students across campus.

The center also hosted its annual “Creative Ideas” teaching workshop, which attracted educators from around the state to enhance their classroom skills. As an offshoot of UBD, a lunchtime “Food and Finance” series was launched to provide faculty and staff financial wellness workshops. New technology was installed to increase the effectiveness of classes and workshops. We mourn the loss of Professor Emeritus Dr. Jim Gwartney, who passed away in January 2024. He will be missed, but his legacy will endure.

LeRoy Collins Institute

The LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State is a non-partisan, statewide policy organization that studies and promotes bold and visionary public policy solutions facing the people of Florida and the nation. The institute supports public policy research on various issues, from school choice and educational attainment to sustainability and climate gentrification to the state’s pension and financing.

Named in honor of former Florida Governor LeRoy Collins, the institute is governed by a distinguished Board of Directors, including current and former state elected officials, other policymakers, educators, and private citizens throughout Florida.

In my last two years as director, we published eleven research reports covering Florida and New Mexico elections, climate-driven displacement, public school funding, and police-community relations. The institute’s work has been reported in almost every major daily paper in Florida. In 2024, our work was featured in publications such as the Tallahassee Democrat, Florida Politics, South Florida Sun Sentinel, CNBC, and Teen Vogue.

The LeRoy Collins Institute is proudly home to several Fellows who contribute to the institute’s mission, success, and research excellence. Over the last two years, LCI has welcomed:

• Yimeng Li, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher focusing on American politics and quantitative methods. His research in election administration includes voting by mail, provisional ballots, voter confidence, and voting technology. He received his M.S. with distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science and his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.
• Austin Cutler is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science. His research focuses on American political behavior and public opinion. His interests include affective polarization, racial and ethnic politics, candidate selection, and partisanship.
• Braeden McNulty is a fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Political Science whose primary research interests include rurality’s origins and behavioral consequences.
• Eli Mckown-Dawson is an FSU alumnus (B.S. Political Science ’24), and his research interests include voting behavior, elections, and survey methodology. He also completed the Department of Political Science’s Research-Intensive Bachelors Certificate (RIBC).
• Miguel Arceo-Miranda is an undergraduate student majoring in political science and public relations. His interests include voting behavior, election administration, and state politics. He is also a member of the Department of Political Science’s RIBC Program.

Under my direction and with the help of the institute’s fellows, the LeRoy Collins Institute published the following pieces in 2024: 100% Retabulation Audits: 2022 Primary and General Election Audit Data and Ballot Images from Leon County, FL, 2022 New Mexico Election Administration, Voter Security, and Election Reform Report, Florida Election Study 2022.

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Florida State University provides an enriching framework for mature adults to learn about a wide variety of topics, with over 100 classes open to the public each year. OLLI’s lifelong learners enjoy exploring new topics in a stress-free environment with no tests or homework.

Social activities also abound, with numerous clubs and local field trips. Music on the Hill at Millstone Institute began in the Fall of 2023 and will be a biannual event.

As part of our Study Abroad OLLI at FSU went to Paris and Southern France in May, and to the Canada’s Maritime Provinces in Nova Scotia in August.

The semi-annual Showcase of Classes and Activities at the Turnbull Conference Center are open to the community each September and January.

The OLLI at FSU PC30A site in Panama City, Florida, continues to evolve. With author-led lectures and outdoor excursions, PC30A offers classes and social opportunities for communities on the coast.

Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy

For over 40 years, the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy (PIAPP) has been dedicated to research and educational endeavors that address the opportunities and challenges of aging populations in Florida, our nation, and the world. We support over 50 faculty and students engaged in award-winning research on aging, healthy lifespan and communities, and health policy. We house two research working groups for faculty and graduate students and an undergraduate Peer Health Educator Scholarship program. We also partner with the internationally funded Consortium on Analytics for Data-Driven-Decision Making (CAnD3) to provide fellowships and data science workshops focused on translational research for the future of aging societies.

This year, we have been busy growing our funded research projects, including federal, foundation, and international grants and a burgeoning portfolio of state contracts. We house research projects funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration on topics including resilience in later life, cognitive function, older workers, and marital quality as we age. Our state contracts have grown to include funding from Florida’s Departments of Transportation, Health, and Elder Affairs. These projects span program development, education, and evaluation to improve health and aging in our great state. Partnerships with the college’s Claude Pepper Center and local firm Knowli Data Science are critical to these endeavors.

Finally, we house several important outreach and engagement initiatives directly benefiting older adults in our community and state, including OLLI at FSU and Safe Mobility for Life. This year, we have also begun an exciting outreach partnership with AARP Florida to increase brain health education. We have helped host events related to science and the arts and will be growing these and other outreach events in the coming year. Stay tuned!