2024-2025 Updates from COSSPP’s Chairs and Directors

Florida State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Policy had an expansive and productive 2024–2025 academic year. 

Our 12 academic departments, 12 centers and institutes, and multiple interdisciplinary labs advanced scholarship, strengthened community engagement, and prepared students for leadership in a changing world.

National Rankings and Faculty Excellence

U.S. News & World Report once again ranked programs in the Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, the Department of Political Science, and the Department of Urban & Regional Planning among the nation’s top graduate offerings, placing them No. 10 overall (No. 9 public) in local government management and No. 16 overall (No. 10 public) in leadership specialties. Faculty across the college earned national recognition, including Ryan Owens, Ph.D., of Political Science, who received the American Political Science Association’s C. Herman Pritchett Award for his book Cognitive Aging and the Federal Circuit Courts. In Public Administration, Tian Tang, Ph.D., was lead author of a widely cited study on hurricane preparedness amid COVID-19. In Geography, Anne Chin, Ph.D., received a lifetime achievement award from the Geological Society of America. In Economics, Mark Isaac, Ph.D., was elected as a Fellow of the Economic Science Association.

Student & Alumni Achievements

Our students and alumni also excelled. International Affairs student Arantza Caudillo-Alvarez was named FSU’s 2025 Humanitarian of the Year, and undergraduates in Political Science, Lauryn Klostrich and Lara Japiassu, were honored with the Charles Billings and Thomas Dye Awards for Academic Excellence. Public Health undergraduates launched the Bachelor of Science in Public Health Student Association. Alumni entrepreneurs were recognized in Seminole 100 for leading some of the world’s fastest-growing businesses, while alumni from across the college demonstrated leadership in their local communities.

Research and Community Impact

Research and outreach flourished across the college. During Fiscal Year 2024–25, COSSPP faculty participated in 37 externally funded research projects totaling $4.3 million. Of these, 28 were new awards, with funding coming from federal (59%), state (21%), and other (20%) sources. The Department of Urban and Regional Planning led a $500,000 EPA-backed project on anti-displacement strategies, while faculty published in leading journals such as the Journal of the American Planning Association. The Center for Demography and Population Health launched the Raymond F. Bellamy Chair in Population Studies, announcing Patricia Homan, Ph.D as the inaugural recipient. The LeRoy Collins Institute unveiled a new election audit dashboard, promoting transparency in Florida’s electoral process. The Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program achieved International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE) certification for its U.S. Intelligence Studies certificate and engaged students at the National Emergency Management Association conference. The African American Studies Program celebrated Carolina Velásquez-Calderón, Ph.D., for her international leadership in disaster recovery research.

Innovative Programs and Growth

Faculty leadership drove innovation in teaching and learning. Public Health redesigned its undergraduate and graduate curricula and launched a new graduate certificate in Epidemiology, while Interdisciplinary Social Science introduced a graduate certificate in Digital Applied Social Science. The Department of Geography established the Spatial Data Science Center under the direction of National Academy of Sciences member A. Stewart Fotheringham, Ph.D. The Claude Pepper Center expanded research on aging and well-being through eight funded projects and the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy broadened partnerships with federal and state agencies. The Gus A. Stavros Center expanded its Unconquered by Debt program, helping more students develop financial literacy. The Civil Rights Institute created its Student Ambassador Program and launched the C.K. Steele Speakers Series. The DeVoe L. Moore Center strengthened partnerships to expand applied research opportunities for students. OLLI at FSU engaged older learners through programs ranging from Music on the Hill to international study abroad. 

Looking Ahead

Across the college, faculty and students demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to scholarship, service, and preparing the next generation of leaders. Together, our departments, centers, and programs advanced knowledge, tackled urgent challenges, and created new opportunities for learning and discovery. These achievements not only reflect the strength of our academic community but also reinforce COSSPP’s role as a driving force in shaping policy, building community resilience, and preparing graduates to make an impact in Florida and around the world.

The progress of this past year has been possible because of the collective efforts of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends. Alumni continue to serve as examples of success through their professional achievements, entrepreneurial ventures, and community leadership, while donor support allows us to invest in scholarships, fellowships, research, and experiential learning. With this partnership, the college is poised to expand its reach, deepen its influence, and further its mission of fostering informed citizens and effective leaders for years to come.

View full 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

FSU’s Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy is home to one of the nation’s most respected and highly ranked public administration and policy programs. For decades, our dedicated faculty have prepared public service leaders who drive effective governance and meaningful change in their communities. The 2025 U.S. News & World Report edition of Best Graduate Schools recognized our excellence in training future leaders in policy and public service to the betterment of local communities, the state and the nation.

Our programs, along with those in the Department of Political Science and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, were ranked No. 10 overall and No. 9 among public universities for local government management. We were also ranked No. 16 overall and No. 10 among public universities for our leadership specialty. Our students and faculty engage in policy work that shapes public administration locally, nationally and around the world.

Faculty and students at the Askew School have recently received a series of prestigious honors that underscore our excellence in teaching, research and professional leadership. Ana-Maria Dimand, Ph.D., was named the inaugural recipient of the International Journal of Public Administration’s Emerging Scholar Award and has been invited to join the journal’s editorial board. She also received the Rising Star Award from the Section for Women in Public Administration at the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). Hongtao Yi, Ph.D., Reubin O’D. Askew Eminent Scholar Chair in Florida Government and Politics, was honored with the Chester Newland President Citation of Merit from ASPA.

Additionally, Tian Tang, Ph.D., and David Berlan, Ph.D., were each recognized with a Florida State University College of Social Sciences and Public Policy Faculty Teaching Award for Tenure-Track Faculty, celebrating their dedication to outstanding teaching and student engagement.

The Askew School is also proud to celebrate its students’ achievements. Sina Jangjoo was awarded the 2025 FSU Pursuit Award, one of the university’s highest student honors, given to just one recipient annually. This award recognizes exceptional leadership, dedication and impact, and Sina’s achievement reflects the Askew School’s commitment to cultivating future public service leaders.

Associate Professor of Public Administration Tian Tang, Ph.D., was the lead author of the article “Resilience in Complex Disasters: Florida’s Hurricane Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Amid COVID-19,” published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. The study explores how governmental and nonprofit agencies responded to the compound disasters of hurricanes and the pandemic during the 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons. Dr. Tang led a research team that included Tian Luo, a doctoral student at the Askew School and member of the Sustainability and Governance Lab, along with Harper Walton, an undergraduate student majoring in Russian and Eastern European studies and political science.

In addition to these individual achievements, the Askew School continues to foster dialogue on ethics and leadership in public service through events like the annual Joe Cresse Ethics in Government Lecture. Held April 3 in the DeVoe L. Moore Conference Room in Bellamy, this year’s lecture featured Kerrie Stillman, executive director of the Florida Commission on Ethics, whose lecture was titled “A Public Office Is a Public Trust.”

Together, these accomplishments highlight the Askew School’s continued leadership in shaping the future of public service through excellence in education, research and engagement.

Department of Economics

OLD I am honored to step into this role and am thankful to my predecessors for leaving the department in great shape. 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 32 full-time faculty and an active research program. At the undergraduate level, we offer a bachelor’s degree in economics, along with minors in both economics as well as philosophy, politics and economics. 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 12 months. Our Ph.D. program is a top-rated program among Florida’s public universities and has graduated more than 280 doctoral students since 1967.

The 2024-25 academic year was another expansive year for the department. Two faculty members completed their first year at FSU — Will Cockriel, Ph.D., an economic historian, and Nick Brown, Ph.D., an econometrician. We also hired three new members to start this fall and onward. Pëllumb Reshidi, Ph.D., a theorist and experimental economist from Duke University, and Vivek Moorthy, Ph.D., a demographer and applied micro-economist coming from Holy Cross, will start this upcoming fall. The third, Hyoeun Park, Ph.D., a theorist and experimental economist, will join us in fall 2026 after completing a postdoc at NYU.

Congratulations to Jeongbin Kim for earning promotion to associate professor with tenure, and to R. Vijay Krishna, who was promoted to professor. Our department is fortunate to continue benefiting from their increasing leadership roles.

With mixed emotions, we celebrated the retirement of Eminent Scholar Keith Ihlanfeldt, Ph.D., who enjoyed a 25-year career at FSU.

Over 993 undergraduates claimed economics as their primary major, while 22 students entered the applied master’s program, and six students started the Ph.D. program.

Congratulations to the undergraduate students who received awards this year for excelling in their core and elective courses — Max Blumenfeld, Gillian Haber, Ilya Korolev, Ryder Lambert, Synnove Mikkelsen, Drake Shook and Eliza Terziev. Urielle Laurent was also inducted into the 2025 Torchbearer 100 program in April.

Our faculty strives for excellence by publishing in top journals and advancing research through conferences and speaking engagements. Amid Ardakani, Ph.D., won the university’s Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Major for the 2024-25 academic year. Doug Norton, Ph.D., received an award for Outstanding Honors Advising this past year as well. Jeongbin Kim, Ph.D., Tuba Tuncel, Ph.D., and Matthew Gentry, Ph.D., all received COSSPP Faculty Awards for research, and Dr. Norton received the COSSPP Faculty Award for service. Mark Isaac was elected as a Fellow of the Economic Science Association, a remarkable honor acknowledging his career-long contributions to the field.

I hope to help our department continue to grow and improve by helping our faculty and students achieve success in research and in the classroom.

Department of Geography

As a foundational discipline in the social sciences, FSU’s Department of Geography seeks to expand understanding of our complex and rapidly changing world. With a focus on space and place, we are experts in integrating social sciences with knowledge of the biophysical environment to address interlinked socio-environmental challenges. We are also leaders in developing and applying integrative and interdisciplinary tools that include geographic information systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. We strive to make novel discoveries, train students with state-of-the-art skills, and serve our broader communities in developing interventions toward a resilient, sustainable, and just future. We offer two undergraduate degrees in geography and environment & society, two master’s degrees in geography and geographic information science (GIS), and a Ph.D. in geography.

This past year, the department transitioned its leadership as Mark Horner, Ph.D., returned to the faculty as the Earl B. and Sophia H. Shaw Professor of Geography following a three-year term as the chairperson of geography. We welcomed new faculty member Liling Chang, Ph.D., as an assistant professor, whose research interests include ecosystem responses to climate variability. A. Stewart Fotheringham, Ph.D., also joined the department as the Krafft Professor of Spatial Data Science. A member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Fotheringham will direct the newly launched Spatial Data Science Center (SDSC) in the college. As part of the development of the SDSC, Mason Mathews, Ph.D., will also begin a tenure-track appointment as assistant professor of geography in fall 2025. A new staff team also joined the department this year: Kari Edwards in the administrative specialist role, Kristina Svec as graduate academic program specialist, and Michal Bryant in a half-time appointment as administrative associate.

The academic year also saw numerous achievements in faculty, students, and postdoctoral scholars. We additionally hosted many exciting events.

• The department hosted former AAG President Kavita Pandit, Ph.D., who led a unique workshop on the power of deep listening, and delivered an engaging talk on the restructuring of faculty careers.
• Anne Chin, Ph.D., was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the Geological Society of America.
• Xiaolun Yang, Ph.D., and Tyler McCreary, Ph.D., received the 2024 and 2025 COSSPP research awards, respectively.
• Carolina Velasquez, Ph.D., was honored by Colombia’s national human rights office for her leadership in advancing research that supports communities affected by disasters in the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina in Colombia.
• Ph.D. student Caitlyn Jones, and master’s students Rayne Hawkins and Dani O’Neill, won research prizes from the Florida Society of Geography.
• Postdoctoral researcher Chris Omni, Ph.D., earned the 2025 Postdoctoral Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.
• Postdoctoral scholar and Department of Geography alumnus Kyusik Kim, Ph.D., was appointed to a tenure-track position at Kennesaw State University.
• Carolina Velasquez, Ph.D., Anne Chin, Ph.D., Tyler McCreary, Ph.D., A. Stewart Fotheringham, Ph.D., and Ziqi Li, Ph.D., published books.
• Ziqi Li, Ph.D., and Tyler McCreary, Ph.D., published papers in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the flagship journal of our discipline.
• Liling Chang, Ph.D., published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that shed light on how tropical forests may react to future environmental changes.
• Mark Horner, Ph.D., shepherded numerous students through the publication process with articles appearing in journals that included the Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
• Emily Billo, Ph.D., completed three months of ethnographic field research in Ecuador, including 12 oral histories, to unravel complex human-environment interactions.
• Victor Mesev, Ph.D., is guest editing a special issue on remote sensing measurements of land use and land cover.
• Amber DeJohn, Ph.D., received a COSSPP interdisciplinary grant to bring scholars to Tallahassee for the Building Capacity for Geographies of Aging and the Life Course (GOAL) Symposium.
• Chris Uejio, Ph.D., was selected to be a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Climate and Health Scholar. He continues to garner sizeable grants (e.g., from NASA and NOAA) in the face of a more competitive and limited funding landscape.

Department of Political Science

The Department of Political Science maintains one of the campus’ most vibrant intellectual communities. The university routinely recognizes our students for their excellence in scholarship and leadership, and our faculty are among the most research-productive and influential scholars in the discipline.

With roughly 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 — an impressive concentration of talent. These students are consistently among the most accomplished at FSU. Political science majors are routinely inducted into the Garnet and Gold Scholar Society, which honors undergraduates who excel inside and outside the classroom. This year alone, seven of the university’s Torchbearer 100 recipients — students recognized for exemplary leadership, scholarship, and service — were political science majors. Our students and alumni hold leadership positions in Florida government, national political institutions, and a wide range of civic organizations. They serve as legislative aides, nonprofit directors, policy analysts, campaign strategists, and elected officials. Their success speaks to the academic rigor and real-world preparation they receive in our department.

The department’s Applied Politics & Policy Learning Experience (APPLE) program is the only program of its kind in the country, offering select undergraduates experiential political learning opportunities and leadership training across local, state, and federal levels of government. By leveraging FSU’s location in the state capital, APPLE gives students a unique insider’s view of how government and politics operate. The program combines classroom instruction with hands-on internships in the Florida Legislature and in Washington, D.C., allowing students to apply their learning in real policy environments. For undergraduates interested in research, the department’s Research Intensive Bachelor’s Certificate (RIBC) program provides rigorous methodological training within a collaborative research setting. RIBC students regularly present at national academic conferences, and many go on to pursue doctoral studies at top graduate programs in political science and public policy.

Our Master’s in Applied American Politics and Policy (MAAPP) program remains one of the premier graduate programs in the country for students seeking careers in practical politics. With more than 640 alumni — many of whom serve in influential roles throughout Florida and Washington — MAAPP provides a powerful professional network for career advancement. Students in the program benefit from real-world instruction and mentorship from practitioners in the field. Our annual “MAAPP at the Cap” event connects students with alumni and officials working in and around the Florida Capitol, reinforcing the program’s commitment to professional development. The keynote speaker for 2025 was Rep. Hillary Cassel, and for 2024 the speaker was current Florida House of Representatives Speaker Rep. Daniel Perez. Both are alumni of the department. This fall, we are proud to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary and its outstanding record of training future political leaders.

The department’s Ph.D. program continues to attract outstanding students from around the world. Our recent graduates have secured excellent job placements: Taylor Chewning, Ph.D., will join the University of Tennessee as a tenure-track assistant professor; Harley Roe, Ph.D., will join Southern Utah University as a tenure-track assistant professor; Braeden McNulty, Ph.D., will join Baylor University as a lecturer; and Damian Boldt, Ph.D., will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia.

In fall 2025, the department will welcome three outstanding new faculty colleagues. Yusaku Horiuchi, Ph.D., currently professor of government and Mitsui Professor of Japanese Studies at Dartmouth College, will join FSU as professor and the Syde P. Deeb Eminent Scholar Chair of Political Science. Horiuchi is an internationally recognized expert on global public opinion and research methodology. James Strickland, Ph.D., currently associate professor at Arizona State University, is a leading scholar of interest group politics in the American states. Hanzhang Liu, Ph.D., currently assistant professor at Pitzer College, specializes in authoritarian politics and the political economy of development, with a particular focus on China.

Other news:

• After 23 years of distinguished service, Robert Jackson, Ph.D., has retired. A leading scholar of political participation and voting behavior, Jackson has published more than 30 articles in top journals and received numerous teaching awards. He has also been an exemplary colleague and mentor. We thank him for his dedication and wish him well in retirement.
• Last summer, the department hosted the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association’s Political Networks (PolNet) Section, convening scholars from around the globe.
• This summer, the department and FSU’s LeRoy Collins Institute will co-host the 9th Annual Summer Conference on Election Science, Reform, and Administration, drawing more than 200 participants across disciplines — political science, law, computer science, public administration, engineering, and more — as well as election officials from across the country.
• Amanda Driscoll, Ph.D., has been promoted to the rank of professor, effective fall 2025.
• Andrew Ballard, Ph.D., has been promoted to the rank of associate professor and granted tenure, effective fall 2025.
• Amanda Driscoll, Ph.D., was recently awarded an NSF grant to study “Democratic Accountability and Judicial Legitimacy” in the wake of recent judicial reforms in Mexico.
• Ryan Owens, Ph.D., authored Cognitive Aging and the Federal Circuit Courts: How Senescence Influences the Law and Judges, which received the C. Herman Pritchett Award — awarded annually by the APSA’s Law and Courts Section to the best book in the field published in the previous year.
• Karen Cyphers, Ph.D., has been awarded the 2024-25 University Teaching Award for Foundational Course Excellence. She teaches thousands of students each year in POS 1041: American National Government, a cornerstone of the state’s civic literacy requirement.
• The News Service of Florida’s annual “40 Under 40” list honored 40 top business leaders in the state — nine of whom are FSU political science alumni.
• Undergraduate Lauryn Klostrich received the department’s Charles Billings Award, recognizing exceptional public service and academic achievement. Lauryn has logged more than 500 hours volunteering with the Office of the Public Defender and various nonprofits, and she currently serves in the FSU Student Senate.
• Undergraduate Lara Japiassu received the department’s Thomas Dye Award for Academic Excellence. An RIBC participant, Lara conducted field research in Brazil and served as a research assistant to Professor Dotan Haim on a project exploring political violence. She is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Department of Sociology

Established more than 100 years ago, the Department of Sociology boasts a top-ranked teaching and research program with more than 25 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. Faculty hold a wide variety of research interests in the subfields of demography, health and aging, family, gender, social and economic inequalities, and political sociology.

In addition, our faculty hold numerous key leadership positions within the 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 John Taylor, Ph.D., director, and Mathew Hauer, Ph.D., associate director. Katrinell Davis, Ph.D., serves as the director of the African American Studies Program, and Patricia Homan, Ph.D., serves as the director of research and strategic initiatives for the Public Health Program.

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 nonprofits, government agencies, political organizations, and private companies. We consistently have a 100% in-field employment rate for our recent Ph.D. graduates. We also have outstanding undergraduate majors who excel in the classroom and as leaders on FSU’s campus. Last year, almost 10% of graduating sociology students graduated with honors, an honors in the major recognition, or with induction into FSU’s Garnet and Gold Scholar Society or the university’s Torchbearer 100. We are exceptionally proud of the great scholars and leaders we have the honor to teach and mentor.

Other news from the department includes:
After more than 20 years of dedicated scholarship, teaching, and service to FSU, John Taylor, Ph.D., will retire at the end of the summer. He will be greatly missed by colleagues in sociology, at the Center for Demography and Population Health — where he has served as director for the past three years — and across the college. We wish him all the best as he moves into the next phase of life.

During fiscal year 2025, sociology faculty secured $1.4 million in external funding. In addition, faculty were engaged in several large, multi-year grants and projects supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Interdisciplinary Research Network on Rural Health and Aging, the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare (TMH), and the Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging — representing more than $1.5 million in total research support. Faculty also garnered more than $160,000 in competitive internal grants from FSU.

Deana Rohlinger, Ph.D., completed her second year as editor-in-chief of Social Science Computer Review. In addition to bringing recognition to our department, her engagement in this role has provided opportunities for graduate students to learn about and participate in the publications process.

Our faculty received numerous awards for their research, teaching, and service. Major recognitions at the university and professional level include:

• Anne Barrett, Ph.D., received the 2024 Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award from the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the 2025 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award from the Sociology Graduate Student Union.
• Shantel Buggs, Ph.D., was awarded the 2024 NSF Advance Fellowship.
• Dawn Carr, Ph.D., was chosen to serve as an FSU representative to the ACC Academic Leadership Network. Dr. Carr also received the 2025 Faculty Service Award from the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy.
• Mathew Hauer, Ph.D., and doctoral student Sunshine Jacobs were finalists for the 2024 Cozzarelli Prize given by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).
• Patricia Homan, Ph.D., received the 2024 Early Career Award in Population Health from the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science.
• Corey Moss-Pech, Ph.D., was chosen to participate in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy’s Grant Academy Fellowship Program.
• Teresa Roach, Ph.D., received the 2024 Specialized Faculty Teaching Award from the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. Dr. Roach also won the 2025 Michael J. Armer Teaching Award from the Department of Sociology and the 2025 Outstanding Teacher Award from the Sociology Graduate Student Union.
• Kelly Russell, Ph.D., received the 2024 Charles Tilly Best Article Award from the Comparative-Historical Section of the American Sociological Association. She was also awarded the 2024 J. Michael Armer Teaching Award from the Sociology Department and the 2025 Specialized Faculty Teaching Award from the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy.
• Kathi Tillman, Ph.D., was chosen to serve as an FSU representative to the ACC Academic Leadership Network. Dr. Tillman also received the 2024 Faculty Service Award from the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy and the 2024 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Sociology Graduate Student Union.

We look forward to a productive summer and an exciting new academic year.

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) boasts Florida’s most established, extensive, and highest-ranked planning program. For more than five decades, our seasoned faculty have shaped professional planners who work as catalysts for positive change, improving the quality of life in their communities. Our programs — along with those in political science and public administration and policy — ranked No. 10 overall (No. 9 among public universities) in local government management and No. 16 overall (No. 10 public) in leadership. According to the latest Planetizen rankings, DURP offers the top-ranked master’s program in Florida and the No. 11 public university program nationally. Our students and faculty drive policy work that shapes urban and regional planning locally and globally.

Over the past academic year, the department has celebrated numerous achievements that highlight our faculty and students’ dedication to impactful research, teaching, and community engagement.

Professor William Butler, Ph.D., Associate Professor Tisha Holmes, Ph.D., and doctoral student Anthony Milordis co-authored the article “Can Florida’s Coast Survive Its Reliance on Development? Fiscal Vulnerability and Funding Woes Under Sea Level Rise,” published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, one of the leading journals in urban planning. Dr. Butler also received the University Inclusive Teaching and Mentoring Award, and Planner-in-Residence Dennis Smith, AICP, won a COSSPP 2025 Faculty Award. Assistant Professor Meaghan McSorley, Ph.D., authored a policy memo for the American Planning Association on empathy in planning. The memo highlights how empathy can enhance well-being, strengthen teamwork, and improve community engagement to create more inclusive planning practices.

Last summer, Associate Professor Kelly Kinahan, Ph.D., led FSU’s efforts in a collaborative project funded by a $500,000 grant from the EPA’s Brownfields Revitalization Anti-Displacement Strategies (BRADs) Program. The team, which includes researchers from multiple universities, focused on developing anti-displacement strategies to address the impacts of brownfield redevelopment, particularly for underserved communities. Dr. Butler mentored Gisela Alvizures, an undergraduate honors student in political science, on her thesis about gentrification in Miami-Dade County. Alvizures was selected to present her research at the ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference and will begin FSU’s Master of Science in Planning (MSP) program this fall.

This past year, students in our URP 4022: Collective Decision-Making class, taught by Professor Chris Coutts, Ph.D., were paid a visit by COSSPP Distinguished Alumnus and Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, who spoke about storm preparation and recovery efforts after the recent hurricanes.

These accomplishments reflect DURP’s strong commitment to teaching, research, and preparing future planners to build stronger, more resilient, and sustainable communities.

African American Studies

The African American Studies (AFA) Program continues to foster critical dialogue, community engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration across campus and beyond. This academic year, AFA co-sponsored several high-impact events that brought national voices and timely scholarship to the FSU community.

In September 2024, AFA partnered with the College of Social Work to host Robert Eschmann, Ph.D., for a public talk centered on his latest book exploring race, digital culture, and resistance. In October, the program co-sponsored the visit of acclaimed poet, activist, and scholar Nikki Giovanni, including a panel discussion and screening of the documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, where AFA Director Katrinell Davis, Ph.D., served as a panelist.

In November 2024, AFA partnered with the Lola Hampton-Frank Pinder Center for Agroecology to host a panel highlighting the intersections of agriculture, environmental justice, and racial equity. The event brought together faculty, students, and community members for a conversation on Black land traditions, food sovereignty, and the politics of sustainability.

AFA collaborated again with the Department of Sociology in February 2025 to host sociologist Corey Dolgon, Ph.D. His visit featured a research talk on economic inequality and a faculty development session on action-based pedagogy. These events reflect AFA’s commitment to public-facing scholarship and intellectual exchange that is both accessible and transformative.

Our program continues to celebrate student success through signature events such as the April 2025 AFA Student Awards Ceremony and the May 2025 State of Black Florida Conference, which showcases Black scholarship, student leadership, and community-engaged research.

We are also proud to share that Carolina S. Velásquez-Calderón, Ph.D., joint faculty member in the Department of Geography and the African American Studies Program, was honored in 2025 by Colombia’s national human rights office. She was recognized for her leadership in advancing research that supports disaster-affected communities in the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina.

From award-winning faculty to student-centered programming, AFA continues to strengthen its impact and deepen its commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship, community engagement, and education.

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 educational opportunities to both students in our programs and the community through Brown Bag Seminars featuring demographers such as Roland Rau, Ph.D., University of Rostock (Germany), and Brian Knop, Ph.D., a survey statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau.

We also hosted our Annual Charles B. Nam Lecture in the Sociology of Population featuring David F. Warner, University of Alabama at Birmingham, in March 2025. The center also hosted a dinner in recognition of William Serow, Ph.D., professor of economics and director of CDPH until his passing in 2003, and Betty Serow, a longtime supporter of the center. At the dinner, Nathan Gebert, a previous recipient of the Charles B. Nam Scholarship, was also awarded the Serow Prize.

CDPH faculty have also been recognized both at FSU and nationally. Patricia Homan, Ph.D., was named the inaugural Raymond Flavious Bellamy Chair in Population Studies, funded by the Bellamy family. Matthew Brooks, Ph.D., coauthored an op-ed about marriage and families in rural America, published by The Washington Post. Additionally, CDPH Associate Director Mathew Hauer, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Sociology Michael McFarland, Ph.D., published a research paper that has been referenced in more than 200 news articles. We are also excited to announce the hiring of Vivek Moorthy, Ph.D., who will be joining the center this fall. He is a recent graduate of Notre Dame and currently holds a faculty position in economics at the College of the Holy Cross.

CDPH looks forward to continuing its Brown Bag Seminars, offered both in person and virtually, and the next Charles B. Nam Annual Lecture in the coming year.

Emergency Management and Homeland Security

The Emergency Management and Homeland Security (EMHS) Program and the Center for Disaster Risk Policy (CDRP) remained active and engaged with students and the community in the 2024–25 academic year.

Our Disaster Intelligence Analysis Lab (DIAL) has continued to grow. With more than 20 paid and unpaid interns each semester, DIAL provides a unique combination of academic research and practical experience working with public safety officials in the intelligence field. Additionally, as word continues to spread about DIAL’s value to stakeholders, our partnerships have grown to include the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Lee County Emergency Management, and the Tallahassee Police Department.

Several of our dedicated students created a new registered student organization (RSO) in fall 2024 called the Student Intelligence and Emergency Response Association (SIERA). The group hosts speakers, workshops, and study sessions for students interested in the field.

EMHS received an NSF-funded award from Carnegie Mellon University’s AI Institute for Societal Decision Making and hosted a tabletop exercise that simulated the impacts of Hurricane Michael. This is the first of three planned exercises that aim to gather insights into the emergency management decision-making process and determine how AI can support disaster response.

The Certificate in U.S. Intelligence Studies earned certification from the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE) in January 2025. FSU is now one of seven universities nationwide to earn this recognition. The IAFIE Certification Program confirms that courses and programs meet specific content standards, ensuring quality education in intelligence.

PAD 3012: Mayhem Media is now Quality Matters certified. This course earned an internal assessment from FSU as “High Quality,” following a thorough overhaul to improve accessibility and clarity in course design. Other EMHS classes will soon follow suit.

As always, EMHS was on hand to assist during the 2024 hurricane season, including Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton. Working in the State Emergency Operations Center, faculty, staff, and students assisted the Florida Division of Emergency Management and partner agencies with coordinating air operations, including unmanned aircraft systems deployed by EMHS into the impact areas. DIAL also supported response by identifying unmet needs, responding to requests from those in the field, and creating intelligence reports for stakeholders.

EMHS has also begun transitioning all undergraduate courses from the PAD (Public Administration) prefix to the DSC (Domestic Security) prefix. This is part of a larger effort to one day establish a full undergraduate degree program.

In October 2024 and March 2025, EMHS students traveled to the bi-annual National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) conference. NEMA is composed of the 50 state emergency management directors, senior decision-makers, and federal officials. EMHS students attend and work as note-takers for the NEMA professional staff, helping draft summaries of sessions, conferences, and discussions. They also meet senior leaders in emergency management and begin forming professional networks prior to graduation. This experience is unique, as FSU is the only university invited to participate in this way.

Interdisciplinary Social Science

OLD The Interdisciplinary Social Science (ISS) Program is one of the college’s largest undergraduate majors, with 1,143 students actively enrolled this past academic year. We provide an environment that supports holistic understandings of complex social dynamics by integrating perspectives across the social sciences and beyond.

Our program offers individualized mentorship from six dedicated faculty members. They work diligently to guide students and help them advance toward their academic goals. Faculty in the program are recognized as outstanding instructors at FSU through college and university teaching awards. Maria Cristina Ramos, Ph.D., received the university’s Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Major and COSSPP’s Faculty Award for Teaching. Tracy Woodard, Ph.D., received the university’s Teaching Award for Community-Engaged Teaching. Alexandra Cockerham, Ph.D., associate teaching professor, received a grant of approximately $112,000 from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to examine the effect of teen courts on recidivism. The study’s results will be shared at this year’s Association of Interdisciplinary Studies conference.

This year, we launched a pilot major, Integrated Studies, a distinctive area within ISS that empowers students to explore and synthesize knowledge across disciplines. Through close collaboration with faculty from the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields, students develop creative, adaptable approaches to addressing complex societal challenges. We look forward to welcoming new Integrated Studies faculty members in fall 2025: Emelie Griffin, Ph.D., Amit Anshumali, Ph.D., and Renata Schama, Ph.D.

We also launched a graduate certificate in Digital Applied Social Science (DASS) in conjunction with the College of Communication and Information to address complex social science questions using cutting-edge digital tools and ethical frameworks. This 18-credit certificate includes four core courses and two electives. It teaches students how to gather data from databases, use crowdsourcing, and work with application programming interfaces (APIs). It also builds essential skills in data management, analysis, and visualization to ensure accurate and efficient results.

Our students and alumni made many contributions to their communities this past year. Recent graduate Rodney Wells (B.S. in Interdisciplinary Social Science, ’25) will attend Yale Law School in fall 2025. We wish him well as he pursues his law degree. Grady Anderson (B.S. in Political Science and Interdisciplinary Social Science, ’25) co-authored a review in Social Forces with Radha Modi, Ph.D., assistant director and associate teaching professor for Interdisciplinary Social Science. Congratulations to Shovik Saha on induction into the 2025 Torchbearer 100 program.

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

Kathy Mears (B.S. in Social Science, ’03; M.P.A., ’11) was honored as one of the college’s 2024 distinguished alumni. Mears is the assistant commissioner of agriculture for the State of Florida and has more than 25 years of state government service. We thank Joe Paul (B.A. in Social Science, ’02) for speaking about the ethical imperatives of AI and serving as a judge in the college’s 2025 Design Sprint. Alumni Helen Smith (B.S. in Interdisciplinary Social Science, ’23) became the digital marketing manager for the Florida Justice Association nine months ago, and Cameron Fink started a new position as director of government affairs at Associated Industries of Florida.

If you’d like to share your time and expertise with our students, please contact the college’s assistant director for student and alumni engagement, Elizabeth Jones, at elizabeth.jones@advance.fsu.edu.

International Affairs

The International Affairs Program is one of the largest undergraduate majors in the college, as well as one of the most demographically diverse programs at FSU. Beginning in fall 2025, Na’ama Nagar, Ph.D., will become director of the program after her promotion to teaching faculty III, and Lee Metcalf, Ph.D., will serve as graduate director.

Our faculty were recognized several times this academic year for their contributions to the program and beyond. Dr. Metcalf won the COSSPP Faculty Award for Service, while Dr. Nagar and Whitney Bendeck, Ph.D., were nominated for university teaching awards. Juan Irigoyen Borunda, Ph.D., published a paper in the Economics Journal of Business and Economics Insight on how incentives and promotions can boost voter turnout, using The Civic Thumb program in Chihuahua, Mexico, as a case study.

Our alumni also excelled in a variety of fields and gave back their time to the program. Joey Arellano was awarded the 2024 Reubin O’D. Askew Young Alumni Award and serves as deputy director of communications for the Florida House of Representatives Office of the Minority Leader. Sue Ebbers was named to the Tallahassee Democrat’s 25 Women to Know in 2025 for her work as founder of Change by Design, a performance solutions firm. Carla Juarez Farley and Gangul Gabadage were both honored on the News Service of Florida’s “40 Under 40” list for making great strides in their industries and for the state of Florida. Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz received the Circle of Excellence Award in Advocacy from FSU’s Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication.

Our students continued to earn honors at an impressive rate. Alexis Dorman and Morgan Gahan were inducted into the 2025 Torchbearer 100 program, and Arantza Caudillo-Alvarez was named the 2025 Humanitarian of the Year for her commitment to human rights work. Several students were selected as Social Science Scholars, one of COSSPP’s most prestigious honors. Many others earned their Global Citizenship Certificate, a joint program between our unit and the Center for Global Engagement. Thirty students received $1,000 travel scholarships, and one student received a $4,000 Edna Ranck Scholarship for a research project. We hope to increase these award amounts in the future to meet rising program costs.

We also hosted several events to amplify the program’s presence on campus and its impact on our students. In collaboration with the Center for Global Engagement, we showed the film I’m Still Here in the Student Life Cinema. Neil Rambana, a local immigration attorney and alumnus of our master’s program, spoke to the International Studies Graduate Student Association in honor of Black History Month. Lt. Col. Aaron Love, another alumnus, gave a presentation on Afghanistan and regional relations. Tanner Taddeo led a professional workshop for master’s students on best practices for executive pitching.

Public Health

The Public Health Program, which includes a Master of Public Health (MPH) and Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH), continues to thrive under a new leadership team and with faculty dedicated to facilitating student learning, personal growth, and professional preparation through strong teaching and mentorship. The new leadership team is composed of Alan Rowan, DrPH, director of the program; Helen Mahony, Ph.D., MPH program director; and Annette Schwabe, Ph.D., BSPH program director. In one year, the team has made excellent progress on redesigning the MPH and BSPH curriculum to meet the changing needs of students, align with accreditation standards, and prepare graduates to succeed in a changing labor market. Deanna Barath, Ph.D., continues her vital role as the CEPH accreditation coordinator as we prepare our self-study, due in spring 2026, and a site visit in fall 2026. Dr. Barath also serves as a member of the MPH Policy Committee and the newly formed BSPH Undergraduate Program Committee (UPC).

Additionally, Christine Abdelhadi joined the team as academic program specialist, bringing valuable experience, support, and coordination to students and faculty.

Ladanya Ramirez Surmeier, Ph.D., remains deeply engaged across the academic and university communities, contributing to both degree programs through engaged teaching, mentoring, and service on the BSPH Undergraduate Program Committee. We were also pleased to welcome Daniel Grischy, Ph.D., who joined the faculty in August 2024. Dr. Grischy teaches Introduction to Public Health and the BSPH Internship course, helping students secure hands-on experiences aligned with their goals. At the Panama City campus, Tory Peek, Ph.D., continues as the only public health faculty member and was recently named director of the Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences (IMS) program, expanding health opportunities for students in the region.

Two faculty members were among the seven COSSPP recipients of the 2024–25 University Teaching Awards. Dr. Schwabe was recognized for Outstanding Teaching in the Major, and Dr. Surmeier received the award for Community-Engaged Teaching.

This past spring, the Public Health Program had 705 BSPH majors (688 on the main campus and 17 on the Panama City campus) and 89 active MPH students. We also celebrated the graduation of 310 students this year. Alumni continue to make us proud, entering careers in public service, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector, advancing initiatives that promote healthy behaviors and strengthen public health systems. Many have also been accepted into competitive dental, medical, and law programs.

The Graduate Certificate in Public Health Epidemiology launched in fall 2024. The certificate is available to graduate students across the university and to non-degree-seeking students, including working professionals who want to add epidemiology to their knowledge base for professional development. The certificate includes four courses, all available online.

This year marked a remarkable surge in student engagement within the public health community. The Master of Public Health Student Association (MPHSA) hosted three social gatherings, six academic seminars, and four community service initiatives. Their service included building two wheelchair ramps in collaboration with Ability 1st, serving meals at Grace Mission, and partnering with the Florida Department of Health in Leon County to conduct community surveys. These surveys assessed public awareness and preparedness around hurricane and tornado emergency management—critical work in a region regularly impacted by severe weather.

In addition to their ongoing programming, MPHSA organized the third annual Public Health Conference, which brought together 43 community organizations, eight expert speakers, and on-site health screenings, creating a powerful platform for education, collaboration, and community impact.

On the undergraduate side, students launched the Bachelor of Science in Public Health Student Association (BSPHSA). In the final weeks of spring semester, seven BSPH students and one MPH student liaison were selected to serve on the BSPHSA executive board. They have already begun developing multiple programs and outlining funding requests for the fall semester. This renewed organization aims to offer mentoring and professional development for BSPH students, create networking opportunities, and ensure that undergraduate voices are represented in shaping the future of the BSPH program and outreach.

As the Public Health Program grows in size and impact, we remain focused on our core mission: advancing community well-being through interdisciplinary education, collaboration, and service. With dedicated leadership, engaged students, and innovative initiatives, we are preparing the next generation of public health professionals to meet today’s challenges and shape a healthier tomorrow.

Civil Rights Institute

The FSU Civil Rights Institute (CRI) is a leading center of student-focused engagement and scholarship dedicated to exploring civil rights laws, policies, and their impact on American society. As part of Florida’s university system, the institute connects students to the legacy of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement through research, education, and community programming.

CRI empowers students to examine the role of legal and policy frameworks in shaping justice and equality. Through the CRI Student Ambassador Program, students engage in primary research, support exhibitions, and contribute to civil rights initiatives that advance inclusive excellence and civic responsibility.

The institute also launched the C.K. Steele Speakers Series to honor the legacy of Tallahassee civil rights leader C.K. Steele. The series invites scholars and policy experts to lead lectures and discussions, deepening students’ understanding of civil rights history and contemporary issues.

With strong interdisciplinary collaboration and a focus on real-world learning, the Civil Rights Institute is a vital platform for advancing justice and equity in the United States.

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. In the past year, the CPC has provided significant impact through research and translation activities that highlight ways to bolster the health and well-being of older adults.

Regarding research, CPC faculty published 10 peer-reviewed papers and delivered 12 presentations at international conferences, supported by eight grants and contracts. These projects explored a range of issues, including factors that shape well-being and outcomes among older workers and in retirement, psychological resources and aging, and comparative studies of well-being in later life in the United States and other countries.

The CPC also worked to enhance the reach and scope of its research by supporting translation for a wide range of audiences. The Translational Data Platform initiative brings together researchers, students, and postdoctoral fellows across COSSPP and other colleges. This effort has produced new data dashboards, worksheets, and infographics that communicate aging-related trends and best practices to older adults and their families. The Opening Minds through Arts (OMA) internship program trains up to 15 students each semester to work one-on-one with an older adult living with dementia, practicing person-centered care principles and building meaningful connections. Each session concludes with an art show at the CPC, where the artists and their families gather to display their work and celebrate with their student interns. The leader of the OMA program, Suzanne Monroe Smith, was also invited to give a TEDx talk at FSU’s first official TEDx event.

Finally, the CPC contributed thought leadership and policy analysis through a range of public presentations. Dawn Carr, Ph.D., director of the CPC, was invited to provide expert testimony before the U.S. Senate, presenting a new framework for federal policies to support healthy aging in the United States. She also delivered keynote presentations to audiences that included elder law experts, aging practitioners, and research scholars across the country. The CPC continues to develop new initiatives and partnerships across the university, the local community, the state, and nationally.

DeVoe L. Moore Center

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

An important goal in recent years has been establishing an integrated curriculum that supports a pathway from the classroom to the workplace. Students can take up to 15 credit hours in courses designed to sharpen their research skills, strengthen their understanding of economic and policymaking principles, and apply those 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 helps students hone their research skills, develop project management capabilities, build oral and written communication skills, and focus on organizational missions.

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

The center’s alumni now number more than 275 and are employed by leading private companies such as IBM, Ernst & Young, and Ford Credit, as well as nonprofit organizations such as the Reason Foundation, Institute for Humane Studies, Stand Together, Goodwill Industries, and the Charles Koch Foundation. The program is also a prominent feeder into 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 from the center have covered zoning reform, affordable housing, height regulations, and environmental policy. Its platforms include an active blog, contributions to independent blogs, social media, and its annual magazine Focus.

The DeVoe L. Moore Center is entering the 2024–25 academic year with a strong foundation that will allow us to leverage our research and teaching to achieve an even greater impact.

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 make economics more interesting and understandable. It also seeks to help instructors at all levels become outstanding 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 builders. UBD event manager Jen West Kantor and 19 student workers propelled the program to record levels in the 2024–25 academic year. Investments by university leadership, including President Richard McCullough and Provost James Clark, helped UBD reach more FSU students this year, advancing the university’s goal of helping students graduate with minimal debt and maximize their wealth-building potential. The center hosted 164 workshops with more than 2,000 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.

As an extension of UBD, a lunchtime Food and Finance series hosted faculty and staff for financial wellness workshops. The center also held its annual Creative Ideas teaching workshop in February, which attracted educators from around the state to enhance their classroom skills.

The Stavros Center expanded its global reach by hosting visitors from Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Joe Calhoun, director of the center, led student workshops in Albania and served as a judge at the International Economics Olympiad in Greece.

Allison McDowell became the full-time UBD event manager, succeeding retiring manager Jen West Kantor. The center will also welcome Mark Melichar, Ph.D., as assistant director in fall 2025.

LeRoy Collins Institute

This academic year marked a significant milestone for the LeRoy Collins Institute in advancing bold, visionary public policy solutions for Florida and the nation. From pioneering research in election integrity to building the next generation of policy scholars, LCI continues to embody Governor LeRoy Collins’ vision.

Our top project of the year was implementing an interactive data dashboard to improve transparency and public access to post-election audits. Part of our 2022 and 2024 Leon County postelection audit studies, this innovative dashboard compares the certified vote counts to the audited vote counts and includes access to images of ballots in the primary and general elections. The project overcame the challenging technical hurdle of presenting complex election data in a secure, accessible format.

Our 2024 Florida and New Mexico Election Studies are currently in progress and are expected to be released later this year.

We are also publishing a major research report on public-private partnerships in catastrophe insurance. The report proposes strategies to reduce the cost of catastrophic risk in Florida by combining mitigation, insurance market reforms, and a more active role for public entities.

Our researchers are also conducting groundbreaking field experiments to measure the impact on voter confidence of nonpartisan election observers at polling sites. These projects, supported by the Democracy Renewal Project, not only improve scholarship but also guide more effective policy and practice for democratic engagement.

We remain committed to student engagement. We welcomed five new fellows to the institute: Carson Cary, Marli Dunietz, Irfan Yilmaz, Jake Serwe, and Emma Barrett.

In June 2025, we hosted the Election Sciences, Reform, and Administration conference, bringing leading scholars and practitioners to campus to advance research and dialogue on election systems. LCI also sponsored and participated in the law school’s 25th anniversary commemoration of the landmark Bush vs. Gore case in February, reflecting on one of the most pivotal moments in American election history.

With an unwavering dedication to unbiased research, the LeRoy Collins Institute is privileged to continue addressing issues of concern to Florida and the nation.

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 more than 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 fall 2023 and is now a semiannual event.

As part of our study abroad offerings, OLLI at FSU traveled to Morocco in May 2025 and to Scandinavia in August 2025.

The semiannual showcase of classes and activities at the Turnbull Conference Center is open to the community each September and January.

The OLLI at FSU Panama City 30A (PC30A) site 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 more than 40 years, the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy (PIAPP) has been dedicated to research, education, and outreach that address the opportunities and challenges of aging populations in Florida, the nation, and the world. We support more than 50 faculty and students engaged in award-winning research on aging, healthy lifespan, communities, and health policy. We house two working research groups: one for faculty, postdocs, 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, our training events included a weeklong intensive graduate workshop on data visualization related to policymaking in aging societies and an invited presentation and collaboration with FSU-Panama and the Panama Aging Research Initiative (PARI).

This year, we supported funded projects and expanded new and existing partnerships, including federal, foundation, and international grants, and a growing portfolio of state contracts. Over the past year, we housed research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Social Security Administration, the Borchard Foundation, and more on topics including resilience in later life, cognitive function, older workers, ageism, and marital functioning of today’s couples. Our state contracts have grown to include funding from Florida’s Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Elder Affairs. These projects span program development, community education and prevention, and evaluation to improve health and aging in our 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 benefiting older adults in our community and across Florida, including OLLI at FSU and Safe Mobility for Life. This year, we grew partnerships with AARP and the Florida Council on Aging to increase education and empowerment of citizens, communities, and state stakeholders supporting the well-being of older adults.