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The Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research

Dean Katharyne Mitchell presents the 2017 Martin M. Chemers Award to Professor of Psychology Barbara Rogoff (left to right: Dean Katharyne Mitchell, Barbara Rogoff, and Cam Leaper).

This Division of Social Sciences award recognizes a senior faculty member whose research has had a substantial cumulative impact on her or his discipline over a number of years. The awardee will have a solid national and international reputation in her or his field. The award recipient is honored publicly at the division's annual fall breakfast and receives a plaque as well as a $2,000 cash award. 

Dean Kathryne Mitchell, Lisa Rofel, and Barbara Rogoff
Dean Katharyne Mitchell and
Barbara Rogoff presenting award to Lisa Rofel 2018
Past winners include:
  • Jean Fox Tree (Psychology), 2023
  • Julie Guthman (Community Studies), 2022
  • Campbell Leaper (Psychology), 2021
  • Karen Holl (Environmental Studies), 2020
  • Judit Moschkovich (Education) and Weixin Cheng (Environmental Studies), 2019
  • Lisa Rofel (Anthropology), 2018
  • Barbara Rogoff (Psychology), 2017
  • Andrew Szasz (Environmental Studies), 2016
  • Craig Haney (Psychology), 2015
  • Diane Gifford-Gonzalez (Anthropology), 2014
  • Carl E. Walsh (Economics), 2013
  • Deborah Letourneau (Environmental Studies), 2012
  • Anna Tsing (Anthropology), 2011
  • Donald Wittman (Economics), 2010
  • Adrienne Zihlman (Anthropology), 2009
  • Daniel Friedman (Economics), 2008
  • Bruce Bridgeman (Psychology), 2007

How to submit a nomination

Department Chairs in the Social Sciences are encouraged to nominate one or two of their faculty. Nominees must be current faculty members of the UCSC Division of Social Sciences. Faculty planning to retire or otherwise separate from UCSC during Summer or Fall are still eligible in a given year.

Nomination packages must include:

1. An updated curriculum vitae / biobibliography that indicates what month and year it was last updated.

2. A cover letter which includes an evaluation of the nominee’s research that highlights their prominence, range and scope of contributions and the national/international impact of their research. This could include, for example:

  • Assessment of the relative prestige of honors received in their field.
  • Identification of the prominence of the journals and books in which they tend to publish.
  • Other evidence of the respect their work has received, such as invitations for plenary addresses and for editorships.
  • Explanation of the importance of their research contributions to their discipline, interdisciplinary endeavors, cross-disciplinary communication.
  • If relevant, the nomination could also explain research contributions to local communities in their study area or engagement with the communities involved in their research. For example, if working overseas, making research contributions to communities of scholars in the region or country they study.

The selection committee will only consider individuals nominated (or re-nominated) that year. Re-nominations need to be self-contained replacements of an earlier nomination. The committee will determine whether additional information is needed after they review the records of the various nominees. 

Nomination materials must be submitted electronically to the dean's executive assistant by 5 p.m., Friday, May 31, 2024. The awardee will be announced in mid June.

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