Awards

Information for Staff & Faculty

The Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research

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.

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 Social Sciences. Faculty planning to retire or otherwise separate from UCSC during Summer or Fall are still eligible in a given year. 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 Administrative Assistant. A form will be posted to this page when nominations open. The awardee will be announced in mid-June.

Nomination packages must include:

• An updated curriculum vitae / bio-bibliography that indicates what month and year it was last updated.
• A cover letter that 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, and 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.

Previous Winners

• Kent Eaton (Politics), 2024
• 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

Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Award

This prestigious award is an opportunity to honor eminent Social Sciences scholars, researchers, and instructors who continue to make major contributions in their fields as emeriti faculty. The purpose of the Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Faculty Award is to increase awareness of the enormous value of emeriti faculty contributions and to recognize and honor all that the division’s emeriti give to the campus and their intellectual and civic communities. Emeriti faculty may choose to explore different avenues of research after retirement or to delve even more deeply into the fields they have cultivated for decades. Continuing as members of the Academic Senate, their departments, and their academic communities, some are recalled to the university to teach, while many continue other forms of active service, contributing their experience, knowledge, and wisdom for the intellectual enrichment of the larger community.

Submit a nomination

A form will be posted to this page when nominations open.

Golden Apple Award

In 1991, the Division of Social Sciences established the Golden Apple Award to recognize outstanding teaching in the division. The recipient of this award is recognized at the annual fall breakfast and receives a plaque and a $2,000 prize. Awardees are recommended by a faculty committee named by the Dean of Social Sciences, based on nominations submitted by department chairs.

Submit a nomination

Nominations are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, May xx, 2025.

Golden Apple eligibility criteria

• Nomination letter from the Department Chair and two years of teaching evaluations/evidence are required.
• Range of teaching (across levels of the curriculum) is a consideration.
• Selection committee may take into account other factors during its deliberations.
• Please feel free to inform us of any special/unusual circumstances or factors that add to the case for the nominee.
• Recent winners of the Academic Senate Committee on Teaching (COT) award, i.e., those who have won a COT award during the last three years are not eligible for the division award.
• Repeat nominations: Prior winners will be eligible for repeat awards after a five-year period.

Previous winners

2024
Jeffrey Erbig (Latin American & Latino Studies)

2023
Megan Thomas (Politics)

2022
Saskias Casanova (Psychology)

2021
Liz Beaumont (Politics)

2020
Sylvanna Falcón (Latin American and Latino Studies)
Ronald Glass (Education)

2019
Steve McKay (Sociology)

2018
Cindy Cruz (Education)

2017
Deborah Gould (Sociology)

2016
Mayanthi Fernando (Anthropology)

2015
Maureen Callanan (Psychology)

Staff Award for Outstanding Achievement

This award recognizes outstanding service to both the division and the university. The Division of Social Sciences will award one department or research center staff member and one staff member within the central division. The winners will be honored publicly, and receive a plaque and a cash award at the division’s annual fall breakfast event.

Submit a nomination

Staff, faculty, and students in the Social Sciences are encouraged to nominate a staff member in the Division office or in one of the Departments, Centers, or Colleges of the Division using the Staff Award Nomination Form. A form will be posted to this page when nominations open.

Committee evaluation criteria

• Breadth of nominations from a variety of people (supervisors, peers, students, faculty), not necessarily based on total number of nominations
• Quality of service
• Degree of impact on the successful operation of the division/department/university
• Years of service as a consideration

Staff Award eligibility criteria

• In a non-academic, career staff position in Social Sciences at the time of nomination
• Be employed by UCSC prior to May 1 of the previous year
• Have received, at least, a satisfactory performance evaluation during the previous fiscal year
• Have not received a formal corrective action during the previous fiscal year

Previous winners

2024
Cassie Isaacson (Environmental Studies)

2023
Hollie Clausnitzer (Politics, Legal Studies)

2022
Allison Land (Psychology)
Sarah Woodside Bury (College Nine, John R. Lewis College, Cowell College, and Stevenson College)

2021
Jessica Lawrence (Sociology)

2020
Lorato Anderson (Latin American and Latino Studies/Politics)
Jennifer McNulty (University Relations/Social Sciences Division)

2019
Lin Weyers (Environmental Studies)
Doug Niven (Division)
Deanna Slater (College Nine and College Ten)

2018
Tina Cossaboom (Sociology)
Betsy Tyler (Division of Social Sciences)

2017
Martha Brown (Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems)

2016
Abbey Asher (College Nine and College Ten)

2015
Tiffany Winslow (Division Facilities Coordinator)