Campus News
Social Sciences faculty and staff honored at annual Fall Breakfast
Interim Dean of the Social Sciences Division, Herbie Lee, along with committees of staff and faculty, presented awards to three faculty members and one staff member for their commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and service.
At the beginning of each academic year, faculty and staff of the UC Santa Cruz Social Sciences Division gather in community to celebrate the accomplishments of their peers and kick off another year of service and teaching.
On November 14th, division affiliates gathered at the Hay Barn for breakfast, followed by an awards ceremony to bestow four divisional awards on colleagues from three of the division’s eight departments and four programs.
Social Sciences Interim Dean Herbie Lee introduced two faculty additions, Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Shawn Nichols and Assistant Professor of Psychology Jamal Williams, and welcomed 12 new staff members to the division and into new roles. He also thanked the four chairs for their continued service, while highlighting four new chair appointments in Anthropology, Education, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Psychology.
The dean and award committees announced each of the faculty and staff awards, honoring the contributions and achievements of division members for excellence in teaching, research, and service to the campus community.
Golden Apple Teaching Award
Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies Justin Perez received the Golden Apple Teaching Award for his deep commitment to teaching undergraduate and graduate students in his home department and throughout the division.
A group of colleagues nominated Perez for the award for his exceptional leadership in Latin American and Latino Studies, as well as Global and Community Health courses. His courses have seen increased enrollment thanks to his willingness to engage with complex and timely topics in the classroom, such as LGBT health and queer studies.
Beginning his time at UC Santa Cruz shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, his nominators expressed their admiration for his adaptability and ability to reshape students’ learning during and after campus closures. Perez developed assignments that gave them the tools and guidance to connect directly with their friends, families, and home communities.
“He has been a proactive leader in facilitating pedagogical discussions among faculty on teaching modalities, the incorporation or limiting of digital tools, critical approaches to student reading, and other timely topics,” they said. “Perez has also been available and responsive to students, making individual office-hours visits a requirement, leading virtual Q&A sessions prior to exams, and providing clear structure amid exogenous changes.”
His students–many of whom are Latinx, first-generation, or facing economic precarity–have been able to take advantage of deep mentorship through Hispanic-Serving Institution Initiatives’ Cultivamos Excelencia, the Institute for Social Transformation’s Building Belonging program, or independent studies.
Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research
Professor of Psychology Heather Bullock was awarded the Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research by a panel of cross-department nominators, which is given to a faculty member whose research has had a substantial cumulative impact on their discipline. Bullock has pioneered scholarship on women’s poverty and social policy, publishing papers in top journals in the field and authoring/co-authoring five books.
She has received numerous recognitions for her scholarship and research contributions from the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Study of Psychological Issues (SPSSI). Bullock has had a significant impact at the national and international level through her public policy work, which has led to her address at the 2014 UN Development Programme’s Istanbul Center and other summits where policymakers and scholars around the world participated.
Among these accomplishments, she has also published papers specifically addressing important issues at UC Santa Cruz while serving as faculty director of the Center for Economic Justice and Action, stewarding a $7.5 million grant from the UC Office of the President to launch a system-wide faculty research grant program focused on basic needs.
Her nominators expressed: “Professor Bullock’s innovative work has bridged the divide between academic and community-based activities to address poverty issues. She has been a part of our campus community for the past 26 years, charting new research innovations and impacts across many sectors and communities.”
Staff Award for Outstanding Achievement
This year, Colleen Stone was awarded the Staff Award for Outstanding Achievement by a committee of faculty and staff across the division. Stone serves appointments in multiple roles, including as the Sociology Department’s assistant, manager of the Science & Justice Research Center, and the administrative coordinator of the Center for Critical Urban and Environmental Studies. In these roles, she has helped support faculty in writing and administering their grants, like supporting Miriam Greenberg’s Wildlife and Urban Interface (WUI) project.
From helping to transition staff and faculty to new systems to event coordination and technology assistance, Stone is integral to the units she serves, applying a passion and deep commitment to research, teaching, and the university’s public service mission.
Her nominators expressed, “Colleen Stone is simply beyond outstanding! She goes above and beyond every single day. She has extensive administrative expertise that our entire department witnesses repeatedly, but even more than that, Colleen is deeply committed to the research enterprise on this campus.”
Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Faculty Award
Emeritus Professor of Sociology Herman Gray has won the 2025 Emeriti Award, which honors the division’s scholars who continue to make significant contributions to their field and the campus community. Each year, awardees are selected by a committee of department chairs and the dean. Gray’s research and teaching span widely across Black cultural theory, politics, and media, with an emphasis on television studies, jazz studies, and cultural politics. His prior publications include Watching Race and Cultural Moves and co-edits volumes such as Towards a Sociology of the Trace and The Sage Handbook of Television. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Santa Cruz.