student achievements
The Sociology Department offers many students grants for research and presentations of research.
In addition, departmental graduate students have won numerous awards for their research, teaching, and service. Please join the department in congratulating the following students on their recent accomplishments:
2018-2019 Central Fellowship Awards
Jamella Gow, Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
Annie Hikido, President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
Ben Manski, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Zachary King, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Joe Sterphone, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Andrew MccCumber, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
2017-2018 Central Fellowship Awards
Annie Hikido, Graduate Opportunity Fellowship/GRMP
Janelle Pham, President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
Lillian Jungleib, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Liliana Rodriguez, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Alexandra Ornelas, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
2017-18 ASA Minority Fellowship Program Pre-Doctoral Fellow
Salvador Rangel
2016-2017 Central Fellowship Awards
Corrie Ellis, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Onur Kapdan, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Annie Hikido, James D. Kline Fund for International Studies Award
2016 Lancaster Dissertation Award-Social Sciences
Summer Gray
2015-2016 Central Fellowship Awards
Daisy Gonzales, Graduate Opportunity Fellowship/GRMP
Bridget Harr, President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
Alyssa Newman, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
2014-2015 Central Fellowship Awards
Daisy Gonzales, Graduate Opportunity Fellowship/GRMP
Lauren Alfrey, Dean's Fellowship
Elizabeth Rahilly, Dean's Fellowship
Steven Osuna, President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
Sarah Rios, President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
Deborah Hobden, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Heather Hurwitz, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Jeb Sprague, Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
2014-2015 Awards and Achievements
Center for New Racial Studies Research Grant Awards: Maryam Griffin, Chandra Russo
MOST writing award: Summer Gray, Megan Tabag
2013-2014 Awards and Achievements
Academic Senate Outstanding T.A. Award and GSA Excellence in Teaching Award: Steven Osuna
Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship: Alexandra Ornelas
Jackie McLean Fellow, Univ. of Hartford : Cesar “Che” Rodriguez
Visiting Graduate Scholar Award, Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and UC Davis: Sarah Rios
Jack Henning Graduate Fellowship: Janette Diaz
Gettysburg College pre/post-doctoral fellowship: Christina Jackson
Center for Middle East Studies, Language Grant: Maryam Griffin
Flacks Award: Maryam Griffin, Chandra Russo, Anna Sorensen
Broom Demography Center Research Grant: Cassandra Engeman, Bridget Harr
MOST writing award: Daisy Gonzales, Melissa Guzman
Center for New Racial Studies Research Grant Awards: Steven Osuna, Jeb Sprague
Chicano Studies Institute Award: Janette Diaz, Jerry Flores, Melissa Guzman, Monica Lomeli, Steven Osuna, Sarah Rios
Graduate Deans Advancement Fellowship: Sarah Rios
2013-2014 Central Fellowship Awards
Jonathan Gomez: Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
Melissa MacDonald: Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
Shae Miller: Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
Christina Jackson: President’s Dissertation Fellowship
Jason Hopkins: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Erik Nielsen: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship:
Janette Diaz: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Anna Sorensen: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Jeb Sprague: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
2012-2013 Central Fellowship Awards
Jeb Sprague: Dean's Fellowship
Summer Gray: Graduate Research & Mentorship Fellowship
Greg Prieto: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Cassandra Engeman: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Monica Lomeli: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
2012-2013 Awards and Achievements
Steven Osuna: Graduate Dean's Advancement Fellowship Summer 2013
Shaeleya Miller: Graduate Dean's Advancement Fellowship Spring 2013
Heather Hurwitz: Graduate Dean's Advancement Fellowship Spring 2013
Rachel Sarabia: Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for 2012-13
Melissa Guzman: Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship for 2012-13
Summer Gray: James D. Kline Fund for International Studies
Jason Hopkins:Flacks Fund for the Study of Democratic Possibilities
Heather Hurwtiz:Flacks Fund for the Study of Democratic Possibilities
Daraka Larimore-Hall:Flacks Fund for the Study of Democratic Possibilities
2011-2012 Central Fellowship Awards
Alison Crossley: Dean's Fellowship & Research Grant
Alexis McCurn: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Veronica Montes: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Jerry Flores: Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
Yousef Baker: Graduate Research & Mentorship Fellowships
Erik Nielsen: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
Che Rodriguez: Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant
2011-2012 Awards and Achievements
Jeb Sprague received the 2011 Distinguished Graduate Student Award of the California Sociological Association (CSA). He also published an article titled "Empire, Global Capitalism, and Theory" with the journal Current Perspectives in Social Theory.
Janette Diaz: Cressey Award
2010-2011 Awards and Achievements
Jerry Flores has received the Ford Foundation Diversity Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for 2011-2014. Jerry's dissertation analyzes how girls are negotiating gender, violence, and learning at a community school and juvenile detention facility in southern California. His other areas of research include studies of race and ethnicity, correctional education, and ethnographic research methods.
Joe Conti received the 2010 Lancaster Dissertation Award in the social sciences. The dissertation "Power through Process: Disputing at the World Trade Organization" The dissertation is forthcoming with Stanford University Press this fall under the title "Between Law and Diplomacy: the social contexts of disputing at the World Trade Organization."
Alison Crossley received the 2009 Distinguished Service Award in the Feminist Studies Department
Gladys García-López received the 2010 Cheryl Allyn Miller Award from Sociologists for Women in Society for her research on Chicana attorneys. She is also a recipient of the Cristina Maria Riegos Student Paper Award from ASA's Latina/o Sociology Section for her article, "Nunca Te Toman En Cuenta [They Never Take You Into Account: The Challenge of Inclusion and Strategies for Success of Chicana Attorneys] published in Gender & Society, October 2008
Debra Guckenheimer: Her paper, "Unity and Invisible Identities: Toward an Intersectional Analysis of Israeli Society" won the ASA's Race, Class, and Gender Section's graduate student paper award. Congratulations to Debra also for receiving a Visiting Asst. Professor position at Bowdin College.
Christina Jackson co-authored an article published in Sociology Compass entitled "Art as Propaganda: Bringing Du Bois into the Sociology of Art."
Verta Taylor and Katrina Kimport received the 2010 "best published article award" from the ASA's Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements. The winning article "Culture and Mobilization: Tactical Repertoires, Same-Sex Weddings, and the Impact on Gay Activism" appeared in the American Sociological Review in December of 2009 (74:865-90, by Verta Taylor, Katrina Kimport, Nella VanDyke, and Ellen Andersen).
Neda Maghbouleh received the 2010-11 UC New Racial Studies Graduate Research Grant and the 2010 Flacks Fund Award. She also received the 2010-11 Barbara and Steve Mendell Graduate Fellowship in Cultural Literacy, Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Pulbic Life. Neda also published a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Intercultural Studies(Routledge) titled "Inherited Nostalgia among Second Generation Iranians" April 2010
Alexis McCurn received the two-year Scholars Supplement Award with Professor Nikki Jones from the William T. Grant Foundation in 2009 through 2011. This ($60,000) award is to help her professional mentorship under the support of Professor Jones.
Emily Tumpson Molina received a 2010 Horowitz Foundation Award for her dissertation project "Race and the Residential Foreclosure Crisis." The Foundation selected Emily's project for "Special Recognition" with its Robert K. Merton Award.
Veronica Montes is the recipient of the Chow-Green Women of Color Dissertation Scholarship 2010
Rebecca Romo received the 2010 UC Mexus Dissertation Research Grant
Tracy Royce received the 2009 Outstanding TA Award in the Feminist Studies Department
Christine Shearer received the "best student paper" award from the Natural Resources Research Group. The paper award was based on her dissertation, "Kivalina: A Climate Change Story " which will be published by Haymarket Books this spring.
Jeb Sprague published "Statecraft in the Global Financial Crisis: A Discussion with Kanishka Jayasuriya" in the Journal of Critical Globalisaiton Studies and "Transnational Capitalist Class in the Global Financial Crisis: A Discussion with Leslie Sklair" in the journal Globalizations.
Rebecca Romo published "Between Black and Brown: Blaxican (Black-Mexican) Multiracial Identity in California" in the Journal of Black Studies: Volume 42 Issue 3 April 2011 pp. 402 - 426.
2010-2011 Central Fellowship Awards
Erik Nielsen: Dean's Fellowship
Jordan Camp: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Brooke Neely: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Ingrid Li: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Clayton Childress: Graduate Research & Mentorship Fellowships
Brianne Davila: Graduate Research & Mentorship Fellowships
Melissa Guzman: Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
2009-2010 Central Fellowship Awards
Ingrid Li: Dean's Fellowship
Stacie Furia: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Zeynep Korkman: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Christine Shearer: Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
Andrew Lee: Graduate Opportunity Fellowship
Clayton Childress: Graduate Research Mentorship Program
Jordan Camp: Humanities & Social Sciences Research Grant and the Cressey Award
Josef Castaneda-Liles: Humanities & Social Sciences Research Grant
Kevin Whitehead: President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
Greg Prieto: Flacks Fund Award
2008-2009 Fellowship Awards
Gladys Garcia-Lopez: Ford Dissertation Fellowship
Rachel Sarabia: Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, 3 years
Rebecca Romo: American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship Program
Brianne Davila: Linguistics Minority Research Institute Grant
James Walsh: Pacific Rim Research Program Mini-grant
Cosme Caal: Rotary Club International Fellowship
2007-2008
Carlos Alamo Pastraña: Vassar College Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
Francesca Degiuli: UCSB Faculty Fellowship in Global and International Studies
2006-2007 Research Awards
Tim Mechlinski: UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration Studies Visiting Research Fellow
Karl Bryant: UCSB’s NSF Center for Nanotechnology in Society Graduate Fellowship
Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo: Mid-South Sociological Association’s Stanford M. Lyman Dissertation Scholarship and Newcomb College Center for Research on Women’s Dissertation Award.
Catherine R Medrano: Ford Foundation’s Pre-doctoral Diversity Fellowship and UCSB’s Center for Chicano Studies’ Graduate Research Award
Kevin Whitehead: South African National Research Foundation Prestige Scholarship for Doctoral Study Abroad (this award has continued from 2004)
Joe Conti: UCDC Washington Center’s Graduate Fellowship and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Dissertation Research Grant: John L. Stanley Award for Political Ethics.
Moira O’Neil: UCDC Washington Center’s Graduate Fellowship
Brianne A. Dávila: Ford Foundation’s Pre-Doctoral Diversity Fellowship (Honorable Mention) and American Sociological Association/National Institute of Mental Health’s Minority Fellowship Program (continued from 2004)
2006-2007 Awards for Written Works
Molly George: Labor Studies Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problem’s Braverman Graduate Student Paper Award
Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo: Mid-South Sociological Association’s Graduate Student Paper of Distinction Award
Kevin Whitehead: Western States Communication Association’s Language and Social Interaction Paper Award
Karl Bryant: American Sociological Association Section on Children & Youth Graduate Student Paper Award
2006-2007 Other Awards
Nathaniel Pyle: Santa Barbara Gay and Lesbian Business Association’s Student Scholarship Award and Congressional Recognition
Danielle Hidalgo: Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Thai)
2005-2006 Research Awards
Tim Mechlinski: Wenner-Gren Foundation’s International Dissertation Research Fellowship
Karl Bryant: American Sociological Association’s Martin Levine Dissertation Fellowship
Joe Conti: UC James D. Kline Fund for International Studies Award
Brianne A. Dávila: UCSB’s Center for Chicano Studies’ Graduate Research Award
2005-2006 Teaching Awards
Francesca Degiuli: UCSB Residence Halls’ Winter 2006 Outstanding Faculty Award
2005- 2006 Other Awards
Karl Bryant: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s Sisters' Economic and Social Justice Scholarship, and San Francisco LGBT Center’s Vie en Rose Children's Advocate Award
Moira O’Neil: Graduate Research Mentorship Program Fellowship
Brianne A. Dávila: May Department Stores Scholar’s Hispanic Scholarship Fund
2004-2005 Other Awards
Erik Love: Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Arabic)
Catherine R Medrano: Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship