U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has nominated clinical psychologist Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, PhD, to serve as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Delphin-Rittmon is currently the commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Vanderbilt University has named developmental psychologist C. Cybele Raver, PhD, as its new provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Raver has taught at New York University (NYU) since 2007 and has served as deputy provost for the last three years. She helped lead NYU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and manage the university’s return to in-person classes last fall. Her research focuses on children’s early learning and development in the contexts of poverty and policy.
The Cornell University faculty has elected Eve De Rosa, PhD, to serve as dean of faculty. De Rosa, a comparative cognitive psychologist and an associate professor of human development, is the first woman and person of color to serve in the position. She joined the faculty in 2013 as an associate professor and is known for bridging departments and disciplines. As the Dean’s Fellow for Racial and Social Justice in the College of Human Ecology, she created the Pathways to Social Justice initiative, which focused on hiring faculty committed to advancing research and practice to address social justice.
Mesmin Destin, PhD, of Northwestern University, and Seth Pollak, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, have been named John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellows. The fellowships support the work of “exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.” Destin’s research explores how students’ social environments and economic resources influence their motivation and academic success. Pollak’s research focuses on how environmental risk factors affect children’s brain and behavioral development.
Penn State University has presented psychology department head and McCourtney Professor Kristin Buss, PhD, with its President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Integration, which honors faculty who excel at integrating teaching, research, creative accomplishment, and service. Buss, a developmental psychologist, formed Parents and Children Together (PACT), an interdisciplinary group of researchers who work with Harrisburg community members on research projects promoting the health and well-being of children, youth, and families.
Four psychology researchers are among the new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences, recognized for their achievements in original research. The new members are: Marisa Carrasco, PhD, of New York University; Michele J. Gelfand, PhD, of the University of Maryland, College Park; Dedre Gentner, PhD, of Northwestern University; and Lynn Nadel, PhD, of the University of Arizona.
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has named eight psychologists to its newest class of members in honor of their exceptional scholarship, innovation, and leadership: Deanna M. Barch, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis; BJ Casey, PhD, Yale University; Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD, University of California, Berkeley; Marcia K. Johnson, PhD, Yale University; Judith Kroll, PhD, University of California, Irvine; Ann S. Masten, PhD, University of Minnesota; J. Nicole Shelton, PhD, Princeton University; and Eric Turkheimer, PhD, University of Virginia.