Arline Geronimus, PhD, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, accepted the James S. Jackson Distinguished Career Award for Diversity Scholarship at an event co-hosted by the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and National Center for Institutional Diversity. Geronimus’s research focuses on her “weathering hypothesis” explanation for racial disparities in health deterioration, which posits that members of marginalized groups often experience adverse health effects earlier in life because of the physical effects of chronic stress from sustained marginalization.
The University of Cambridge has appointed Deborah Prentice, PhD, its next vice-chancellor, effective July 2023. Prentice is currently provost at Princeton University and will be the first American to fill the top academic and administrative role at Cambridge. Prior to her role as Princeton’s provost, Prentice served as the dean of faculty and as chair of the Department of Psychology.
The International Society for Research on Internet Interventions has awarded its Rising Star Award to Jessica Schleider, PhD, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Stony Brook University, in recognition of her work and research on digital mental health. Schleider is one of the pioneers of single-session interventions for mental health treatment, with a focus on youth depression and anxiety.
Keith Humphreys, PhD, Stanford University professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, was named an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire in September 2022 by the late Queen Elizabeth II. Humphreys, an American, received the honor for his work on addiction prevention policy in the United Kingdom, particularly for helping to enact mandatory abstinence programs to treat those arrested for alcohol-related crimes. He also helped the British Parliament start a sobriety program that focuses on keeping offenders sober.
Duke University has named Gary G. Bennett, PhD, as the new dean of Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Bennett is currently Duke’s vice provost for undergraduate education, and he leads a research program that designs, tests, and disseminates digital therapeutics for treating obesity. The goal of the therapeutics is to integrate digital health treatments into primary-care settings that serve medically vulnerable patients.
President Joe Biden has appointed psychologists Douglas Fuchs, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, PhD, of New York University, and Carol Lee, PhD, of Northwestern University, to the National Board for Education Sciences. The board advises the Department of Education’s research agency, the Institute for Education Sciences, in its efforts to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy.
Adam Grant, PhD, an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School, has been appointed chairman of a newly launched Center for Purpose and Performance at BetterUp, a coaching and leadership development platform. Grant will work with CEOs and chief human resource officers to implement research about purpose in the workplace and oversee the awarding of a grant to study purpose in personal and professional lives.
Gettysburg College has named Jamila Bookwala, PhD, the university’s next provost, effective July 2023. Bookwala was previously dean of faculty and a professor of psychology at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Bookwala also chaired Lafayette’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.