Faculty Awards and Honors (SOC)

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Last updated: Mar 22, 2023 by Nicole Perrigo
5 min read

Career Awards


Jennifer Karas Montez (2019) is the recipient of the Milbank Quarterly Early Career Award by the Interdisciplinary Associates for Population Health Science (IAPHS).

Madonna Harrington Meyer, (2019) was named a University Professor by Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly.

Merril Silverstein (2019) won the Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award, Section on Aging and the Life Course (SALC), American Sociological Association (ASA).  

Shannon Monnat (2019) received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections Program Thought Leadership Award in Outreach and Communications.

Gretchen Purser (2016) received the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching, Research and Service, Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

Madonna Harrington Meyer (2016) won the Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award, Section on Aging and the Life Course (SALC), American Sociological Association (ASA).


Publication Awards


Yingyi Ma (2019) co-edited book "Understanding International Students from Asia in American Universities: Learning and Living Globalization" (Springer 2018) won 2nd Place in the 2019 Best Award Category, by Comparative and International Education Society Study Abroad & International Students.

Prema Kurien (2018) Ethnic Church Meets Megachurch: Indian American Christianity in Motion won the Book Award on Asian America, Asia and Asian America section, American Sociological Association. 

Gretchen Purser (2016) Winner of the Best Scholarly Article Award, American Sociological Association’s Section on Marxist Sociology for “The Circle of Dispossession: Evicting the Urban Poor in Baltimore.” Critical Sociology 42(3): 393-415.

Gretchen Purser (2016) Honorable Mention for the Best Scholarly Article Award, American Sociology Association’s Section on Human Rights for “The Circle of Dispossession: Evicting the Urban Poor in Baltimore.” Critical Sociology 42(3): 393-415. 

Madonna Harrington Meyer (2014) Winner, GSA Kalish Book Award for Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs, New York, NY: NYU Press.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2014) IPUMS Research Award for paper “Explaining the Widening Education Gap in Mortality among U.S. White Women” coauthored with Anna Zajacova, Journal of Health and Social Behavior 54(2):165-181.

Gretchen Purser (2014) International Book Award, California Series in Public Anthropology, University of California Press (Theme: “American Inequality”) for Labor On Demand: Dispatching the Urban Poor.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2013) Senior Service America Junior Scholar Award, Gerontological Society of America, for paper “The Socioeconomic Origins of Physical Functioning among Older U.S. Adults.” Advances in Life Course Research 18(4):244-256.

Gretchen Purser (2013) John Russo & Sherry Linkon Award for Best Published Article, Working Class Studies Association for “The Labour of Liminality.” Labour, Capital & Society 45 (1): 10-35.

Prema Kurien (2013) Research Paper Award from the Asia and Asian American section of the American Sociological Association for “Decoupling Religion and Ethnicity: Second-Generation Indian American Christians.” Qualitative Sociology, Vol 35(4): 447-468.

Janet M. Wilmoth, Andrew S. London, and Wendy M. Parker (2010). “Military Service and Men’s Health Trajectories in Later Life.”  Journal of Gerontology-Social Sciences 65B(6): 744-755. Designated the 65th Anniversary Celebration Article for this issue by the editors of the journal.  


Fellowships and Visiting Professorships

Yingyi Ma (2019-2021) was selected as a Public Intellectuals Program (PIP) fellow by the National Committee on US-China Relations. The program is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and provides opportunities for workshops and to participate in a research trip to China.

Edwin Ackerman (2019) Visiting Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, at Harvard.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2018-2020) Andrew Carnegie Fellow.

Amy Lutz (2018-2019) Visiting Fellow, Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden.

Merril Silverstein (2016) James Martin Fellowship, James Martin School, Oxford University.

Prema Kurien (2014-2015) Dr. Thomas Tam Visiting Professor, CUNY Graduate Center.

Prema Kurien (2014) Visiting Professor, Ecole des Hautes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, June.

Gretchen Purser (2013-2014) Visiting Scholar, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Gretchen Purser (2013) Ethel-Jane Westfeldt Bunting Summer Scholar, School for Advanced Research.

Amy Lutz (2012-2013) Visiting Fellow, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, NY.

Merril Silverstein (2010-2013) International Fellow, Free University of Amsterdam, Department of Sociology.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2011-2013) Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar, Harvard University.


Teaching Awards

Merril Silverstein (2023) received the Syracuse University 2023 Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award.

Scott Landes (2022) became one of Maxwell’s O’Hanley Faculty Scholars.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2019) Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, Syracuse University.

Jackie Orr (2017) Named Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence at Syracuse University.

Prema Kurien (2016-2017) Inaugural Robert D. McClure Professor of Teaching Excellence, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. 

Andrew London (2015) Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, The Graduate School, Syracuse University.

Gretchen Purser (2013) Meredith Teaching Recognition Award, Syracuse University.

Jackie Orr (2012) Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, The Graduate School, Syracuse University.



Other Honors

Shannon Monnat (2019) was appointed as a member of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Rising Midlife Mortality Rates and Socioeconomic Disparities.

Yingyi Ma (2019) was appointed as a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Rebecca Schewe (2018-2020) was appointed an O’Hanley Faculty Scholar in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University for outstanding contributions in research, teaching, and service.

Shannon Monnat (2018) appointed to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Rural Prosperity Index Technical Expert Panel.

Yingyi Ma (2018) was elected to the Board of Directors for the North American Chinese Sociologists Association.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2017) was awarded the Chancellor’s Citation for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction, Syracuse University.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2016-present) was appointed as the Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar of Aging Studies, Syracuse University.

Andrew London (2015) was named a Tenth Decade Faculty Scholar (one of three, inaugural), Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University.

Yingyi Ma (2014-2017) Inaugural O’Hanley Faculty Scholar, Maxwell School, Syracuse University for outstanding contributions in research, teaching, and service.


Journal Editorships

Jennifer Karas Montez (2019-2022) Deputy Editor, Demography.

Shannon Monnat (2016-present) Deputy Editor, Demography.      

Merril Silverstein (2016) Deputy Editor, Demography.

Merril Silverstein (2010-2014) Editor, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences (through 2014).


Leadership in Professional Associations

Andrew London (2022) has been elected to serve as Chair of the ASA Drugs and Society Section. 

Shannon Monnat (2022) was elected Vice President of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS).

Prema Kurien (2022) has been elected an Executive Committee member (3 year term) of the Eastern Sociological Association. 

Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat (2020) will co-chair the 2020 Program Committee of the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Sciences.

Shannon Monnat (2019-2021) Chair of the USDA Multistate Committee - W-4001: “Social, Economic and Environmental Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change in Rural America”.

Prema Kurien (2019) was elected to serve as the (2019-2020) President-Elect of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She will serve as President the year after. 

Jennifer Karas Montez (2019-2020) was elected to serve as 2019-2020 Chair-Elect of the ASA Section on Aging and the Life Course. She will serve as chair the following year.

Andrew London (2018) was elected to serve as Chair-Elect of the Medical Sociology Section. He will serve as Chair the year after.

Prema Kurien (2016) was elected to serve as Chair-Elect, Asia and Asian America section, American Sociological Association. She will serve as Chair the year after.

Jennifer Karas Montez (2016-2017) was elected to serve as Chair of the Youth, Aging, and Life Course Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Merril Silverstein (2016) was elected to serve as Chair-Elect, Behavioral and Social Science Section, Gerontological Society of America.

Andrew London (2014-2016)  SSSP Division Chair, Youth, Aging, and the Life Course.