Social Scientists Honored by the College of Arts and Sciences
BU social scientists and both affiliates and partners of CISS shined at the Spring 2025 College of Arts and Sciences awards ceremonies. Learn more about all of this year’s recipients here.
2025 CAS Faculty Teaching and Advising Awards
The following awards are for distinctive excellence, including but not limited to outstanding success in the classroom. They recognize and reward teaching in its broadest sense and in all of its aspects, from curriculum development and innovative pedagogies, to mentoring of individual students as scholars and/or teachers.
2025 Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching
Ana Villarreal, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Professor Villareal’s courses, including her popular seminar on Urban Inequalities in the Americas, are rigorous, intellectually rich, and deeply engaging. Students praise Professor Villareal for making complex theories accessible and relevant, often noting how she connects abstract ideas to real-world applications and social justice issues. Students also deeply appreciate her compassion and inclusivity. Her classroom is a space where students—especially those from marginalized backgrounds—feel valued and empowered. As one student put it, “Ana makes topics come alive, and she makes her students feel important and valued and special.” Her passion, rigor, and deep humanity exemplify the very best of teaching at Boston University.
2025 Frank and Lynne Wisneski Award for Excellence in Teaching
Carolyn Hodges-Simeon, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
Professor Hodges-Simeon is a profoundly impactful teacher and mentor. After earning tenure, she expanded her teaching in an extraordinary way, launching several large-enrollment courses, such as Introduction to Evolutionary Medicine, that have become mainstays of the department’s interdisciplinary major in Anthropology, Health and Medicine. Her course Evolutionary Psychology, which integrates pages of original material, interactive modules, and videos, has become one of BU’s largest summer courses. Her students share how she changed their perspectives on scientific research and society at large. One student remarked, “This class has been a very good example of how STEM courses can be conscious of bias in the material.” Another student wrote that Professor Hodges-Simeon helped them to look at the world “with more wonder and curiosity.”
2025 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Part-Time Teaching
With the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Part-Time Teaching, we honor the very important contributions of a part-time colleague to the educational mission of the College.
Jill Walsh, Part-Time Lecturer, Department of Sociology
Jill Walsh is deeply committed to connecting classroom learning to the world beyond Boston University. In her course “Boston’s People and Neighborhoods”, for example, students explore Boston’s neighborhoods firsthand to deepen their understanding of urban sociology and local culture. Her students praise her courses as “eye-opening”, saying that their critical thinking and writing skills improved thanks to Walsh’s rigorous and engaging curriculum. Walsh is an exemplary teacher who helps students recognize that the study of sociology offers not just an understanding of society, but also the power to improve it.
2025 Outstanding Service Awards for Staff
Elise St. Esprit, Department Administrator, Department of Sociology
Our nominators state that Elise is incredibly organized, innovative, supportive of her colleagues and of our students and faculty, energetic, and brings a tremendous skillset to every facet of her job. She is an excellent planner, a skilled writer, and navigates delicate situations with unflagging sensitivity and thoughtfulness. This year has been an exceptionally challenging one and yet Elise routinely goes above and beyond, carefully supervising staff and student workers, and ensuring a seamless transition for our leadership. She has coordinated the hiring of new faculty and overseen several tenure and promotion cases. Having a person like Elise in an academic department is game-changing for faculty and students. She is always willing to go the extra mile to research the answer to difficult questions, whether pertaining to a graduate student’s funding status, a faculty member’s summer salary, or details regarding personnel issues such as hiring new faculty. She brings joy and good spirits into everything she does. She has been nothing short of phenomenal. In sum, Elise is an incredible asset, not just for Sociology, but for the College and the University.
Liz Zoraian, Financial Analyst, CAS Business Office
Several nominators came forward to share that Liz is always very helpful and responsive to departmental needs while maintaining the financial controls that are essential to the success of CAS and all of its departments and centers. However, what distinguishes her this year is the amount of responsibility that suddenly landed in her lap when BU unleashed JobX on an unsuspecting and unprepared University community. As Fiscal Year 2025 was commencing, she became the sole supervisor for all graduate and undergraduate students within CAS/GRS in this new system. Because people’s paychecks were involved, the consequences for students—especially grad students—were tremendous, and the pain caused by empty bank accounts was enormous. Liz found herself at the center of it all. Yet, she handled all the chaos and upheaval with patience and grace. Without her competence and support, things would have been much, much worse, and we are deeply grateful to have her collaborating with us to find solutions and help our students.
2025 Templeton Awards for Excellence in Student Advising and Mentoring
The Templeton Awards showcase CAS advising at its best. Steve Jarvi’s annual call for nominations from graduating seniors helps identify what students need, what they value, and how skilled and dedicated faculty advisors have made a positive difference in their lives. Recognizing that effective “advising” is not limited to just the formal role of an academic advisor, the College emphasized the value of mentorship when soliciting nominations for the advising awards from the class of 2023.
Marcus Walton, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
One of Marcus’ nominators described him as “an incredible mentor supportive in my plans for post-grad, aiding in connecting me with past students and faculty members related to my research interests and career aspirations. We share various ideas about past, present, and future political conditions, contributing to my continuous exploration and questioning of political theories and policy.” That nominator went on to add “his teaching style is one that I think all professors of academia should follow: he is quite involved with his students and wants to see them do the best they can at all times.” Well, if this group is any indication of our faculty in CAS, and I think that it is, that student has nothing to worry about.
2025 Susan K. Jackson Award Recipients
Erin Salius, the Director of the CAS Experiential Learning Connector
As the inaugural director of the EL Connector, Erin has created and empowered an increasingly complex community of students, staff, and faculty. She has designed programming that removes obstacles to experiential learning, such as securing financial support for students with unpaid internships and facilitating work authorization pathways for international students. Erin is also dedicated to staff and faculty community and growth, leading projects with the CAS Staff Institute and the Experiential Learning Practitioners Group. Erin’s students and colleagues alike are thankful for her compassion, energy, and genuine care for those around her.
2025 I.D.E.A.L. Awards
We are thrilled to announce the 2024-2025 recipients of the CAS Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access, Leadership (IDEAL) awards. These awards celebrate the impactful efforts of individuals and groups whose contributions exemplify recognizing and responding to inequity, exclusion, and marginalization through thoughtful and innovative approaches.
2025 I.D.E.A.L. Award Recipients
Citing her generosity and initiative one of her nominators noted how Paula “has brought unmatched, special energy to forging connections between History, AABDS, American Studies, and WGS and the students, staff, and faculty they serve.”
Wade Campbell, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology
2025 College Prize Awards
The College Prizes recognize members of the Class of 2025 who have made extraordinary contributions to their departments and programs.
2025 College Prize Awards
Anthropology — Katrina Adriene Tronco
Archaeology — Hallie Baker
Earth & Environment — Kelly Schisa
Economics — Sofia Padilla Sousa Neves
History — Kaitlin Danielle Howlett 2023-25 CISS undergraduate research intern)
Political Science — Ryan Xavier Servaites
Psychological & Brain Sciences — Eve Olivia Kleiber
Sociology — Ramona Leung
Alumni Awards for Writing Excellence
The College recognizes the following winners of the Alumni Awards for Writing Excellence.
Alumni Awards for Writing Excellence
Michael A. Sassano III and Christopher M. Sassano Award for Writing Excellence in the Social Sciences
Author: Tia Sky Perkins (2023-24 CISS undergraduate research intern)