Thirty-four University of Michigan faculty members are receiving awards this fall in recognition of their notable contributions in the areas of teaching, mentoring, service, and scholarship. They will be honored at a Faculty Awards Celebration on Oct. 30.

Regents’ Award for Distinguished Public Service

Lilia Cortina

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of psychology, and of women’s and gender studies, LSA; and professor of management and organizations, Stephen M. Ross School of Business

Lilia Cortina is a nationally recognized and award-winning expert on sexual harassment and hostile work environments, whose scholarship has transformed our understanding of workplace equity. Through pioneering research, influential legal testimony as an expert witness, and the creation of practical tools and strategies, Cortina has empowered institutions and individuals to build more just and inclusive work cultures. She joined U-M’s faculty in 2000. In 2021, she was named a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies, and currently, she chairs the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. In 2018, Cortina co-authored a landmark National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study focused on sexual harassment of women in STEM fields, which has been downloaded nearly 30,000 times and cited in five proposed pieces of legislation and hearings. Her research has been featured in prominent media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. On campus, Cortina has led initiatives as associate director of ADVANCE, working to foster respect and inclusion in academic spaces.

 

Distinguished University Professorship

John Jonides

Edward E. Smith Distinguished University Professor of Psychology; Edward E. Smith Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and professor of psychology, LSA; acting co-director, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility, and professor of radiology, Medical School

John Jonides is a widely respected, highly accomplished cognitive neuroscientist whose innovations have made U-M a global leader in the study of human cognition. Jonides joined U-M’s faculty in 1975, and he is considered an early pioneer in using brain imaging to reveal the structure of executive functions, identifying the distinct neural circuits that support the storage and manipulation of information and showing how these mechanisms contribute to cognitive aging, depression and ADHD. Jonides co-founded U-M’s Functional MRI Laboratory; launched the influential Summer Neuroimaging Training course; and, as associate dean, designed and implemented the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program — a national model that expands access for underrepresented students. Jonides’ groundbreaking work on executive functions has garnered more than 80,000 citations, and he has been recognized with the William James Fellow Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science and the Fred Kavli Award for Distinguished Contributions from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.

 

Faculty Recognition Awards

Laura B. Zahodne

Professor of psychology, LSA; and faculty associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research

Laura B. Zahodne is a world-renowned clinical neuropsychologist who has greatly advanced understanding of how psychosocial experiences, both positive and negative, affect late-life cognitive health and the development of neurodegenerative disease. Her groundbreaking research has significantly influenced the field of psychology. In 2016, she joined U-M’s faculty and founded the Neuropsychology and Cognitive Aging Lab. Notably, Zahodne was the first researcher to show the role traumatic everyday events related to discrimination, learned helplessness, and subclinical depressive symptoms play in cognitive aging. She has also clarified the link between education and income and dementia, and the way frequent contact with friends/peers positively affects cognitive aging. In 2021, Zahodne won the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology award. That same year, she won the Gerontological Society of America’s Margaret M. and Paul B. Baltes Award for “outstanding early career contributions in behavioral and social gerontology” and the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology’s Robert A. and Phyllis Levitt Early Career Award in Neuropsychology.

 

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