August 26, 2020

We are pleased to recognize the recent grants, publications, presentations, awards and honors of the members of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Awards and Honors

Sophie Abber, MS psychology ’21, received a $6,000 Louis and Bessie Stein Family Fellowship for Exchanges with Israeli Universities for her proposal “Evaluating Cognitive Flexibility Impairments in Binge-Spectrum Eating Disorders.” She will collaborate with Nachshon Meiran at Ben Gurian University in Israel.

Meghan Butryn, PhD, associate professor of psychology, was appointed Program Leader for Cancer Risk and Control at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson University, which recently restructured its research programs of excellence.

Two College of Arts and Sciences students were awarded Gilman Scholarships: Tamia Santiago, BA communication ’22, to Jordan and Ireland, and Vlada Kupriienko, BS biological sciences ’21, to Costa Rica. Two additional students are alternates: Samantha Heilodoro, BS psychology ’22, to France, and Rida Memon, BA global studies ’24, to Spain.

Amanda McMillan Lequieu, PhD, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded the Katherine DuPre Lumpkin Dissertation of the Year award from the University of Wisconsin Department of Sociology and Community and Environmental Sociology.

Gwen Ottinger, PhD, associate professor of politics and of science, technology and society, was appointed the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Science and Society at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa starting in summer of 2021. She will work with Canadian colleagues on a comparative study of the “Co-production of Knowledge and Justice in Environmental Policy.”

Maegan Poland, PhD, assistant teaching professor of English, won the Bakwin Award for her short story collection “What Makes You Think You’re Awake?” Her manuscript was selected by judge Carmen Maria Machado and will be published by Blair Press in 2021.

Kelly Underman, PhD, assistant professor of sociology, authored the book “Feeling Medicine: How the Pelvic Exam Shapes Medical Training,” published by NYU Press.

Scott Warnock, PhD, professor of English and director of the University Writing Program, won the 2020 Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Presentations

Valerie Fox, PhD, teaching professor of English, and Lynn Levin, adjunct associate professor of English, co-authors of the textbook “Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets,” gave Zoom poetry writing seminars at the Philadelphia Writers Conference and the Doylestown Bookshop.

Lynn Levin, adjunct associate professor of English, read from her collection of poems “The Minor Virtues,” Ragged Sky, in Zoom sessions hosted by Ragged Sky Press, Moonstone Arts Center, River Read Series, and Lit Youngstown’s Fall Fest.

Aaliyah Sesay, BA English ’20, and other Drexel Writing Center Peer Readers Mary Allain, Aaron Jeong and Nimra Sohail presented at the Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association Conference at Towson University. Their presentation, “Preparing Peer Tutors for a Life of Language Equity,” featured research addressing how alumni of the Drexel Writing Center bring antiracist pedagogy, language equity, and writing center practices into their professional contexts post-Drexel.

Publications

Alison Kenner, PhD, associate professor of politics, along with Drexel students Eliza Nobles and Ian Zimmermann and staff from local nonprofits and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, co-authored the article “The Climate-Ready Home: Teaching Climate Change in the Context of Asthma Management” in the journal Environmental Justice.

Mimi Sheller, PhD, professor of sociology and Director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, published three recent articles relating to the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and climate change: “Reconstructing Tourism in the Caribbean: Connecting Pandemic Recovery, Climate Resilience and Sustainable Tourism Through Mobility Justice,” in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism; “Why the Green New Deal Needs Mobility Justice” in Science for the People; and a co-authored piece with several Drexel colleagues, “COVID-19 Reveals a Path forward on Climate Change” in American Scientist.

Diane Sicotte, PhD, associate professor of sociology, published the article “From Cheap Ethane to a Plastic Planet: Regulating an Industrial Global Production Network” in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.