Jade Salmon has been selected to receive the 2024 ICA Interpersonal Communication Division's Outstanding Thesis Award. Their MA thesis was entitled “Caught Within the Family System: An Examination of Emerging Adults’ Dilemmas in Navigating Sibling Depression." The committe chair was Tammy Afifi and members were Walid Afifi and Andy Merolla.

Chantel Haughton has been selected to receive the 2024 ICA Interpersonal Communication Division's Outstanding Dissertation Award. Her dissertation was entitled “Exploring the Process of Parent-Young Adult Child Mental Health Conversations: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Approach.” The committee chair was Tammy Afifi and members were Jennifer Kam and Andy Merolla.

Walid Afifi has been awarded the 2024 Boase Prize. Named in Honor of Paul Boase, former Director of the School of Interpersonal Communication (now the School of Communication Studies) at Ohio University, this award honors distinguished scholarship in the field of communication. The Boase Prize honors scholars who have made an outstanding contribution to the discipline through scholarship that has had a major influence on the direction of scholarship within the field. The award is given to a person whose scholarship demonstrates a commitment to the field in ways that honor the spirit of Paul Boase – his dedication to others, his dedication to making a difference, and his love of learning. The recipient of the Paul Boase Prize receives a $2,000 honorarium and gives a presentation in their department next Spring.

Allison Mazur has accepted an offer as a postdoctoral research fellow with the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. Allison will be working with Dr. Zoë Peterson, Director of the Kinsey Institute Sexual Assault Research Initiative, on sexual violence prevention research. 

In early April, Lindsay Miller participated in the Consortium of Social Science Association (COSSA) Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the importance of social and behavioral science research. This two-day event involved training for advocates from across the country to engage with policymakers, and a day of meetings on Capitol Hill with congressional offices. In total, Lindsay met with five Senate and House offices representing California. In these meetings, she described the importance of federal support of social and behavioral science research and of using social science to inform federal policy. UCSB is one of COSSA’s member organizations, and all UCSB students are invited to attend future Advocacy Days. Please feel free to contact lindsaymiller@ucsb.edu if you are interested in learning more.

Ph.D. student Lindsay Miller has been featured in a Pacific Crest Trail Association blog post titled: Exploring the PCT CREST Project: A Journey with Lindsay Miller

Lindsay Miller was recently selected from a large number of competitive applicants to participate in 'The Next STEP - Summer School on Theories in Environmental Psychology,' which will take place in June 2024 at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. This weeklong program will bring together 45 PhD students in the field of environmental psychology and related sciences to help bridge the gap between environmental psychology theory and practical applications. Through this program, Lindsay will attend workshops and guest lectures from prominent experts in the field, while simultaneously helping to develop a sustainable intervention plan for a sponsoring business. For more details: https://www.rug.nl/education/summer-winter-schools/the-next-step/?lang=en