The HUB

Accomplishments & Awards

Dr. Beatriz Padilla (left) and Glenda Vaillant Cruz (Right). (Photo courtesy of Padilla)

Doctoral student Glenda Vaillant Cruz shines a light on Latin American student experience in higher education

Doctoral student and Fulbright scholar Glenda Vaillant Cruz traveled to Spain to examine the Latin American student experience in higher education and reflects on the importance of her mentorship with Dr. Beatriz Padilla, director of ISLAC and associate professor in the Department of Sociology.

September 26, 2023Accomplishments, Alumni, Community Engagement, Research

MURP graduate student Beneetta Mary Jose (center) at APA award ceremony. (Photo courtesy of APA Florida)

MURP student wins APA Florida Student Planner of the Year

Beneetta Mary Jose, a second-year student in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program in the School of Public Affairs, was recently named the American Planning Association’s (APA) Student Planner of the Year.

September 26, 2023Accomplishments

Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, PhD. (Photo by Rebecca Sohl)

Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman’s book “Second-Class Daughters: Black Brazilian Women and Informal Adoption as Modern Slavery” earns award from the American Sociological Association

Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman is co-winner of the Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book award for her second book, “Second-Class Daughters: Black Brazilian Women and Informal Adoption as Modern Slavery.”

September 22, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

Members of the International Coparenting Collaborative (ICC) representing sites (from left) in Pavia, Italy (Michele Marchesi); Ankara, Turkey (Selin Salman-Engin); Toronto, Canada (Diane Phillip); Safed, Israel (Miri Keren); Rome, Italy (Silvia Mazzoni); Stockholm, Sweden (Monica Hedenbro); St. Petersburg, USA (James McHale); and Lausanne, Switzerland (Joelle Darwiche). (Photo courtesy of Dr. Yana Sirotkin)

Family Study Center shares infant-family mental health advances with global audience

The USF College of Arts and Sciences Family Study Center (FSC) shared its newest discoveries with an international gathering at the 18th World Association for Infant and Mental Health (WAIMH) Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

August 28, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

Students taking the Terrestrial Lidar Field Methods course, led by College of Arts and Sciences Professor Steve Fernandez from the USF School of Public Affairs and Dr. Laura Harrison from the USF Access 3D Lab, this past summer were trained in methods of 3D architectural documentation with professional-grade lidar technology while also providing real-world experience in the field in Ybor. (Photo by Alessandra Casanova)

USF highlighted by leading GIS software company for lidar education

Steven Fernandez, associate professor in the School of Public Affairs, has served as a source of knowledge and information for ESRI (ArcGIS)—a GIS software company specializing in interactive mapping tools—for the past two years, meeting with the company every few months to assist in improving their 3D products and provide knowledge on what he’s teaching in his lidar courses. Now, they are using his work as examples of their company’s newest capabilities.

August 28, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

Marcus S. Cooke, PhD, FRCPath, (right) serves as chair of the department. (Photo by Alessandra Casanova)

Department of Molecular Biosciences starts anew

The Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the USF College of Arts and Sciences welcomes a more succinct and up-to-date name this academic year. It has officially been renamed the Department of Molecular Biosciences.

August 22, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

Five CAS faculty members who were recognized with outstanding research achievement awards

Five CAS faculty members recognized with Outstanding Research Achievement Awards

Five USF College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) faculty members are being recognized next month with Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Awards. “The faculty being recognized with these awards have demonstrated extraordinary success in their research and scholarly endeavors," said USF Research & Innovation Interim Vice President Sylvia Thomas.

August 17, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Featured, Research

Communication doctoral student Rana Elhendi earned the Top Student Award from the International Communication Association’s Organizational Communication division. (Photo courtesy of Rana Elhendi)

USF doctoral student earns ‘Top Student Award’ from the International Communication Association

Communication doctoral student Rana Elhendi’s paper, “‘The rubber band is already broken: An extended case study of UNDP transformative resilience framework in the context of Palestine,” has earned the Top Student Award from the International Communication Association’s Organizational Communication division.

August 17, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

Diane Wallman, PhD. (Photo courtesy of Diane Wallman)

Anthropology’s Dr. Diane Wallman earns Faculty Scholar Fulbright

USF College of Arts and Sciences anthropology associate professor Dr. Diane Wallman has been named a Faculty Scholar Fulbright. Wallman will use the Fulbright award to continue her collaborative work with colleague Dr. Caroline Borges, assistant professor of archaeology at the University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil.

July 26, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

Dr. Marcus Cooke and colleagues open the door to understanding human disease through nucleic acid ‘adductomics’

Dr. Marcus Cooke and colleagues open the door to understanding human disease through nucleic acid ‘adductomics’

Ninety percent of the risk of developing a disease comes from exposure to certain elements in our environment, such as pollution, sunlight, tobacco use, or food components, according to USF College of Arts and Sciences professor and Department of Molecular Biosciences chair Dr. Marcus Cooke.

July 25, 2023Accomplishments, Research

USF alumnus thankful for mentorship shaping research on inland hurricane impacts

USF alumnus thankful for mentorship shaping research on inland hurricane impacts

In 2022, USF alumni Yijie Zhu graduated from the School of Geosciences with a PhD in geography, environmental science, and policy. Zhu spent most of his childhood growing up in the coastal city of Shanghai, China. As a child, he recalls always having a curiosity about nature rather than television or toys.

July 25, 2023Accomplishments, Alumni, Community Engagement, Research

An oyster shell is worth a thousand words

An oyster shell is worth a thousand words

USF College of Arts and Sciences applied anthropology doctoral candidate, Jaime Rogers, is the recipient of the 2023 Freeman Award in Public Archaeology. He will use his scholarship funds to further his geochemical analyses of oyster shells from several pre-Columbian sites in Tampa Bay, Florida’s largest estuary, to investigate oyster harvesting patterns and management systems through time.

July 18, 2023Accomplishments, Community Engagement, Research

About CAS

The College of Arts and Sciences is the intellectual heart of the University of South Florida. We are a community of teachers and scholars united in the belief that broadly educated people are the basis of a just, free, and prosperous society. By focusing on the big questions facing all of humanity, we prepare students for successful, socially responsible personal and professional lives. By conducting innovative, interdisciplinary research and scholarship, we advance knowledge in ways that prepare us to address complex social and scientific problems and enhance the quality of life for people and communities.