News from CLASS

Hosam Aboul-Ela Awarded Inaugural Arab-American Educational Foundation Dr. Burhan and Mrs. Misako Ajouz Endowed Professorship in Arab Studies

The University of Houston Department of English Professor Hosam Aboul-Ela has been unanimously selected as the inaugural appointee for the Arab-American Educational Foundation Dr. Burhan and Mrs. Misako Ajouz Endowed Professorship in Arab Studies, an honor accompanied by an associated affiliated appointment in The Arab-American Educational Foundation Center for Arab Studies (AAEFCAS).

Tillis to Become Chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden

Antonio D. Tillis, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, has been selected as the next chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden. Tillis recently served as interim president of the University of Houston–Downtown.

CMAS Study: School Boards Alone Cannot Make Test Scores Blossom

In a newly released study, the University of Houston’s Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) reports that Houston-area school boards that mirror students’ racial and ethnic backgrounds do not gain an automatic edge in improving their districts’ benchmarks of academic achievement (such as standardized tests).

Grigorenko Earns Prestigious Fulbright Award

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is pleased to announce that Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Psychology Elena Grigorenko, has been selected for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to Saudi Arabia during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Astronauts’ Mental Health Risks Tested in the Antarctic

University of Houston professor of psychology Candice Alfano developed the Mental Health Checklist, a self-reporting instrument for detecting mental health changes in isolated, confined, extreme environments.

Eight CLASS Students Awarded Critical Language Scholarships

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is pleased to announce that eight CLASS students of various fields of study are the recipients of the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), setting a new record for the University of Houston. Four students, Omar Harb, Tia Hufstetler, André Mikhail and Kareem Soussan were selected to study Arabic through the CLS program. The other four awardees, Kainat Aziz, Hamad Khan, David Paul Hilton and Nimra Zubair, were chosen to pursue Russian, Urdu and Mandarin.

UH Researcher Joins Team Developing Opioid Vaccine

Therese Kosten, University of Houston professor of psychology, has joined a team of vaccine scientists developing an opioid vaccine targeting fentanyl.

UH Receives Mellon Foundation Grant to Establish Puerto Rican Literature Database

Gabriela Baeza Ventura, executive editor of Arte Público Press (APP) and co-founder of the U.S. Latino Digital Humanities program at UH, will lead the project in collaboration with a collective, or Colectivo, of prominent scholars, writers and translators from Puerto Rico and the U.S. diaspora.

Guggenheim Fellow UH Distinguished Professor Roberto Tejada Awarded Prestigious Fellowship for Poetry

As an award-winning literary artist, Roberto Tejada has penned more than a dozen books throughout his illustrious career, but it’s his most recent collection of poems, started in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, that has earned him a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

English Professor Wins Outstanding Fellowship Mentor Award

The University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is pleased to announce that Sally Connolly, associate dean for student and faculty success and associate professor of contemporary poetry, has been awarded the Outstanding Fellowship Mentor Award by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards (OURMA).

Six CLASS Professors Earn Office of the Provost Faculty Excellence Awards

The University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) wishes to recognize and congratulate the six CLASS professors who have received the 2021 Office of the Provost Faculty Excellence Awards.

Political Science Graduate Program Enters National Top 50

The University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) Department of Political Science celebrated an exciting milestone last week, breaking into the top 50 of U.S. News and World Report’s 2021 rankings of the best graduate programs in the discipline. 

Pair of Psychology Professors Win Prestigious UH Awards

The University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) congratulates Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Psychology Elena L. Grigorenko, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Psychology Anka A. Vujanovic, Ph.D., for receiving  2020-21 Awards for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity.

The Importance of Family Time During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of millions of Americans, but a study by the University of Houston finds that Hispanic/Latinx adolescents who had elevated levels of mental health problems prior to the pandemic actually experienced a reduction in symptoms during the early stages of the public health crisis.

Francine J. Harris Receives 2020 National Book Critics Circle Poetry Award

The University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) and the Department of English are pleased to announce that Associate Professor of English Francine J. Harris is the winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Award for poetry. She received this honor for her most recent work, “Here is the Sweet Hand” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020).

$4.5M Gift Supports Student, Faculty Success and New Lecture Series on Equity and Social Justice

The University of Houston has received a $4.5 million gift from the Thomas Michael Panos Family Estate to establish an endowed chair in the Cullen College of Engineering; a scholarship endowment available to students throughout the University; and an endowed lecture series focused on equity and social justice, which will reside in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.