Sociology's Brittany Hearne Awarded Prestigious Career Enhancement Fellowship

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The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has named 39 new Career Enhancement Fellows from across the nation for the 2021-22 academic year.

Among the awardees of this prestigious honor is Brittany Hearne, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the U of A's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The Career Enhancement Fellowship, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, seeks to increase the presence of underrepresented junior and other faculty members in the humanities, social sciences and arts by creating career development opportunities for selected fellows with promising and exceptional research projects.

Hearne's research centers on socially patterned variations in the areas of health, family and social psychology. Specifically, she utilizes quantitative methods to examine how race, gender and educational attainment intersect to produce unequal outcomes in depressive symptoms, self-concept, romantic relationships and parent-child relationships during the transition to adulthood.

Currently, she is working on a project in which she analyzes the impact of romantic relationships (i.e., singlehood, monogamous dating, cohabitation and marriage) on self-concept and health during the transition to adulthood. She has also previously assessed how parenting styles during adolescence influence young adults' mental health and educational achievements in young adulthood. 

"This highly selective and prestigious fellowship is awarded to a limited number of pre-tenured faculty who apply from across the country," said Shauna Morimoto, chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology. "This award is indicative of Dr. Hearne’s status as a rising star in the field and is a tremendous honor for our department and the college. I am thrilled to commend Dr. Hearne on this well-deserved recognition.”

The Career Enhancement Fellowship provides fellows with a six-month or one-year sabbatical stipend up to $30,000; a research, travel or publication stipend up to $1,500; mentoring; and participation in a professional development retreat.

Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, this year's fellows represent unique perspectives within the disciplines of African American studies, English, women's and gender studies, sociology and more. They come from a variety of institutions from across the country, and the full list of honorees is available online.  

Administered since 2001, the Career Enhancement Fellowship has supported more than 400 junior faculty members, creating a robust network of scholars committed to eradicating racial disparities in core fields in the arts and humanities.

About the Institute for Citizens & Scholars: The Institute for Citizens & Scholars is a 75-year-old organization that has played a significant role in shaping American higher education. Now, with an expanded mission, Citizens & Scholars prepares leaders and engages networks of people and organizations to meet urgent education challenges. The overarching goal is to shape an informed, productively engaged and hopeful citizenry.