News and Events

• SASW hosted the first annual Osprey Outdoor Fest.  This event was supported with funds donated during 2023 Giving Day in memory of Dr. Mandi Barringer’s sister to support community-building and student success. 

• The Social Work Program hosted a Social Work Month Celebration for alumni and students. 

• BSW student Teleauba Revels was featured in the Osprey Profile in Inside UNF. 
• Dr. Jenny Stuber was honored with the Florida Undergraduate Research Association's state-wide Mentor of the Year Award. 
• Anthropology students Vic Hayes, Amelia King, and Kaia Lacey delivered presentations at the Timucuan Science and History Symposium. 
• Sociology student Charlotte Arechederra was recognized as the Undergrad Researcher of the Month by the Office of Undergraduate Research. 
• Sociology students Kai Santos (left) and Charlotte Arechederra (right) presented at the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference. 

• Anthropology student Vic Hayes was featured in the Osprey Profile in Inside UNF. 

• UNF BSW and MSW students traveled to the State Capitol to participate in Legislative Education & Advocacy Day.  This event was sponsored in part by the Eisen Experiential Learning Grant awarded to Dr.  Yolanda Machado-Escudero.

• BSW student Teleauba Revels (left) was recognized with the Albert D. Ernest Jr. Caring Award, and MSW student Destiny Basden (right) was among four finalists. 

  
• Educational Linguistics published research by anthropologist Dr. Jessica Chandras on using conditional language and hypotheticals in the classroom.  
• Dr. Jessica Chandras was featured in the UNF Spotlight.
• Jacksonville Today shared sociologist Dr. David Jaffee’s expertise on the affordable housing crisis. 
• Drs. Jessica Chandras, Rosa de Jorio, and Jonathan Grant were awarded a UNF Academic Technology grant.
• Dr. Rick Phillips participated in a UNF panel on the integration and implications of Generative AI in academia. 
• Dr. Yolanda Machado-Escudero was featured in a podcast interview with Changemaker Foundation.
• MSW student Kyaa McClennon was featured in Inside UNF.
• Drs. Jasmine Haynes and Jonathan Grant participated in a Hip Hop panel discussion—one of several events organized by Dr. Grant and co-sponsored by SASW to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Hip Hop.

• Drs. Jacqueline Meier and Keith Ashley were awarded a 2023-24 Jim Van Vleck Teaching Excellence Award.
• The Florida Times-Union highlighted Drs. Denise Bossy and Keith Ashley’s incredible work on compiling the story of the indigenous Mocama tribe of Northeast Florida.
• News4Jax featured sociologist Dr. David Jaffee discussing a housing discrimination lawsuit. 
• Drs. Denise I. Bossy and Keith Ashley were awarded a three-year $250,000 Collaborative Research Grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to write the first comprehensive Indigenous history of Northeast Florida from 13,000 years ago to the present.
• Drs. Denise Bossy and Keith Ashley were awarded a UNF Foundation Grant for their project “Visualizing Indigenous History Northeast Florida.”
• Professor Jennifer Barr was appointed to the Council on Social Work Education's Council on Disability and Persons with Disabilities.

• Action News Jax featured Anthropology student Victoria Hayes’ grant from the Timucuan Parks Foundation and the National Park Service’s Timucuan Ecological Historic Preserve.
• The Florida Times-Union featured Dr. David Jaffee’s expertise on the rental crisis.
• Florida Today shared the UNF Archaeology Lab’s new findings.
• The UNF Archaeology Lab is unveiling a lost Indigenous town at Big Talbot Island State Park. Learn more about what the lab has uncovered during their dig.
• Action News Jax featured UNF’s Archaeology Lab’s efforts to unveil new finds about the lost indigenous town of Sarabay.
• First Coast News and InterNewsCast wrote a feature on the rental housing crisis, and how sociologist David Jaffee is spearheading the Jax Rental Housing Project to develop affordable homes.
• Rachel Paul, a Sociology minor, was named among 154 student civic leaders in the U.S. and Mexico to the 2023 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows by Campus Compact. Learn more about what makes Rachel a student civic leader and about the Newman Civic Fellowship.
• Maria Encinosa, an Anthropology minor and UNF graduate, gets a scholarship to Harvard!
• Smithsonian Magazine wrote a feature that included Drs. Denise Bossy and Keith Ashley as having a part in deciphering a lost native language.
• The Florida Times-Union published a guest column written by sociologist Dr. David Jaffee on pending legislation.

• Popular Science and Science Daily highlighted how archaeologist Dr. Jackie Meier is uncovering clues on how the people in Greece’s Mycenaean civilization lived.
• UNF celebrates National Social Work Month
• News4JAX and WJCT News shared analysis from sociologistDr. David Jaffee who examined the impacts of corporate investors on the local housing market.
• Dr. Jessica Chandras was awarded a NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.
• Drs. Jessica Chandras and Jasmine Haynes were selected to participate in the UNF Center for Community-Based Learning’s 2023-2024 Community Scholars Program.
• Drs. Jessica Chandras, Rosa de Jorio, and Jonathan Grant were awarded a 2023-2024 Community Engagement Research Fellowship by the UNF Center for Community-Based Learning.
• Sydney Chatani was recognized as the Outstanding Sociology Student of 2022-2023.
• Magdalynne A. Alley was recognized as the Outstanding Anthropology Student of 2022-2023.
• Khelsea Boyd (Social Work) and Katie Jones (Sociology) received Spring 2023 Osprey Community Engagement Medallions.
• Drs. Keith Ashley and Denise Bossy received a 2023-2024 UNF Foundation Grant for their project Visualizing Indigenous History Northeast Florida.
• The Northeast Unit of the National Association of Social Workers-Florida Chapter honored UNF students at the 2023 Social Work Month Celebration. Paul Buchanan was recognized as BSW Student of the Year; Ryan Rish was recognized as MSW Student of the Year; and Alana Rollins received the Michael J. Wilson Award for Social Justice.

From left to right: Dr. Yolanda Machado-Escudero, Dr. Paul Clark, Professor Ross McDonough, BSW Student Paul Buchanan, MSW Student Ryan Rish, MSW Student Alana Rollins, Dr. Jasmine Haynes, and Dr. Cristy Cummings.