Cassandra White has been awarded the 2022 George M. Sparks Award. This University award honors GSU’s“unsung heroes…who exemplify a willingness to go the extra mile with good humor and perseverance.”
Faidra Papavasiliou received the GSU College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award in 2021. This award, given annually in the College, recognizes a full-time faculty member for outstanding achievement in the area of teaching: not only for remarkable in-classroom instruction, but also, in Dr. Papavasiliou’s case, for excellence in student research and professional mentoring, graduate assistant pedagogical training, and above-and-beyond contributions to curriculum development.
In August 2021, Jennie Burnet received a collaborative research grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the long-term legacies of racialized violence in the U.S. South and their impacts on emotional responses and ongoing experiences of individuals directly or indirectly affected by violence. The three-year project will train graduate and undergraduate students from the Anthropology Department in ethnographic research. Dr. Burnet also was appointed Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Institute, effective January 2022. She continues to serve as faculty in the Department of Anthropology.

Neighborhood activists are restoring a peasant trough in the Staglieno area. By valorizing local heritage, they hope to slow down commercial redevelopment, thus improving the quality of life of residents.
In 2021, Emanuela Guano continued working on her ethnographic project in Genoa, Italy. Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, this project entails an exploration of the impact of neoliberal urbanism and the struggle for the right to the city in Genoa's postindustrial peripheries.
Nicola Sharratt was a Co-PI with colleagues in GSU Geosciences on a National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Instrumentation Grant (co-PIs Nadine Kabengi, Daniel Gebregiorgis, Paulo J. Hidalgo, Sarah H. Ledford, and Nicola Sharratt) called Acquisition of LA-ICP-MS Instrumentation for Geochemical, Hydrological, and Archaeological Research and Education. They received $368,600 for the grant. She also was a Maymester 2021 Fellow at the GSU Humanities Research Center.
Louis Ruprecht has been awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix by the Greek government. The Greek ambassador will visit from Washington, DC, this spring to deliver the medal at a ceremony. See https://www.presidency.gr/en/hellenic-orders-decorations/order-of-the-phoenix/. Ruprecht was also awarded GSU’s 2022 Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement, in recognition of international contributions and accomplishments that inspire the university’s students and faculty.
Faidra Papavasiliou was promoted to Principal Senior Lecturer in 2020 and Nicola Sharratt was promoted to Associate Professor. Kathryn Kozaitis, Bethany Turner-Livermore, and Jennifer Patico were promoted to Full Professor in 2021.
Frank Williams won the 2020 University Faculty Award for Undergraduate Mentored Research in Policy, Entrepreneurship, Education, and Social Sciences. He also was appointed as Faculty Associate in the Dean’s Office, College of Arts and Sciences, in 2021.
Jennie Burnet was appointed Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Institute, effective January 2022. She continues to serve as faculty in the Department of Anthropology.
Cassandra White, Nicola Sharratt, and Steven Black were awarded RISe Fellowships from the College of Arts and Sciences for the 2022-23 year. These awards provide one semester of release from teaching responsibilities to allow faculty to pursue impactful research and writing projects.