Dr. Kevin Eckert Receives Marilyn E. Demorest Award

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:41:02 -0500

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that Kevin Eckert, Professor and Chair of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration & Policy, has been named the 2016-17 recipient of the Marilyn E. Demorest Award for Faculty Advancement. This annual award is provided through an endowment established by Marilyn E. Demorest, Professor Emerita of Psychology and former Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, to support the advancement of all UMBC faculty members in their academic careers; to facilitate their professional development; and to recognize their contributions to faculty advancement and success at UMBC.

Dr. Eckert is recognized for his generosity in sharing his time, expertise, and resources to foster faculty productivity and leadership and to support and grow collaborative, interdisciplinary research. Dr. Eckert's open approach to his research projects has provided new tenure-track faculty members with valuable collaborative research experience on many high-profile National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.

Dr. Eckert is also a strong advocate for faculty development, often dedicating resources directly from the chair's office to ensure faculty members can participate in workshops and trainings and present at national academic conferences. He also was responsible for securing student research assistants for each department faculty member to create learning and research opportunities for faculty members at all points in their careers. Dr. Eckert's support of professional development has led to a greater focus on leadership, resulting in many departmental faculty taking on roles as leaders across campus in areas such as university Strategic Planning, the Institutional Review Board, and the Research Council.

During his tenure as the Demorest awardee, Dr. Eckert will lead a series of seminars that provide insights into mentorship as a multidimensional process, with a particular focus on the development of successful, federally funded collaborative research proposals and engagement in academic leadership. Topics include:

Creating Competitive National Institute of Health (NIH) ROl and ROl Supplement Proposals

Collaborative Research, Writing, and Scholarship: Lessons from the Field

Being Engaged: Academic Leadership Opportunities

“I am honored to receive this award made possible by a generous gift from Dr. Marilyn Demorest,” says Dr. Eckert. “Over the course of the next few semesters I plan to offer several seminars for faculty that focus on collaborative research addressing such topics as developing successful, federally funded collaborative research proposals and lessons learned from conducting large collaborative studies.”

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Eckert on this recognition and supporting his mentorship work.

Provost Philip Rous