Prof. Jennica Larrison Receives 2022 President's Faculty Award
May 4, 2022
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Jennica Larrison, associate professor in the College of Public Affairs, is the winner of the 2022 President's Faculty Award. Prof. Larrison will be honored at a luncheon in the coming months.
This meritorious award is the highest that The University of Baltimore's president may bestow upon a member of the faculty, and is based on letters of nomination from the deans to a selection committee in the Office of the Provost. It is made annually to an individual who reflects the faculty's highest standards, and who has made significant contributions to the University and its educational mission, through teaching; research; scholarly or creative activity; and service.
Prof. Larrison has been a member of the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) faculty since 2014, teaching both graduate courses in the Global Affairs and Human Security program and undergraduate courses in the Policy, Politics and International Affairs program.
In his nomination letter for Prof. Larrison, fellow SPIA faculty member Prof. Alan Lyles wrote: "Dr. Larrison is that rare individual who excels across the three main faculty functions of teaching, research, and service."
Prof. Lyles noted that Prof. Larrison's instructor ratings from her students have averaged 9.8 on a 10-point scale over the last five years, and her peers describe her as an educator who is thoughtful in her approach to teaching and highly committed to pedagogical improvement. Prof. Larrison has been recognized for her consistently outstanding performance in the classroom with the 2019 College of Public Affairs Outstanding Teaching Award, the 2021 CELTT Excellence in Teaching Award, and the 2022 USM Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
"Dr. Larrison is an interdisciplinary scholar, pursuing her research agenda in both academic and applied environments," Prof. Lyles wrote. "Her scholarship focuses on two distinct, though related, areas: 1) the intersection between immigration policy and transnationalism, and 2) education and skills."
"I am simply thrilled to see Dr. Larrison's outstanding contributions recognized with The University of Baltimore’s highest distinction, the President's Faculty Award," remarked Prof. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, executive director of the School of Public and International Affairs. "Dr. Larrison encourages the very best in her students and colleagues and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this honor."
Prof. Larrison has brought critical attention to the experiences of unaccompanied migrant youth in the United States as well as the lack of governing policies to address the causal factors that force youth to migrate through her numerous publications and presentations, including a community report done in partnership with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
"In her second research area, Dr. Larrison examines skills acquisition within the education system to understand how students can be better prepared for the labor market," Prof. Lyles wrote. "While this research focuses on Central Asia, Dr. Larrison transfers this knowledge to the classroom to help prepare her students for their individual job searches and future positions."
In addition to her teaching and research, Prof. Larrison excels in service contributions to her students, the University at large and the external community. Since 2018, she has served as director of the Global Affairs and Human Security program, which has seen improved retention of students under her direction. Prof. Larrison has also served on numerous committees that have resulted in positive guidance for the University, including the University Faculty Senate General Education Committee, the University Faculty Senate Research Council and the University Academic Support Subgroup of the Academic Affairs Taskforce, to name a few.
As a result of her participation in the Communities of Practice in VoiceThread and Hybrid Flexible Modality, Prof. Larrison took a particular interest in helping faculty to make their online courses more engaging and to meet students where they are, which inspired her to lead University-wide meetings on using VoiceThread in the classroom and to contribute to making quality hybrid flexible classes possible across the University.
Outside of UBalt, Prof. Larrison has been engaged in boundary-spanning activities that include: organizing a panel of practitioners from the U.S. Agency for International Development, International Youth Foundation, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, and the World Bank; obtaining recognition for UBalt to participate in special United Nations meetings on the global impact of migration; and serving as a subject matter expert on immigration policy at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and on unaccompanied migrant children at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"Everyone in our university community can draw inspiration from Dr. Larrison's recognition by the University System of Maryland Board of Regents and President Schmoke in 2022," added Prof. Sheehan. "That these accolades span teaching, research, and service contributions are a testament to Dr. Larrison's devotion to her students, colleagues, and our institution, as well as her many contributions to the field of global affairs."
Learn more about Prof. Jennica Larrison.