Professional News

Sociology Professor Youngest to Receive Senior Scholar Award

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 16, 2015) — At the American Sociological Association (ASA) 2015 annual meeting University of Kentucky sociology Associate Professor Carrie Oser received the Senior Scholar Award from the ASA's Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco section. This award is given annually to one scholar for their outstanding scientific contributions to the sociological examination of alcohol, drugs and/or tobacco. Oser, who is the youngest scholar to ever receive the award, was selected from an international field of scholars. 

"Dr. Oser exemplifies the scholar who undertakes research not to simply satisfy intellectual curiosity, but to have a significant practical impact on improving people's lives, especially the lives of socially and economically marginalized individuals," said Claire Renzetti, professor and chair of the UK Department of Sociology, and the university's Judi Conway Patton Endowed Chair for Studies of Violence Against Women. "The Sociology Department is proud of Dr. Oser's many accomplishments.  We congratulate her on this prestigious award, but we know that given her productivity, this is only one of many accolades she so richly deserves."

Oser has been a faculty member in the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Sociology since 2006. Her research interests include addiction health services, health disparities, HIV risk behaviors/interventions as well as drug use among rural, minority and criminal justice populations. She holds an appointment in UK's Center on Drug and Alcohol Research and the College of Medicine’s Department of Behavioral Science. She is the co-director of the Health, Society and Populations Program, a newly established major in the College of Arts and Sciences tailored to provide undergraduate students with a greater understanding of the social and structural determinants of health and illness.

As part of her commitment to innovation in education, she and a colleague, Michele Staton-Tindall in the College of Social Work, developed a partnership between UK and the Kentucky Department of Corrections. In a course titled "Drugs and Crime, an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program Course," undergraduate students and inmates learn together in classes held at Blackburn Correctional Complex in Lexington.

In addition to her recognition from the ASA, Oser has received research awards from the National Institute on Drug Abuse totaling over $4 million and has collaborated as a co-investigator on National Institutes of Health projects supported by more than $16 million in the past decade.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu