Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award 2016-17

Created by a bequest from Professor Constantine Panunzio of UC Los Angeles, the Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award honors outstanding scholarly work or educational service (e.g., service in professional, University, Academic Senate, emeriti, departmental, or editorial posts or committees) performed since retirement by a University of California emeritus or emerita in the humanities or social sciences. This is a UC-wide prize.

UC Berkeley Professor Neil Smelser and UC Irvine Professor Margot Norris honored with the 2016-17 Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award

Neil Smelser

University Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley

Neil Smelser is University Professor Emeritus of Sociology at UC Berkeley and former director of its Center for Studies in Higher Education. Subsequent to leaving fulltime employment in 1994, he served as the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Since retirement, he has been active in teaching, has served on numerous committees at Berkeley and Stanford, as well as nationally and internationally, and has been a prolific scholar, publishing seven books, more than 20 major research articles, and even more numerous other pieces. The focuses of his work have been sociology, terrorism, and the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley. The Panunzio Award adds to the numerous awards and visiting professorships that he has received nationally and internationally.

Past Awardees from UC Berkeley:

2013-14: Elizabeth Colson, Anthropology

2002-03: Gene Hammel, Demography

1999-2000: S. Leonard Syme, Epidemiology

1983-84: Jean Brody, Art History


Margot Norris

Chancellor's Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature at UC Irvine

Margot Norris is Chancellor's Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. She is a renowned scholar in James Joyce and in other 20th Century Modernist literature. Until her retirement from active service in 2011, she had amassed a formidable portfolio and reputation in this field. She was awarded the title of Chancellor's Professor at UC Irvine and has received other prestigious recognitions here and abroad. She has been president and an active leader in the James Joyce Society and editor of some of the leading publications in the field. She has remained an active and acclaimed teacher and mentor, and a vigorous and productive scholar, publishing three books and numerous other chapters and articles since retirement.