MSU Sociology announces Spring Graduate Student Awards

May 14, 2026 - Karessa Weir

Three MSU Sociology PhD students have received awards this spring from the department’s endowed scholarships.

  
Teresa Rivera was selected for the 2025-26 John & Ruth Useem Endowment Award. The John & Ruth Useem Endowment Award is available to Sociology graduate students through the support of alumni who contributed to the Endowment.  The Endowment is meant to honor the intellectual legacy and strong international and broad interdisciplinary foci of the late Drs. John and Ruth Useem. 
Rivera is a Dual Major Doctoral Student with Sociology and Chicano/Latino Studies. Her dissertation is entitled “Stress Process Model-Chicana Feminist Approach to Understanding Latina Immigrant Experiences and Interpretations of Interpersonal Violence.” Teresa’s proposed research embodies the goals of Useem through her use of a Chicana Feminist lens to uncover the unique experiences that Latina immigrants have with interpersonal violence.   

Ereisa Morales was named the 2026 John L. McAdoo Dissertation Award winner. This award is a tribute honoring the scholarship and leadership of John Lewis McAdoo, who was a professor of Family and Child Ecology at Michigan State University and a founding member of the NCFR Ethnic Minorities Section. The purpose of the award is to provide support for the completion of graduate research with a focus on issues related to families of color. 

Morales’ dissertation is titled “Substance Use Disorder in Our Home: Siblings Experiences, Navigating Changes, and Meaning-Making.” Her dissertation work aims to illuminate the challenges that racially minoritized family members face when grappling with the substance abuse of a sibling. 

Vilitcia Barghouti is the 2026 Jay Artis Endowment Scholarship recipient. The Artis Scholarship is for advanced graduate students who are doing research in the area of international development.  
Barghouti’s research is titled “Alienation and Colonialism in Palestine: The West Bank Laborers in Israel and the Israeli Settlements.” She was selected for the Jay Artis award because of the promise of her research to advance the goal of the endowment to support international development scholarship. 

“The Department of Sociology is pleased to make these awards to our very deserving graduate students. We look forward to seeing the fruits of their labors as they complete their dissertation research!” said Graduate Program Director Dr. Stephanie Nawyn, Associate Professor of Sociology.