Dr. Dawn Witherspoon receives 2014 Roy C. Buck Award

We are happy to share the news that Dr. Dawn Witherspoon is the recipient of the 2014 Roy C. Buck Award.

Dr. Buck graduated from Penn State in 1938 with a degree in agricultural education and in 1947 with an M.S. degree in rural sociology. He went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota in 1950 with a Ph.D. in sociology. After serving in the U.S. Army Military Police during World War II and receiving a Bronze Star medal and the rank of sergeant, he taught high school and then began his career with Penn State as an assistant professor in 1949. Dr. Buck retired from Penn State in 1981 as Professor Emeritus of sociology.

The Roy C. Buck Award recognizes the best article accepted or published by a refereed scholarly journal in the social sciences within the last year, with some preference given to articles focusing on minority issues in the United States. Dr. Witherspoon’s article entitled, “Racial Identity from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Does Prior Neighborhood Experience Matter?” examined the influence of earlier neighborhood experiences on trajectories of racial centrality (the importance of race to individuals’ self-concept) and regard among Black youth. The results suggest that centrality increases, whereas public regard remains relatively stable, across the transition to adulthood.

Please join us in congratulating Dawn.