2022 CESB Research Awards

In our inaugural research award competition in 2022, we asked the LFCoB faculty, “Have you recently published a paper that has—or will—make a practical impact in addressing an ethical, environmental or social justice problem?”

Our faculty rose to the challenge, and we are proud to present the 2022 recipients of the CESB Research Awards, in alphabetical order.

2022 Research Award Recipients

Venoo Kakar, Associate Professor of Economics

Professor Venoo Kakar studies the systemic disparities in contraceptive/reproductive health information available to students at their university health centers in the following publication.  Her work reveals important systemic gaps, especially at universities that serve nontraditional or vulnerable groups as well as based on university location, as this seen in this interactive map.

  • Kakar, Venoo, Anagha Kulkarni, Carrie Holschuh, Anastasia Smirnova, and Sepideh Modrek. "Contraception Information on the Websites of Student Health Centers in the United States." Contraception (2022).

John Logan, Professor and Chair of Labor Studies & Employment Studies

Professor John Logan’s labor study has received numerous mentions in the popular press and media, including HBO’s John Oliver Show:

  • Logan, John. "Crushing Unions, by Any Means Necessary: How Amazon’s Blistering Anti-Union Campaign Won in Bessemer, Alabama." New Labor Forum. Vol. 30. No. 3. Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, 2021.

Sepideh Modrek, Associate Professor of Economics

Professor Sepideh Modrek provided two recent publications that address social justice issues as follows: racial disparities in access to wealth make it more difficult for families of color to absorb the financial shock of taking unpaid time off to care for a newborn. Second, due to the distribution of the types of work by race, families of color may face job insecurity for taking time off to care for a newborn:

  • Irish A, White J, Modrek S, Hamad R. Effects of paid family leave policy on child and parent mental health: A quasi-experimental study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2021; 61:182-191.  
  • Lee B, Modrek S, White JS, Batra A, Collin DF, Hamad R. The Effect of California's Paid Family Leave Policy on Parent Health: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Social Science & Medicine, 2020; 251: 112915. 

Lufei Ruan, Associate Professor of Accounting

Professor Lufei Ruan makes a practical impact in addressing an ethical problem in that her publication documents how auditing combats firm-level corruption:

  • Ruan, Lufei, and Haiyan Zhang. "Do auditors consider alleged bribery when accepting clients? Evidence from Chinese non-state-owned enterprises." Accounting and Business Research 51.6-7 (2021): 744-776.

Dayna Walker, Assistant Professor of Management

Professor Dayna Walker’s findings suggest that to build ethical and developmental workplaces, leaders and organizations should pay more attention to implicit assumptions about followership instead of focusing only on explicit leadership behaviors

  • Yip, J., & Walker, D. O. (2021). Leaders mentoring others: the effects of implicit followership theory on leader integrity and mentoring. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Advance Online Publication.