Assistant Professor Louis Seamster was quoted in the New York Times' article "Student Loan Cancellation Sets Up Clash Between Biden and the Left" from December 10, 2020. In response to President-elect Joe Biden's endorsement for canceling $10,000 in federal student loan debt per borrower, Professor Seamster talks about the effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on Universities and Colleges.

Victor Ray is the 2020 Distinguished Early Career Award recipient from the American Sociological Association Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. This award recognizes exceptional achievement and scholarly contribution to research on the sociology of race and ethnicity.

African American Studies faculty members Simon Balto, Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies, and Richard Brent Turner, Professor of Religious Studies and African American Studies, have been named 2020 fellows of the American Council of Learned Societies. ACLS Fellowships are among the most prestigious research honors in the humanities. They offer scholars the opportunity to devote six to twelve continuous months to full-time research and writing for a specific project. The awards are portable and are tenable at the fellow's home institution, abroad, or at another appropriate site for research.