The 2024-2025 Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award honoring Emeriti Professors in the University of California system has been awarded to Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of Anthropology Diane Gifford-Gonzalez (UC Santa Cruz) and Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Howard Giles (UC Santa Barbara).
UC Emeriti Professors Gifford-Gonzalez and Giles are the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth recipients of the Constantine Panunzio Award. Both awardees have especially long and notable records of research, teaching, and service to the University of California, their disciplines, and their communities. The late Dr. Panunzio, a Professor of Sociology at UCLA for many years, has been described as the architect of the UC Retirement System and was particularly active in improving pensions and stipends for his fellow Emeriti. The award bearing his name was established in 1983 and includes a $5,000 prize. The Panunzio Award exemplifies the tremendous contributions of Emeriti to the continued excellence of the UC System.
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, UC Santa Cruz, Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of Anthropology retired in 2015. Professor Emerita Gifford-Gonzalez is internationally recognized as one the foremost authorities in zooarchaeology and continues to provide intellectual and committed leadership to her discipline. Her expertise intersects archaeology, zooarchaeology, gender, the history of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indigenous communities in California’s Monterey Bay area. Her research has led to real-world impacts including the successful disposition of ancestral remains for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Coastanoan/Ohlone Indians, and an ongoing eco-archaeological project to examine diverse lines of evidence for Indigenous landscape and seascape stewardship practices over 7000 years on the Central California Coast. Having been a founding cohort of zooarchaeology, the study of human-animal interactions, in 2018 she published the leading textbook – An Introduction to Zooarchaeology. Herscholarship continues with publications in leading peer-reviewed journals; she has served as the keynote speaker at three major international conferences, and has given Distinguished Lectures, including at the Institute for Human History at the Max Planck Institute in Jena (2017). Professor Emerita Gifford-Gonzalez has received significant recognition for her research with honors, and among them are election to the National Academy of Sciences (2024), appointed as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropology Section (2023), is the recipient of the Distinguished Social Sciences Emeriti Faculty Award from UCSC (2020), as well as being a Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study, Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, Oslo (2015-2016). Service to her campus continues with supervision of doctoral students, service on UCSC senate committees, the Nature Reserves Advisory Committee, and the Emeriti Association (2023-2024).
Howard Giles, UC Santa Barbara, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Communication retired in 2017. Since becoming an Emeritus Professor, Howard Giles has retained his influence in the multi-disciplinary fields of social psychology of language and communication; intergenerational communication and aging; and intergroup communication more broadly. He is widely considered the leading scholar in these disciplines and is viewed as the “Architect of Communication Scholarship.” His research productivity since retirement focuses on three domains: aging, Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) which he founded, and police-community relations. Works include a co-authored book, eight special journal issues, 47 coauthored peer-reviewed articles, and numerous other publications and significant editorial work, in addition to national and international paper presentations. Recognition has been bestowed upon him with two professional associations naming awards in his honor, the “Inaugural Giles Mentorship Award” from the International Association of Language & Social Psychology and the “Howard Giles Top Student Paper Award” from the International Communication Association. His contributions include continued service to his campus, teaching, and mentorship. Since 2021 he has been an affiliate of UCSB’s Center for Aging & Longevity Studies. Post retirement he became a fellow in a number of societies, and in 2023 he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In addition to his dedication to students and UCSB, his commitment to campus-community relationships is reflected in his service as the Director of the Volunteer in Policing Corp for the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD), earning him a nomination as the SBPD Civilian Supervisor of the Year Award. His involvement in this area of police-community relations has also resulted in collaborations with the police department, including a handbook on policing and communication as well as an intervention program called VOICES that promotes dialog between the police and marginalized members of the community.
Please join all of us on the Committee in congratulating Emeriti Professors Diane Gifford-Gonzalez and Howard Giles on receiving the 2024-2025 Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award.
Sincerely,
Michael S. Levine
Chair, Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award Selection Committee
Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs & Personnel
