Honors and Awards

Honor societies

Sociology and criminal justice each have national honor societies which recognize students who have performed well in the respective disciplines. If you are eligible to join the criminal justice honors society (Alpha Phi Sigma) or the sociology honors society (Alpha Kappa Delta), our department will notify you by email in January or February. You can check eligibility requirements by clicking on the links for each society or on the links in the sidebar.

Induction into the honor societies occurs at the Department's annual Honor Ceremony in mid-April, which has been held online the past two years, and at The Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson historically.  The event is a festive occasion for student inductees, their guests, department faculty and higher-level administrators -- typically the Dean of the College and the Provost of the University. The banquet also typically features a guest speaker. 

Click here to view the program for the 2023 Honors event.

Click here to view the program for the 2022 Honors event.

Awards 

We bestow four awards at our honors ceremony each year.  The Paul P. Vouras Sociology Award is given to the sociology major graduating with the highest GPA.  Beginning in 2022, the Criminal Justice Academic Award has been given to the CCJ major graduating with the highest GPA.  Two Outstanding Student awards are given to students majoring in our respective disciplines to students who have demonstrated exemplary academic performance as well as service to the community.  

Award winners since 2017 are listed below.

Year Paul Vouras Award Criminal Justice Academic Award Outstanding Student in Criminal Justice Award Outstanding Student in Sociology Award
2024 Veronica Bratsos

Main campus: Danielle Menta

WPO: Kasia Kozak

Marilyn Garcia Juliana Kaynak, Rina Rosazza 
2023 Claudia Antoci

Main campus: Tricia Calabrese* & Taylor Crowley

WPO: Nur Anwari & Andrew Crawford

Nicole Eppinger, Sarah Parker, Francine Troisi  Nicole Caggiano
2022 Skylar Catania Jessica Krzastek Essence Rowe-Privott Vonesa Qira
2021 Jennifer DiVincenzi   E. Dena Janos Vanessa Archibold
2020 Kathy Wood   Jeffrey Torres Khristian Aviles
2019 Richard Salimbene   Dela Amexo Farhat Khan
2018 Matthew Diaz   Edita Diunov-Uster Arlethia Kelly
2017 Chaimaa Barki Austin Court Jacqueline Reyes Rebekah Battersby

*Awarded at the 2022 ceremony since the student was graduating by the following January.