Renée Crown Honors Program Announces New Professors, New Coursework

What’s New

This year, 27 rising seniors received Crown thesis funding to support their independent projects, some of which are showcased in The Crown, an undergraduate research journal edited by and for Honors students.

The Honors program also introduced new coursework, such as HNR 220: Perspectives on the Legal Field, taught by part-time instructor Barry Weiss. Weiss has held roles such as administrative officer at the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office and vice chair of the Onondaga County Drug Task Force. Leveraging his extensive professional network, Weiss brought in a range of legal professionals to engage with students, including Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.

Adding to the momentum of academic excellence and growth, two new Renée Crown Professors have been appointed. Brett Jakubiak, associate professor of psychology, has been named the Renée Crown Professor in the Sciences and Mathematics, and Antonio Tiongson, associate professor of English, has been named the Renée Crown Professor in the Humanities. They succeeded the inaugural Crown Professors Heidi Hehnly, associate professor of biology (sciences and mathematics), and Karin Nisenbaum, assistant professor of philosophy (humanities).

“I thank Professors Hehnly and Nisenbaum for their pioneering work as Renée Crown Professors, and I’m pleased to welcome Professors Jakubiak and Tiongson,” says A&S Dean Behzad Mortazavi.  “Their outstanding mentorship will be invaluable in preparing Honors students to tackle the grand challenges of our time.”

During their three-year appointments, these professors will teach Honors courses and mentor students on their thesis research. The professorships, made possible thanks to the generous support of Life Trustee and donor Renée Schine Crown ’50, H’84 and her family, strengthen the program’s intellectually vibrant environment and encourage students from diverse disciplines to collaborate on interdisciplinary research themes.

Mortazavi adds, “I am grateful to the Crown family for their extraordinary vision and generosity over the years. Their enduring support of the College of Arts and Sciences and the University as a whole has elevated the student experience and created a lasting legacy of academic excellence and opportunity.”

Diving Into the Dynamics of Relationships

Jakubiak, a professor of psychology at Syracuse University since 2017, runs the Close Relationships and Healthy Living Lab in A&S. His research focuses on how involvement in close relationships helps individuals manage stress, cope with chronic illness and pursue personal goals. Additionally, he investigates the benefits of affectionate touch for individuals and their relationships. By examining these factors, Jakubiak aims to develop practical and widespread strategies to safeguard and improve both personal and relationship health.

Jakubiak teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in social psychology and close relationships. By exploring why people form, maintain and sometimes end close relationships, his students gain deeper insight into the human experience. In recognition of his outstanding teaching and mentorship, Jakubiak received the University’s Meredith Early Performance Award for exemplary instruction at Syracuse University.

“As someone who is dedicated to supporting undergraduate students—including our exceptional Honors students—it is a true honor to be selected for this role,” says Jakubiak. “I have had the privilege of mentoring several honors theses. That work has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my time at Syracuse University. I am excited to devote more of my time and attention to supporting the Honors program in this new capacity.”

As a Crown professor, Jakubiak will develop a new class on attachment across the lifespan. He says this course will integrate social, cognitive and clinical psychological perspectives to explore the nature, function and even dysfunction of attachment relationships.

Bridging Classroom and Community

Tiongson, a faculty member at Syracuse since 2020, studies American culture and society with a focus on race, ethnicity and identity—particularly within Asian American and Filipinx American communities. His scholarship explores how different racial groups are perceived and treated, and how popular culture both reflects and shapes these understandings. He is also interested in contemporary youth activism and the emergence of social movements in the post-Civil Rights era. Another area of concentration revolves around an interrogation of archives and the nature of knowledge production. His current project, tentatively titled “Archives of Comparative Racialization and the Problematics of Comparative Critique,” examines how scholars compare the experiences of different racial groups and traces the evolution of “critical ethnic studies” as both an academic discipline and a political movement.

In the classroom, Tiongson engages students in discussions about the complexities of comparing racial experiences without overlooking differences in the racialization histories of minoritized groups and Indigenous peoples. He is eager to bring these critical conversations into his Honors courses.

Building on the already robust Honors curriculum, Tiongson plans to develop new, interdisciplinary courses focusing on climate change, sustainability and resource extraction, speculative fiction and alternative futurisms, outbreaks, pandemics and race, global popular culture, and youth and global social movements. “These classes will span the humanities and the arts, and the natural and social sciences,” he says. “By grappling with insights from multiple disciplines, students are better positioned to understand pressing issues more holistically and actively engage with the world.”

Tiongson also hopes to create opportunities for Honors students to learn beyond the classroom. “Specifically, I aim to open more opportunities for Honors students to take part in community engagement. Such partnerships allow them to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to a real-world setting, exemplifying the transformative power of education—one rooted in collaboration, critical inquiry and civic responsibility.”

Jakubiak and Tiongson began their tenures as Honors professors on July 1.