Program for Distinguished Student Renee Crown introduces fresh faculty members, advances existing academic courses
New Renee Crown Professors Join Syracuse University's Honors Program
Two distinguished scholars, Brett Jakubiak and Antonio Tiongson, have been appointed as Renee Crown Professors at the Renée Crown University Honors Program, effective from July 1, 2025.
Brett Jakubiak, an associate professor of psychology, will be developing a new class on attachment across the lifespan. His course will integrate social, cognitive, and clinical psychological perspectives to explore the nature, function, and even dysfunction of attachment relationships. Jakubiak, who runs the Close Relationships and Healthy Living Lab in the College of Arts and Sciences, teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in social psychology and close relationships. His research focuses on how close relationships help individuals manage stress, cope with chronic illness, and pursue personal goals. He also investigates the benefits of affectionate touch.
Jakubiak's students gain deeper insight into the human experience by exploring why people form, maintain, and sometimes end close relationships. In recognition of his exemplary instruction at Syracuse University, Jakubiak received the University's Meredith Early Performance Award.
Antonio Tiongson, another new Renee Crown Professor, is an associate professor of English. He studies American culture and society with a focus on race, ethnicity, and identity, particularly within Asian American and Filipinx American communities. Tiongson's scholarship explores how different racial groups are perceived and treated, and how popular culture both reflects and shapes these understandings.
Tiongson hopes to create opportunities for Honors students to learn beyond the classroom through community engagement. He plans to develop new, interdisciplinary courses focusing on climate change, sustainability, resource extraction, speculative fiction, alternative futurisms, outbreaks, pandemics, race, global popular culture, and youth and global social movements.
The Renee Crown Professorships, made possible by the generous support of Life Trustee and donor Renee Schine Crown '50, H'84 and her family, encourage students from diverse disciplines to collaborate on interdisciplinary research themes. The Renee Crown University Honors Program provides an innovative community for high-achieving students to hone their research and academic skills in a challenging yet supportive environment.
In addition to the new Renee Crown Professors, a new course, HNR 220: Perspectives on the Legal Field, was introduced in the Renee Crown University Honors Program, taught by Barry Weiss. Weiss, a part-time instructor with a background in the legal field, including roles at the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office and the Onondaga County Drug Task Force, will offer insights into the legal profession.
A&S Dean Behzad Mortazavi expressed gratitude for the Crown family's support, which has created a lasting legacy of academic excellence and opportunity at Syracuse University. The 27 rising seniors at Syracuse University's Renee Crown University Honors Program also received Crown thesis funding for their independent projects.
The appointments of Jakubiak, Tiongson, and Weiss mark a significant addition to the Renee Crown University Honors Program, further enhancing its commitment to academic excellence and interdisciplinary research.
