CCU’s Mokos named a Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader
Scholars chosen as MEFL awardees have a strong desire to create an inclusive environment locally, which they exemplify through their research and community involvement. Recipients receive a 12-month, $17,500 stipend to support their research as they work toward tenure.
“The MEFL award means so much to me because of the program’s emphasis on supporting faculty who are working to make their fields and institutions more inclusive and equitable,” said Mokos. “I am honored and grateful for this opportunity, which will enable me to further my environmental and social justice work by producing research that is accessible and useful to the people and communities with whom I am working.”
In 2018, Mokos cofounded Horry County Rising, a community advocacy group that developed after the devastating flooding that resulted from Hurricane Florence. Her research project, titled “Flooded Afterlives,” combines faculty and student research, co-curricular activities, and community partnerships to document the long-term impacts of flooding on the well-being of people and communities.
Mokos and her students interview community members, administer surveys, and conduct housing assessments. Community members can then use the data that Mokos and her students produce to advocate for sustainable solutions for the future.
“Unlike many other professors whose teaching and research are quite separate, Dr. Mokos has created a seamless continuum between the two,” said Sara Hottinger, Ph.D., dean of the HTC Honors College. “In her classroom, her students engage in a two-pronged journey that involves both active learning and the production of research artifacts and knowledge. Her students are not only learners, they are also coresearchers and cowriters. I am so very happy and proud that Dr. Mokos is a member of the HTC Honors College faculty. Our students are very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with her.”
Mokos earned a Ph.D. in community research and action, with a certificate in women’s and gender studies, from Vanderbilt University in 2016.