Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, has been recognized by the Rural Sociological Society (RSS) with its Excellence in Research Award. This prestigious award acknowledges an RSS member who has made outstanding contributions to rural-oriented research and/or theory. Monnat was presented with the award at the RSS Annual Meeting on August 1, 2021.

Monnat, who is also a senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research and the co-director of the Maxwell School’s Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab, conducts research on demographic and geographic differences in health and mortality, with a particular focus on rural health and health disparities. Her most recent research has centered on geographic variation in drug overdose rates and the differential impacts of COVID-19 on rural populations.

In nominating Monnat for the award, Distinguished Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography Leif Jensen of Pennsylvania State University said that her research excellence is exemplified by “productivity, research support, visibility and impact, and selfless scholarship.”

Monnat, along with co-authors David J. Peters (Iowa State University), Andrew L. Hochstetler (Iowa State University) and Mark T. Berg (University of Iowa), was also awarded the 2021 Fred Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award from the RSS for their article “The Opioid Hydra: Understanding Overdose Mortality Epidemics and Syndemics Across the Rural-Urban Continuum” published in Rural Sociology. 

08/05/21