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The Commission on the Accreditation of
Programs in Applied and Clinical Sociology


The CAPACS Board Welcomes Dr. Lubomir Savov Popov and Dr. Jacques Rheaume to the Commission

Dr. Lubomir Popov Savov (Professor and Coordinator, Interior Design; Bowling Green State University, OH)

Dr. Popov is a pre-eminent and distinguished scholar, academician, architect, and practitioner of social design and applied sociology, and highly regarded by his colleagues in the United States and abroad. Among his numerous awards and distinctions in the fields of Architecture and Sociology, wherein he holds dual doctorates, Dr. Popov was awarded the Robert Ezra Park Award for Sociological Practice by the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) in 2016. This award is presented to an “outstanding sociologist who has made a special contribution demonstrating how sociological practice (applied or clinical) can advance and improve society.” In 2014, Dr. Popov was honored at the Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference with the McGraw Hill Distinguished Scholar Award. Dr. Popov was elected a Fellow of the Design Research Society – one of the first of twelve fellows. He is a member of the Board of the Institute of High Performance Planners; and is a former Board member of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), wherein he currently serves as Network Co-Chair.

Dr. Popov earned his M. Arch. Degree in the Department of Architecture at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1988. In 1992, he earned his first doctorate in Sociology in the Department of Sociocultural Issues of Living Environment, at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, awarded by the National Supreme Testimonial Committee in Sofia, Bulgaria. After arriving in the United States, Dr. Popov earned his second doctorate in Architecture in the Department of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1998, and completed post-doctoral training in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1999. In 2011, Dr. Popov was awarded a Certificate in Sociological Practice (C.S.P.) by the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS).

At Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Dr. Popov is the Interior Design Program Coordinator, filling a leading role in the Program, and currently oversees program development and accreditation. In the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at BGSU, Dr. Popov serves on the Personnel Committee, an important tenure and promotion committee, which evaluates the performance of the School’s faculty. In the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS), Dr. Popov has served on AACS’s most prestigious committees: Strategic Planning, Professional Development, Certification, and Nominations and Governance. He currently chairs the Social Design Committee, and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal for Applied Social Science (JASS).

Dr. Popov’s academic background, numerous publications, professional accomplishments in architectural and sociological practice, coordination of the Interior Design Program at BGSU, including its accreditation, and domestic and international recognition qualify him to serve on CAPACS. His membership and participation on the CAPACS Board of Directors will broaden the Commission’s domestic and international outreach, moving CAPACS forward as the profession’s leading accreditor of higher education programs in applied, clinical, and engaged public sociology, and sociological practice.

Dr. Jacques Rhéaume (Professor Emeritus, University of Québec at Montréal)

Dr. Rheaume is a well-known French Canadian scholar-practitioner who has strong contacts with French and Spanish-speaking colleagues, and can introduce CAPACS accreditation in French-speaking Canada and in other areas of the world.

Professor Jacques Rheaume received his doctorate in sociology in 1987 from the University of Montreal. He taught at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) from 1978-2008 and was head of the Department of Social and Public Communication. He also was the Scientific Director, for 12 years, of the SHERPA Institute which conducts health and social services research and training in a multi-ethnic setting. While Dr. Rheaume is now an Emeritus Professor at UQAM, he is still an Associate Member of the University’s Health and Communication Research Center.

Professor Rheaume has been involved for twenty-five years in the development of sociological practice. His first collaborations were with Professor Robert Sevigny, the first president of RC46 Clinical Sociology in the International Sociological Association and a recipient of the RC46 Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Rheaume has twice been President of RC46 (for eight years) and is currently a member of the RC46 Presidential Advisory Committee. He also is active in the French-Speaking International Sociology Association (AISLF) and other international groups. In France, he is a founding member of the International Clinical Sociology Network (Réseau international de sociologie, RISC) and frequently has been invited to be a teacher in the Social Sciences program at the Université de Paris 7. The Clinical Sociology orientation at Paris 7 was developed by Vincent de Gaulejac. He also is frequently invited to speak at conferences in Spanish-speaking area of the world.

Dr. Rheaume’s areas of expertise include clinical sociology; mental health; work and management; community development; immigration and cultural diversity. He frequently uses life narratives in his work. He has given more than 22 professional presentations since 2007 and has authored, co-authored and co-edited more than 45 articles, chapters and books

Dr. Rheaume is a former director of a Master's and a Ph.D program in social and public communication. He is very aware of the importance of communication issues in groups, organizations, public institutions and media. Professor Rheaume’s expertise in these areas will help CAPACS bring its message to universities in Canada, US, France, Spain, Columbia and other areas of the world.