BC's Nine Diversity Grants Are Tops at CUNY
4/8/2008Nine Brooklyn College employees were awarded grants from CUNY's Diversity Projects and Faculty Development fund for the 2007-2008 academic year, more than twice the amount of grants awarded to any other institution in the 19-college CUNY system. Hostos Community College and Medgar Evers College both had the second highest number—four each.
The grants, which are up to $5,000, are awarded by the University Office of Recruitment and Diversity. They were established to support scholarly research and other educational projects that promote diversity, multiculturalism and tolerance. Current full and part-time CUNY faculty and staff members are eligible..
Jennifer Rubain, BC's director of affirmative action, compliance, and diversity, said she was delighted that the College was funded for so many projects.
"These awards are ideal for individuals who need micro-grants to fund scholarly research, creative endeavors, and professional activities which promote diversity and multiculturalism," she said.
The grants come at a time when the college is rewriting its diversity plan.
Combined, the nine projects received a total of $27,000 in funding.
Here's a sampling of some of the projects:
-- Four professors from the School of Education—Maria Scharron Del Rio, Graciela Elizalde-Utnick, Lynda Sarnoff and, Delida Sanchez—will develop a series of colloquia on racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity issues in public schools and in higher education. In response to recent hate-crimes and operating under a belief that faculty and students often feel anxious when speaking about these "hot topics" in the classroom, the professors hope to provide information and training to help combat bigotry and bias in educational venues.
-- Maria E. Perez Gonzalez, a professor in the department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, is publishing a booklet on career options for Puerto Rican and Latino Studies students and hosting a CUNY-wide event highlighting the multicultural nature of the department's offerings.
-- Jeanne Theoharis, the endowed chairperson of the Women's Studies program, and Prudence Cumberbatch, a professor of Africana studies, received a grant to support "Women in the Black Freedom Struggle," a series of events Women's Studies is hosting this spring. They plan to bring together scholars and former activists from across the country to examine the roles women played as theorists, organizers, and leaders of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.
-- Young Cheong, a professor in the Television and Radio department, will work on a 30-60 minute research documentary about Asian students attending Brooklyn College. The project will focus on Asian students as well as other ethnic groups who have come to America to further their education and how they handle difficult situations while studying at BC.
-- Gertrud Lenzer, director of the Children's Studies Center, will use the money to continue the center's Child Policy Forum of New York series, a public dialogue that addresses New York State child policies and their effect on disadvantaged and minority children.
-- Immanuel Ness, a professor in the political science department, will develop an Affirmative Action Web site with a range of resources, updates in federal and state law and judicial decisions, policy developments, civil rights and affirmative action organizations, relevant news and academic reports of importance. The site will be a repository of up-to-date information to be used by researchers, diversity professionals, and the public.
-- Dale Byam, a professor in Africana Studies, will use the funds to work on a video documentary aimed at providing a comprehensive narrative of the life and works of the late August Wilson through the voices of artists and scholars. Phylicia Rashad, Charles Dutton, Amiri Baraka, Paul Carter Harrison, the late Lloyd Richards, and others provide interesting stories of their encounters with the playwright and his works. The documentary targets high school and college audiences.
-- Barbara Winslow, a professor in the School of Education and coordinator of the women's studies program, will help organize a conference that will bring leading scholars of Shirley Chisholm together with other community activists and people who worked on her political campaigns to discuss her activism and its significance. The focus will be the community activism of African-American women, specifically Caribbean immigrants, who are historically under-represented within CUNY and in higher education in general.
