Media contact
Tim Lucas, 919-613-8084, tdlucas@duke.edu
Avner Vengosh and Paul Baker Among Faculty to Use Funds to Develop New Engagement Projects
Durham, NC -- More than $45,000 in funding recently was awarded to 51±¬ÁÏ faculty and staff who submitted proposals earlier in the semester to the 51±¬ÁÏ Center for Civic Engagement (DCCE) to explore sites around the globe as potential programs in the coming years.
The 51±¬ÁÏEngage program, housed in the DCCE, provides funding for 51±¬ÁÏ undergraduates who wish to pursue an immersive civic engagement experience anywhere in the world. Through 51±¬ÁÏEngage, students apply what they have learned in the classroom to address societal issues at home or abroad. A pilot program involving 87 51±¬ÁÏ students took place this past summer. A full launch of the new program is scheduled for Summer 2008.
Below is the list of faculty members who received site exploration grants and the sites to be explored:
BOLIVIA – Avner Vengosh, associate professor, Earth and Ocean Sciences, and Paul Baker, professor, Earth and Ocean Sciences. A grant to explore a program that focuses on water and environmental issues.
CHILE - Antonio Arce, senior program coordinator, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies . A grant to explore working with FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) to offer civic engagement experiences in community based organizations that are addressing important social challenges.
COLOMBIA – Tamera Marko, program coordinator, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. A grant to explore working with universities and libraries to create and carry out programs such as after-school storytelling, English classes, etc.
HONDURAS – David Schaad, adjunct assistant professor and assistant chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering. A grant to explore building a clinic and nurturing a cultural awareness of a different ethnic group as well as providing engineering and health care to indigenous people living in rural communities.
INDIA – Mike Belden, program coordinator, Center for Health Policy. A grant to explore developing new projects with Sahara Centre, an organization which works primarily with people who face difficult situations due to substance use and HIV/AIDS.
INDIA – Leela Prasad, associate professor, Religion. A grant to explore collaborating with an Indian NGO to facilitate literacy among economically underprivileged children.
ISRAEL – Laura Richman, assistant research professor, Psychological & Brain Sciences. A grant to explore doing social justice work with a national nonprofit organization.
REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – Lucy Reuben, visiting professor, Fuqua School of Business. A grant to explore developing entrepreneurship programs with international partners.
SOUTH AFRICA – William Chafe, Alice Mary Baldwin Distinguished Professor of History, and Robert Korstad, associate professor, Sanford Institute of Public Policy. A grant to explore conducting first-person interviews with veteran participants of the anti-apartheid freedom struggle.
UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER – Charlie Thompson, education and curriculum director, Center for Documentary Studies; Jenny Snead Williams, program coordinator, Latino/a Studies; and Tennessee Watson, Youth Noise Network coordinator, Center for Documentary Studies. A grant to explore internship and service placements with well-established organizations such as Borderlinks.
UNITED STATES-MISSISSIPPI – Kristen Stephens, visiting assistant professor of the practice, 51±¬ÁÏ Program in Education. A grant to explore building a cadre of youth leaders in the community to help foster systemic change and community improvement at the grassroots level.
For more information about 51±¬ÁÏEngage,