Fostering Democracy and Expression: Highlights from our “Back to School for Democracy” Grants1/31/2025
As we enter a new political administration, Project Pericles continues to commit to strengthening democracy and celebrating the successes of our campuses in fostering civic leadership across campus. In this vein, Project Pericles is thrilled to share eight rapid response mini-grants awarded in our inaugural Back to School for Democracy Collaborative Fellowship! This fellowship was created in Fall 2024 in response to the crucial need to develop a new generation of diverse civic leaders who embrace their role in making a difference in society. Through these grants, faculty, staff, students, and administrators collaboratively engage with civic and social justice issues fostering creative inquiry and inspiring unity. Funded by the Mellon Foundation with additional support from The Eugene M. Lang Foundation, this initiative provided grant recipients with up to $1,000 to design and implement innovative projects, events, or event series that address key challenges and opportunities on their campuses. Grantees utilized their funding for impactful initiatives, ranging from voter registration drives to workshops focused on combating voter suppression building capacity for meaningful, long-term change   This week’s Faculty in Focus is Allison Walker from High Point University
Periclean Civic Engagement Fellow Allison Walker from High Point University (HPU) in North Carolina taught “Empathetic Communications in a Digital World,” an interdisciplinary Communications and Business Leadership course that emphasized the development of students’ empathetic and ethical reasoning, alongside media literacy skills. The course integrated Project Pericles’ Deliberative Dialogue module to facilitate a discussion on minimum wage determination. This dialogue was enriched by course readings and experiential learning activities called “Empathy Adventures,” which immersed students in experiences that reflected the challenges faced by minimum-wage workers. The “Empathy Adventures” assignments provided students with opportunities to engage directly with the realities many Americans face everyday. These tasks included preparing and sharing a healthy meal for four people for less than $10, standing for eight consecutive hours to simulate the physical strain of certain jobs, and using public transportation to commute to and from work or school for a week. One of the “Empathy Adventures” required students to follow the schedule of a single parent of two children, setting alarms to reflect the schedule one would have to follow to care for two children during the workweek. Each “Empathy Adventure” was paired with relevant readings including first person narratives, scientific studies, and scholarly articles to contextualize the experiences within broader social and economic frameworks. These assignments also encouraged students to critically analyze how media representations shape public perceptions of minimum-wage, socioeconomic class, and social justice issues. They can be found here through our Civic Engagement Resource Database on our website. Amplifying Immigrant Voices and Building Connections through Storytelling in the Twin Cities1/21/2025
 Welcome back to Faculty in Focus! This week we’re highlighting Julia Chadaga from Macalester College
In her Russian Studies course, Once We Arrived: Stories of Immigrants' First Jobs, Julia Chadaga partnered with the International Institute of Minnesota to connect students with local immigrants to share their stories. By exploring the challenges immigrants face in securing their first job in the U.S., students gained invaluable insights into immigrant experiences while amplifying these individuals’ voices. Students conducted interviews which were recorded and uploaded to a course website, preserving their narratives and making them available to the public. Through this project, students gained valuable skills in communication, collaboration, and technology while deepening their understanding of the contributions of immigrants to their local community. Working in small groups, students were matched with interviewees from all over the world, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ecuador, Mexico, and Russia. The project began with an informal meeting designed to build trust and rapport - a highlight of the course. As one student shared, “I think having this first meeting was extremely important and helpful for the success of our interview. It made the process feel relationship based and I think it allowed her to be more comfortable sharing her story publicly. For me personally, I learned the most meaningful information about her story from this informal meeting.” Welcome to Faculty in Focus, Project Pericles’ Weekly Spotlight where we celebrate incredible work of our Periclean community.  Anita and Marika in Spring 2024 Anita Chikkatur, a Periclean Faculty Leader (PFL) and Professor of Educational Studies at Carleton College, partnered with Marika Pfefferkorn, Co-founder of the Twin Cities Innovation Alliance and Executive Director of Midwest Center for School Transformation, to develop and teach an exciting senior seminar course at Carleton College this past Spring: Carcerality and Education. This course was developed as part of the Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Program–a Project Pericles faculty leadership initiative that supports innovative curricula deepening students’ engagement with critical societal issues in order to contribute meaningfully to communities.
Originally conceived with the goal of teaching about the school to prison pipeline, the course explored how “carcerality” - the influence of punitive systems - is embedded into K-12 public education throughout the United States. By compiling resources, including materials made by students, Chikkatur and Pfefferkorn have created a valuable online compendium for abolitionist education, aiming to create more equitable schools by challenging systemic oppression, available here. This collection of resources, from reading guides to class activities, is available for use by educators, students, and any community members hoping to deepen understanding of abolitionist practices. Project Pericles is pleased to announce the 21 recipients of the Periclean Faculty Leader grant awards. These faculty members have designed classes that uplift civic engagement in new and exciting ways across a broad expanse of disciplines while centering humanities approaches. See below for a complete list of grant recipients.. The past year has been a banner year for Project Pericles! We are pleased to share some 2024 highlights demonstrating the breadth and impact of our campus programs building the next generation of civic leaders.
Post-Election Takeaways, Political Printmaking, and Fellowship resources. View online here: The December Periclean Project Pericles is pleased to presenting two sessions at the 2025 American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Annual Meeting, January 22-24, 2025 in Washington D.C. We are delighted to contribute to a robust agenda of sessions for year's theme: Reaffirming Higher Education Public's Purpose, which is extremely aligned with our mission of graduating students to be life-long engaged citizens.
On October 23-24, we gathered at Swarthmore College for an inspiring and impactful conference, convening more than 30 Periclean colleagues from across 20+ campuses nationwide. This dynamic, peer-led meeting focused on exploring critical civic issues in higher education, showcasing the expertise within our network and fostering a rich atmosphere of knowledge and relationship building.
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