Ten Faculty Awarded AVDF PFL Grants for Innovative Community Collaborations and STEM/Social Sciences Courses

​Ten faculty members representing ten Periclean institutions were selected to teach new, innovative courses with a community-initiated project as part of Cohort II of The Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Program in the STEM and Social Sciences, supported by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations (AVDF) and The Eugene M. Lang Foundation. 

Students in these courses apply academic content to address grand challenges raised by community partners, and campuses develop meaningful partnerships with their local community. The newly selected AVDF Periclean Faculty Leaders (PFLs) in STEM and Social Sciences are proposing ambitious projects that will make a real difference for their local communities:
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• At Drew University, students in Minjoon Kouh’s “Capstone Seminar in Neuroscience and Physics” will create video presentations on exciting, cutting edge peer-reviewed science research to inspire local high school students with limited educational access through a partnership with Students 2 Science. 
• Lin Winton at Carleton College will collaborate with Growing Up Healthy, in her “Data Visualization as Activism” course. Students will learn, interpret and synthesize quantitative and qualitative information in order to create data graphics that will be used by the organization and the growing Latina/o/x, immigrant, and refugee communities in rural Minnesota to advocate for systems-level change. 
• The Wellness and Stress Clinic of Memphis is partnering with Peter Hossler at Rhodes College in the course, “Social Justice in the City: From Theorizing to Mobilizing Health Equity.” Students will address public health, and race and inequality by collectively developing a one-year strategic plan that focuses on increasing the number of people receiving 1) primary care services and 2) Covid-19 vaccinations at the clinic.

These are just a few examples of PFLs and their courses. Among this new cohort, community partners range from prisoner reentry services to local historical societies. PFLs and their courses represent a variety of disciplines including biology, health and exercise sciences, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, psychology, and sociology. Community-initiated projects are addressing one or more of the grand challenges: climate change, education access, immigration, mass incarceration, public health, race and inequality, and voter engagement. 

Cohort II of AVDF PFLs in STEM and Social Sciences will teach in 2021-2022, and they join our growing community of Periclean Faculty Leaders including the previously announced Cohort I of AVDF PFLs in STEM and Social Sciences. Project Pericles thanks The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and The Eugene M. Lang Foundation for their support of this program. The tremendous impact these PFL courses will collectively have on students, faculty, campuses, their communities, and higher education more widely, is inspiring. 
 
A complete list of Cohort II of AVDF PFLs in the STEM and Social Sciences, Courses, and Community Partners is below:

• Bates College, Yunkyoung Garrison, Assistant Professor, Course: Community-Based Research Methods, Community Partner: Maine Community Integration
• Bethune Cookman University, Dominique DuBose, Assistant Professor, Course: Health and Exercise Science Internship​, Community Partner: Gold’s Gym Daytona Beach
• Carleton College, Lin Winton, Director of the Quantitative Resource Center and Lecturer in Biology, Course: Data Visualization as Activism, Community Partner: Growing Up Healthy
• Chatham University, Jennie Sweet-Cushman, Associate Professor, Course: State and Local Government, Community Partners: Clean Water Action; Humane Action Pittsburgh; PennEnvironment; Sustainable Pittsburgh
• Drew University, Minjoon Kouh, Associate Professor of Physics and Neuroscience,  Course: Capstone Seminar in Neuroscience and Physics, Community Partner: Students 2 Science, Inc.
• Rhodes College, Peter Hossler, Assistant Professor of Urban and Community Health, Course: Social Justice in the City: From Theorizing to Mobilizing Health Equity, Community Partner: Wellness and Stress Clinic of Memphis
• Swarthmore College, Edwin Mayorga, Assistant Professor, Course: Sanctuary Schooling: Community-driven research, pedagogy and politics at the urban school and community nexus, Community Partner: Kensington Health Sciences Academy (School District of  Philadelphia)
• Ursinus College, Carlita Favero, Associate Professor of Biology and Neurobiology,  Course: Developmental Neurobiology, Community Partners: Orion Communities, Code Blue, Daily Bread Community Food Pantry
• Wagner College, Jessica England, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Course: Psychopathology,  Community Partner: Staten Island Technical High School
• Widener University, Lauren O’Neil Shermer, Professor of Criminal Justice, Course: Advocacy for Justice Issues​, Community Partner: Project New Start