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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 Duke faculty and staff who submitted proposals earlier in the semester to the Duke Center for Civic Engagement (DCCE) to explore sites around the globe as potential programs in the coming years.
The DukeEngage program, housed in the DCCE, provides funding for Duke undergraduates who wish to pursue an immersive civic engagement experience anywhere in the world. Through DukeEngage, students apply what they have learned in the classroom to address societal issues at home or abroad. A pilot program involving 87 Duke 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, Duke 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 DukeEngage,