Penn Arts & Sciences has announced the 2019 funded projects for Making a Difference in Diverse Communities, an initiative that encourages faculty to explore innovative ways of applying their expertise. Through a combination of coursework, research and service, the projects address issues of diversity and inequality at the local, national and international level. Making a Difference in Diverse Communities is a key component of the School’s commitment to driving global change and advancing research and teaching around issues of diversity, inequality and human well-being.

The awarded researchers come from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences and represent the potential for liberal arts faculty to establish local and global partnerships and lead collaborative projects with scholars from diverse fields including nursing, medicine and design.

The grant recipients are:

The Alice Paul Center Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender Nonconforming Oral History Archive; led by Kathleen Brown, David Boies Professor of History and director of the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender; Anne Esacove, associate director of the Alice Paul Center, co-directs this project.

Cognitive Decline with Aging in Diverse Chilean Communities and in Comparison with Mexico and the US; led by Irma Elo, professor of sociology; Jere Behrman, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics, co-directs the project along with faculty from Penn Nursing and the Perelman School of Medicine.

Memory and Identity in Afro-Brazilian Archives; led by Michael Hanchard, professor of Africana studies; Melissa Teixeira, assistant professor of history, and Roquinaldo Ferreira, Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, are project co-directors.

Life of Water: Community Resilience through Science and Art Immersion; led by Byron Sherwood, senior fellow in the department of biology; Junhyong Kim, Patricia M. Williams Term Professor of Biology, and Howard Neukrug, professor of practice in the department of earth and environmental science and executive director of the Water Center at Penn, are co-directors.

Understanding the Effects of Mexico’s Prospera Program on Reducing Inequalities in Schooling and Academic Achievements in Diverse Communities; led by Petra Todd, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Economics; Jere Behrman, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics, co-directs this project.

Building Community Partnerships in the Galápagos Archipelago; led by Michael Weisberg, professor of philosophy, this project supports the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance (GERA). Faculty co-directors are from SAS, Penn Nursing, and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.