Paul Wolff Mitchell, an anthropology PhD student, and Michael Vazquez, a philosophy PhD student, both in the School of Arts & Sciences, have been awarded the inaugural Provost’s Graduate Academic Engagement Fellowships at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships for 2019-2021.

This two-year fellowship is a new opportunity open to PhD students across all schools and fields at Penn. Fellows are outstanding students whose scholarship significantly involves Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) and related activities, including locally-based community problem-solving, engaged scholarship, service learning and learning by teaching in public schools. The Fellowship involves participation in an interdisciplinary faculty-student seminar on community-engaged research and teaching, a research fund for each fellow of $5,000 over the two years, support to attend and present at conferences, and a full fellowship in the students’ second year to continue studies and/or work on their dissertation.

As fellows at the Netter Center, Mr. Vazquez and Mr. Mitchell will both build on existing work with local public schools and, through the fellowship, will design and teach new ABCS seminars. Mr. Vazquez will develop an ABCS course that brings Penn students into partnership with a West Philadelphia high school centered around the concept of ‘public philosophy.’ Mr. Mitchell will develop an ABCS course on the history of race, science and the academy that will also bring together Penn students with local high school students in collaborative research projects.