2023 collective scholarship fellows announced

Posted on January 06, 2023

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UNCG Research and Engagement is pleased to announce two new UNCG Community-Engaged Pathways and Partnerships (P2) grant winners.

The P2 Collective Scholarship Fellows Program supports and advances community-engaged scholarship among UNCG scholars and community partners. The grant fellows program is administered by UNCG’s Institute for Community and Economic Engagement and UNCG’s Office of Research and Engagement.

Two projects were funded for the 2023 cycle.

Arts & Technology Venture

Team Members: Jennida Chase, Hassan Pitts,  Muktha Jost, Amy Adamson, Jennifer Braswell, Maria-Elena Surprenant, Principal Traumuller, Dr. Alev Flannagan, Caitlyn Schrader

Offices/Organizations Represented: John Motley Morehead Expressive Arts Magnet Elementary School (Morehead), UNC Greensboro’s Media Studies Department (MST), and the Department of Cartoon and Animation at Baskent University in Ankara, Turkey, as well as local independent artists.

Project Abstract: The Arts & Technology Venture, combines project-based collaboration with creative community building. This venture has two components. First, to design, support, and execute large-scale collaborative projects that double as robust experiential learning opportunities. Second, to foster creative community by facilitating dialog and connection for artists and educators to offer support, and to encourage innovation by consistently inviting people into conversation. The venture will yield both high scholarly impact and direct community impact. This venture grows out of already existing partnerships and a history of previous collaborations. It seeks to continue to foster these relationships and build to include new ones. The aims for this P2 initiative are to create a system for recurring interdisciplinary, project-based collaboration and to build and support a think-tank that connects practicing artist-educators, school programs, and independent artists. 

Racial Reconciliation and the Design Studio

Team Members: Asha Kutty, Regis Kopper, Deborah Barnes, Lucinda Havenhand   

Offices/Organizations Represented: Interior Architecture and Computer Science departments at UNCG; the Guilford County Remembrance Project (GCRP) and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM).

Project Title: Racial Reconciliation and the Design Studio: Creating Pathways and Partnerships between Design, Virtual Reality and Social Justice

Project Abstract: This project proposes a partnership among the interior architecture and computer science departments at UNCG, the Guilford County Remembrance Project (GCRP) and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM). Student designs for a museum and memorial to honor Eugene Hairston, Guilford County’s documented lynch victim, that were created in spring’22 with the support of an UNCG Ashby Dialogue grant, will be converted into Virtual Reality (VR) walkthroughs. These VR walkthroughs and designs will be showcased in the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, as part of an initiative by the Guilford County Remembrance Project (GCRP), to engage in knowledge generation and healing around the topics of lynching in the United States. Research across several disciplines has demonstrated that immersive media can increase empathy, which is a prerequisite to social justice and healing. In addition to experiential immersion, local high school students will be collaborating with UNCG student mentors from Dr. Kutty’s and Dr. Kopper’s departments for discussions and problem-solving. The GCRP strives to deploy these strategies in socially responsive ways to encourage students to take an informed and active role in shaping the communities in which they live.


Story photo: Dr. Kutty and Dr. Kopper (left) work with their students on a virtual walkthrough of Greensboro’s Magnolia House, a former “Green Book” hotel that provided lodging known to be safe for African American travelers during the Jim Crow era.

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