Pictured left to right: Douglas Craddock, Sarah Emery, Julia Kachanova, William Scott Gunter, Megan Poole, David Johnson, Lora Haynes, Haily Culp, Cara Synder, Lyrah Fosl, Melanie Gast, Rebecka Bloomer, and Shelby Pumphrey. 

BY SHERRI WALLACE, Ph.D

In 2022, The College of Arts and Sciences had several stellar faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students involved in a range of uniquely defined community engaged scholarship (CES) projects and activities, awarded grants from the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) to support their initiatives.

In West Louisville, Sarah Emery, Professor in Biology, collaborating with Julia Kachanova, doctoral candidate in Biology, received a $1,000 grant on an IRB-approved dissertation project, “West Louisville Urban Orchards.”  William Scott Gunter, Assistant Professor in Geographic & Environmental Sciences, collaborating with Megan Poole, Assistant Professor in English, received a $2,999 grant to work on curricular engagement around the topic of “Rubbertown Citizen-led Science Project on Air.” David Johnson, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, and Information Sciences, received a $3,000 grant for a research collaboration entitled, “Research on Solar Installation in West Louisville Neighborhoods,” with Angela Storey, Associate Professor in Anthropology, and Lauren Heberle, Associate Professor in Sociology.

A few other CES activities centered on the unhoused. Lora Haynes, Professor in Psychology, received a $,3000 grant for cross-college curricular engagement, “Family Resiliency Curriculum at a Homeless Shelter,” in collaboration with Hailey Culp, MA candidate in UofL College of Education & Human Development and Denise Simmel, Co-Director & Community Volunteer at Hotel Louisville. Also, Cara Snyder, Assistant Professor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, received $3,000 for a curricular engagement and research initiative on “LGBTQ+ Youth Houselessness” in collaboration with Lyrah Fosl, graduate research assistant in Human Health Equity Innovation Hub, and Savannah Quach, undergraduate student.

Melanie Gast, Associate Professor in Sociology, received a $2,998 grant to develop and draft policy briefs and conduct a media campaign on “Louisville Metro’s Youth Engagement Services,” an inter- and cross-disciplinary collaboration with the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences faculty Dr. Rebecka Bloomer along with graduate students Cat Alexander and James Joyce, and undergraduate student Jada Harris in Sociology.  And, Shelby Pumphrey, Assistant Professor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, received a $1,000 grant to create a series of community trainings and seminars on “Community Herbal Gathering.”

The uniqueness of these community-engaged research and teaching projects is that they are all addressing a critical community need while providing research opportunities for faculty and engaged learning for students. Grantees will have the opportunity to present about their community-engaged work at the Annual Engaged Scholarship Symposium coordinated by the Office of Community Engagement.