Anti-Racism Collaborative awards over $122,000 in Graduate Research Grants

June 21, 2022

The Anti-Racism Collaborative, administered by the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), has awarded summer research grants to 26 University of Michigan (U-M) graduate students. The Rackham Graduate School and the Center for Racial Justice in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy are co-sponsoring the awards, which total $122,062.

The grants aim to support engagement in research projects focused on racial inequality, racial equity, and racial justice while advancing graduate student progress toward degree.

“We received exciting, outstanding proposals from students representing disciplines from across the U-M. The funded projects reflect the broad range of research that our graduate students are engaged in, focused on advancing anti-racist action,” says Tabbye Chavous, NCID director and LSA associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion. “NCID is excited to work with this year’s grantees to foster connections and build a community of support as they aim to impact society through their scholarship. We are proud to support the training of graduate students, such as this year’s grantees, who are critical to an anti-racist academy.”

"Rackham is pleased to participate in this initiative to support the research of graduate students,” says Rackham Dean Mike Solomon. "Its growth speaks to the impact of scholarly work in racial justice and its importance to the educational goals of Rackham students."

“The Center for Racial Justice is beyond thrilled to partner with NCID and Rackham to support the latest generation of scholars dedicated to anti-racism and racial justice scholarship,” says Celeste Watkins-Hayes, director of the Center for Racial Justice and Ford School associate dean for academic affairs. “The breadth, depth, and interdisciplinarity of the proposed projects is inspiring, and I cannot wait to see these projects develop and evolve over the next year.”

The NCID, Rackham, and Center for Racial Justice will host opportunities for the campus and broader communities to engage with the award recipients and learn more about their research during the 2022–2023 academic year, as well as provide ongoing professional development and support to the grantees.

2022 projects

Dating Under the White Gaze: An Examination of Black Women's Online Dating Experiences
Jasmine Banks and Miranda Jones (PhD Students in Psychology)

A YouTube Series on how the State Uses Discourse to Repress Social Movements
Amitai Ben-Abba (PhD Student in Comparative Literature)

Ethnic Disparities in Cognition during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Snapshot of Metro-Detroit
Jasmine Cooper (PhD Student in Psychology)

Content and Form: The Black Press and Articulations of Blackness in Twenty-First Century Buenos Aires and São Paulo
Marisol Fila (PhD Student in Romance Languages and Literatures)

Intimate Negotiations: How Black/White Interracial Couples Co-Create Racial Meanings
Sidney Galan (PhD Student in Sociology)

An Anti-Colonial Phenomenology of Racialized Knowledge Systems, Epistemic Injustice, and Epistemic Resistance in Graduate Education
Yvonne Garcia (PhD Student in Higher Education)

Washtenaw Health Plan-SOL (Soluciones y Oportunidades Latinx) Project
Jennifer Gonzalez-Hernandez (MPH Student in Health Behavior and Health Education)

Manifestations of Racial Neoliberalism through Experiences of Students of Color in Anti-Racism and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committees at Historically White Institutions
Angie Kim (PhD Student in Higher Education)

Black trans-led approaches to addressing structural vulnerability among Black trans communities
Wesley King (PhD Student in Health Behavior and Health Education)

Blossoming Together: Imagining New Relationships between Students of Color and Institutions through Digital Storytelling
Katherine Lebioda (PhD Student in Higher Education)

Social Media Activism and Trauma: How Activists Manage the Emotional Effects of Traumatic Media Content
Kristen Leer (PhD Student in Communication and Media)

Towards a “Quare” Battle Fatigue: Queer and Trans Students of Color’s Experiences of and Resistance to Queer & Racial Battle Fatigue
Taylor Lewis (PhD Student in Higher Education)

Brown Comedy: Storytelling, Race, and Place with Las Locas of Chicago
Julianna Loera Wiggins (PhD Student in American Culture)

A Critical Approach to Examine the Racial and Science Identity Formation of Latinx Students
Danielle Maxwell (PhD Student in Chemistry)

Black Critical Digital Literacies
Parker Miles (PhD Student in Educational Studies)

Healing our People through Empowerment (HOPE): Illuminating the Radical Imaginations of Immigrant Origin Youth
Stephanie Miller-Tejada (PhD Student in Psychology)

Do they understand me? The role of race-based empathy in graduate students of color’s mentorship relationships with faculty advisors and their academic experience
Ariana Munoz-Salgado (PhD Student in Psychology)

Microaggressions, belonging, and gender: Implications for imposter phenomenon development among Black undergraduates
Tiani Perkins (PhD Student in Psychology)

Cultivating Students’ Critical Consciousness and Ethnic-Racial Identity: Ethnic Studies and Adolescent Development
Andy Pinedo and Gaby Kubi (PhD Students in Education and Psychology)

When They Don't See Us: Afrodescendent Artistic Social Action in Spain
Leela Riesz (PhD Student in Sociocultural Anthropology)

Where are all the Black People?: An Inquisition of Black Dance Across the African Diaspora
Njeri Rutherford (MFA Student in Dance)

The color of environmental racism: environmental and occupational injustices in Michigan stemming from historical redlining
Abas Shkembi (MS Student in Environmental Health Sciences)

Hashtag Vigilantes: The Technological Affordances of Citizen Policing and White Nationalism
Hanah Stiverson (PhD Student in American Culture)

A Hindering Aid? Unpacking the Blackbox of Perspectives about the US Virtual Border Wall
Louisa Williams (PhD Student in Information Science)

Story written and published by U-M's National Center for Institutional Diversity.

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