Professor of history Joe Cope (SUNY Geneseo photo/Keith Walters '11)
Professor of history Joe Cope has been awarded a $500,000 Mellon Foundation grant for the project Social Justice and the Humanities: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice. The three-year award began on January 1.
“This grant will support Geneseo faculty in creating a cluster of linked general education courses focused on the theme of justice,” says Cope. “Targeted to first-year students, this cluster will explore historical and contemporary issues of social justice in the west-central New York region, such as the anti-slavery and women’s suffrage movements, Native American land dispossession, environmental sustainability, and rural economic issues.”
Piloted with two cohorts of 80 students, the project will create opportunities for students to apply humanities-based skills to social justice issues—on and off campus—while advancing institutional goals to provide an honors experience to all students. Work completed during the three-year grant period will make it possible on an ongoing basis to incoming students.
“First-year students will have the opportunity to build a sense of community with a cohort of other students, faculty, and staff, cultivate academic and personal skills that will enhance their success in college, deepen their connections to and appreciation of the rich history of Geneseo and the surrounding area, and explore some of the key issues facing communities in western New York,” says Cope.
The project’s goals include:
- Developing first-year students’ understanding of humanities-based skills and modes of inquiry as they relate to questions of social justice in place-based contexts.
- Promoting ongoing student engagement and success with small, cohorted classes, a core of full-time instructors, and opportunities for students to conduct mentored research, engage with community partners, and visit local historical and cultural resources.
- Creating a model of humanities-centered social justice inquiry in place-based contexts.
“Our long-term goal as part of Geneseo’s vision to become an equity-centered college is to use the perspectives of humanities disciplines to engage students with critical reflection and problem-solving focused on contemporary issues and to support our already strong student success outcomes, particularly in terms of graduation and retention,” says Cope.