Spring 2020 Faculty & Student SJLIA Recipients
Spring 2020 Student Award Recipients
Samuel Abrams and Jared Bryson (Economics) planned to study how academic commitment devices can impact GPAs of HBCU students.
Grant Bennett (Psychology) planned to advance the work of the Emerging Leaders project that trains upperclassmen to serve as mentors of freshman.
Patrick Dixon (Business Administration, Marketing Concentration) planned to explore how the construction of the interstate highway system impacted African-American communities in Atlanta.
Julian Hemmings (English) planned to work on his Dream Big Initiative to increase voter registration, civic engagement, and community service.
George Pratt III (History and Religion) planned to create a documentary film on manhood at Morehouse and the ways that students negotiate race, class, masculinity, and sexual norms on campus.
Spring 2020 Faculty Award Recipients
Professor Corrie Claiborne: The Writing Social Justice Program
The Writing Social Justice Program is committed to commemorating the 60th Anniversary Atlanta Student Movement, learning about the importance of student movements, in general, to social justice and to the production of a digital and physical exhibit highlighting the research that the voices of the people involved in these movements. The project will feature quest lectures by local scholars, opportunities for to collect oral histories, and end with a project to advocate for markers/monuments on the Morehouse campus to commemorate Morehouse students like Julian Bond and Lonnie King who were involved in the movement.
Professor Andrew Douglas: Debt and Democracy
Dr. Andrew Douglas will introduce a new FYE, “Debt and Democracy,” which will explore various ways in which debt affects democracy around the world, with special emphasis on the current student debt crisis and political proposals for reparations and debt cancellation. The course includes a significant service-learning component: students will be required to partner with Morehouse alumni (from the debt-free 2019 class and other classes) and gather data for an ongoing longitudinal study of Morehouse graduates. Students will deliberate with alumni about the value of a liberal arts education, its place in a democratic society, its costs and accessibility, and its impact on career and other life choices. The course and its service-learning component is intended to establish an intellectual and curricular basis from which members of the Morehouse community can work together to lead national conversations on some of the most urgent challenges facing our democracy today.
Professor Mikki Harris: Shifting Perspective: Understanding the cultural context of community through Virtual Reality
This project proposed a journalistic approach to understanding the cultural context of community, both past and present, through the use of virtual reality storytelling. It is part of a 19-year focus on community-based power as examined through the tools of journalism and cultural studies. The proposed study extends the already developed strategy of visual storytelling by engaging viewers toward experience in order to have them understand people beyond stereotype.
Professor Michael Janis: Epic Leadership: Community Ethics through African Film at Morehouse College
The proposed collaborative project with a local high school sought to bring a group of students to a film screening with our annual spring-semester class, West African Fiction & Film, in order to view an African cinema classic, Keïta: The Heritage of the Griot (Dir. Dani Kouyaté, Burkina Faso, 1995), a modern retelling of the most famous epic in West Africa, the Epic of Sunjata (13th c.).
Students from a local high school were to be selected by their teacher/s to attend the film and discussion. Prior to the screening, they will be given study guides and study questions, including background information on the Epic of Sundjata, on Mandé cultures, and context on the modern history of West African countries, especially those with Mandé populations (Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, the Gambia, Liberia, etc.). After the screening Dr. Janis was to provide key quotations from the film and notes on Sundjata’s unique leadership qualities based on the tradition of Mandé wisdom from the tradition of griots (cf. D.T. Niane’s text as well as contemporary translations and criticism). Student response papers or video responses involving directed analysis of one or two of the topics were to be submitted.
Professor Tuwaner Lamar: Increase Emphasis on Communication About Morehouse Ninth Annual Math Competitions Bootcamp to Atlanta’s West End and Westside Communities.
A means to develop mathematical talent is to strengthen mathematics knowledge and skills through preparation for Math competitions. Preparation for Math competitions inspires the participant to increase the amount of time spent studying Math and increase the difficulty of problems studied. Thus, each participant becomes a winner through preparation. Each becomes a champion by improving their mathematical ability by preparing for Math competitions. The Annual Math Competitions Bootcamp was held for eight (8) years on the Morehouse College campus with a primary objective to facilitate participation of underrepresented groups in mathematics competitions has been achieved. Implementation of this important program provides a competitive and inspiring opportunity for students from the Metropolitan Atlanta area, especially the West End community. The goal is to ensure that this community of students are aware of this fun activity that develop their fundamental Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) knowledge skills needed to succeed in school and technical careers.
Professors Ethell Vereen and Wallace Sharif: Identifying Environmental and Social Determinants of Health in Proctor Creek Watershed Through Digital Imagery
Health—whether at an individual or a population level—extends into the home, workplace, school, neighborhood, and community. Social determinants of health include not only access to health services but also quality education, economic stability, social and community support, and healthy environments. This project provided a framework for community members and students to engage and acquire the skills and resources to investigate the health of their community, and then plan, implement, and evaluate actions that change the environment to promote and improve health. Often people are unaware of environmental issues or the threats that a community may face. Photography may expose those issues by visually displaying both the beauty of nature and the consequences to that beauty of accidental and deliberate environmental degradation. Exploring different areas of Proctor Creek watershed on a walking tour, along with local community partners, students were to document their journey through digital imagery (photographs and/or video) highlighting environmental conditions or social determinants of health they would like to address in the community. Students would then develop a remediation plan, complete a reflection journal, and participate in a service learning activity.
