Office of Research & Creative Scholarship

The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the grant recipients of this year’s Affiliated Faculty Professional Development Fund (AFDF) application cycle:

*Faculty Member*	*Department*	*Title of Project*
Andre Puca	Visual and Media Arts	Six Letter Word For Love
Brynna Bloomfield	Performing Arts	Mask Making and Emotional Learning: A professional development workshop for middle and high school teachers
Caitlin McGill	Writing, Literature, and Publishing	Dogs Run Wild Here
David Kelleher	Visual and Media Arts	VR Green Screen Mixed Reality Videos
Divya Menon	Marlboro Inst.	“Farce as Form: Flaubert’s Picture of Revolution”
Elizabeth (Betsy) Schneider	Visual and Media Arts	Best Girl on The Team (part of a larger body of work working title “Identities”)
Gautam Chopra	Visual and Media Arts	Great Room – a short film production
Israela Brill-Cass	Communication Studies	Applying Restorative Justice Principles to Law and Conflict
John Krivit	Visual and Media Arts	Coordination of Education Events at the 2022 AES Academy at NAMM
Kathryn Dietz	Visual and Media Arts	Audio in a Visual Medium
Luis Arnias	Visual and Media Arts	Terror Has No Shape [Part ii]
Mark Brodie	Communication Studies	Diversity and Inclusion: Images and digital narratives from Migrants, Refugees and Activists on the US Southern Border
Martin Roberts	Visual and Media Arts	Creative Coding and the Digital Avant-Garde
Matthew Scully	Writing, Literature, and Publishing	Delegate Assembly, MLA 2022 (Washington, D.C.)
Melissa Bergstrom	Performing Arts	American Alliance for Theatre and Education 2021 Virtual Conference
Mina Cho	Performing Arts	The Collective Samulnori Project
Patrick Marshall	Visual and Media Arts	Untitled Austin Movie
Paul Haney	Writing, Literature, and Publishing	No Secrets to Conceal: A Memoir of Coming Out with Bob Dylan
Randy Harrison	Marketing Communication	Mass Tech and Leadership Council (MassTLC) Renewal
Scott Sanders	Writing, Literature, and Publishing	Mad River (working title)

About the AFDF: The Affiliated Faculty Professional Development Fund supports the scholarly and creative activities of the affiliated faculty members of Emerson College. The Office of Academic Affairs administers the fund.

Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award: Academic Year 2021-22 Recipients

By Eric Asetta

On May 12, 2021

In Faculty News, Faculty Spotlight, Internal Grant Announcements, Scholarship and Research

The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Norman and Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award.

Assistant Professor Rashin Fahandej (Photo: Emerson College)

This year’s recipients are Rashin Fahandej, Assistant Professor in Visual and Media Arts, and Dr. Gina Gayle, Assistant Professor of Visual and Multimedia Storytelling in the Journalism Department. Professor Fahandej is a multimedia artist and filmmaker whose projects center on marginalized voices and the role of media, technology, and the public in generating social change. She will use the Mann Stearns Award to support a summer exhibition in San Francisco of A Father’s Lullaby— a VR-based series of interactive public installations and community engaged workshops that highlight the role of men in raising children, and the impact of their absences on families due to the racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Dr. Gina Gayle, Assistant Professor, Visual and Multimedia Storytelling (Photo: Emerson College)

Dr. Gayle is a photojournalist, educator, and researcher with interests in media credibility, the future of photojournalism, and digital media entrepreneurship. Her father, the late James F. Gayle, was a pioneering photojournalist and one of a very few Black photographers documenting Black history in Cleveland and the country during the 1960’s. The Mann Stearns award will support her efforts to preserve, catalog, and archive Mr. Gayle’s work, which will culminate in multimedia installations in the Cleveland neighborhoods and Black communities that Gayle photographed.

About the Mann Stearns Award: Several years ago, the late Dr. Norman Stearns and Irma Mann Stearns established a distinguished faculty award in their name to honor a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding scholarly or creative achievement. A $3,000 award is presented annually to at least one applicant. This funding may be used to enhance an ongoing project or for the development of a new scholarly or creative endeavor. Travel is strongly encouraged to be a part of the project activity.

Director’s Message: Zooming Out on An Unusual Year

By Eric Asetta

On May 5, 2021

In Director's Message

Hopefully in the not-too-distant-future, phrases like “challenging times” and “a year like no other” will become relics of the past, rather than reminders of the present. But while there may be much to the pandemic era we’d rather forget, it should be remembered how Emerson faculty, students, and staff showed remarkable nimbleness and creativity in keeping the College on-course and –remarkably– avoiding the kind of severe outbreaks and lockdowns that have made national news on other campuses. It hasn’t been an ideal year, to be sure, but it’s one that will surely figure into future tellings of Emerson’s history. It’s a story that deserves to be recounted with pride.

To paraphrase Lee Pelton, disasters can also present opportunities, if we are wise enough to look for them. In ORCS’s corner of the Emerson universe, the transition to Zoom meetings enabled us to provide many more one-on-one consultations with faculty to discuss their research goals, potential funding sources, and proposal strategies. In that same spirit of adaptability, we are working on enhancements to our services, resources, and training opportunities that will better serve faculty research and scholarship, including an overhaul of our omnibus grant opportunity list, and more targeted workshops on topics such as funding searches, project management, and fellowships for sabbaticals.

We have also launched the ORCS Newsfeed blog, which will serve as the foundation for this newsletter, and will be used to disseminate funding announcements, news on policies and procedures, federal funding updates, faculty research/scholarship news, and other pertinent announcements.

As always, it has been our privilege to support the Emerson faculty this year, including our new faculty in the Marlboro Institute– the new breadth of disciplines they bring to the College can only help increase the potential for new, inter-disciplinary projects and research.

Best wishes for a restful and healthy summer,

Research and Creative Scholarship in the News: Spring 2021

By Diana Potter

On April 30, 2021

In Cool News and Trending Stories, Federal Regulations, Policies, Scholarship and Research

Biden Made a Promise to Scientists. He Can Still Keep It.
Researchers who receive federal help consistently fail to report their results to the public. The government should hold them accountable.

Mellon Foundation to Fund Diversity Programs at Library of Congress
The library will start an initiative, called “Of the People: Widening the Path,” which will encourage diversity among future librarians and archivists. The program is funded with a $15 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, part of a shift by the foundation toward issuing art and humanities grants through what it has called “a social justice lens.”

Arkansas Professor Is Accused of Hiding Chinese Funding
The professor kept the financial arrangements secret, allowing him to secure other grants from American government agencies that the Chinese funding made him ineligible for.

Articles on Proposal Writing, Grantsmanship and Professional Development: Spring 2021

By Diana Potter

On April 30, 2021

In Grantsmanship & Proposal Writing, Professional Development, Scholarship and Research

On Grant-Writing: Just What Are Your Project’s ‘Specific Aims’?
What to include on the most high-profile page of your research-grant application: a section-by-section look at the key structural and content features of a specific-aims page, with tips that will improve the success of your grant application.

Covid-19 Has Robbed Faculty Parents of Time for Research. Especially Mothers
Women with children have lost, on average, about an hour of research time per day on top of what childless scholars have lost. Equity experts have urged colleges and universities to think proactively about how to change policies and procedures so that caregivers, women, and faculty members of color don’t slip out of an already leaky pipeline.

A Research Career at a Liberal-Arts College
It’s been over a decade since this article was first published, and yet it rings true today: the ability to carve out of one’s professional obligations enough time for reading, thinking, and writing should be the true measure of whether an institution is conducive to research.

External Funding Opportunities: May/June 2021

By Diana Potter

On April 29, 2021

In External Funding Opportunities, Federal Funding

The Andy Warhol Foundation and Creative Capital are offering the Arts Writers grant (due May 19) which supports both emerging and established writers who are writing about contemporary visual art. Ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 in three categories—articles, books, and short-form writing. These grants support projects addressing both general and specialized art audiences, from short reviews for magazines and newspapers to in-depth scholarly studies. (Individual Artists, School of the Arts, VMA, WLP)

The National Endowment for the Arts Humanities Initiatives at Colleges and Universities program (due May 20) strengthens the teaching and study of the humanities at institutions of higher education by developing new humanities programs, resources (including those in digital format), or courses, or by enhancing existing ones. Projects must be organized around a core topic or set of themes drawn from such areas of study in the humanities as history, philosophy, religion, literature, and composition and writing skills. The project period can be between 1-3 years and the total award is up to 150,000. (Marlboro Institute, School of the Arts)

Logos for the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, NEH, Andy Warhol Foundation, and Whiting Foundation.

The City of Boston Mayor’s Office for Arts and Culture’s Opportunity Fund (due June 4): The Opportunity Fund aims to support artists in activities that continue their education and skill building, or helps bring free public arts experiences or events into a community located in the City of Boston. Any artist living or working in the City of Boston is eligible to apply. Preference will be given to Boston residents. Grants are awarded up to $1,000. (Individual Artists, School of the Arts, VMA, WLP)

The Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Programs (due June 14) including the Public Engagement Fellowship and the Public Engagement Seed Grant, are designed to celebrate and empower humanities faculty who embrace public engagement as part of the scholarly vocation. The programs fund ambitious, often collaborative projects to infuse into public life the richness, profundity, and nuance that give the humanities their lasting value. The Public Engagement Fellowship of $50,000 is for public-facing projects far enough along in development or execution that the nominee can present compelling, specific evidence that they will successfully engage the intended public. The Public Engagement Seed Grant of up to $10,000 supports projects at an earlier stage of development. Nominees should have fleshed out a compelling vision, including a clear sense of whose collaboration will be required and the ultimate scope and outcomes. Applicants must be nominated by Emerson by June 1 in order to apply. (Marlboro Institute, School of the Arts, School of Communication)

The Society of Environmental Journalists Fund for Environmental Journalism (due June 15) offers a small grant for journalism story projects on a particular topic. This year, the topics are: Environment-climate-religion connections, including underrepresented religions; and Environmental health and justice in the United States, including chemical/toxic exposure and pollution. Proposals that support multiple journalists are encouraged. Award includes a $2,000 stipend per journalist and other travel or project costs up to a total of $5,000.
(Journalism, WLP, Marlboro Institute)

Brown University’s George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation Higher Education Fellowships (application opens July 1 until November 1) are designed to augment paid sabbatical leaves for mid-career tenured faculty (Associate professors) who have achieved recognition for at least one major project. The foundation awards a limited number of fellowships each year for independent projects in selected fields. For 2021-2022, the selected fields are Photography and Film Studies, and the fellowship amount is $35,000. (School of the Arts, School of Communication, Marlboro Institute)

Faculty Spotlight: Spring 2021 External Grant Recipients

By Diana Potter

On April 27, 2021

In Faculty News, Faculty Spotlight, Scholarship and Research

journal pre submission checklist — Mneesha Gellman

Mneesha Gellman, Associate Professor in the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies received a second two-year grant from the Sociological Initiatives Foundation to continue her research on the effects of heritage language learning and use on citizen formation for high school age Native American youth in public secondary schools in Northern California and how state language regimes are crafting educational policy.

The Sociological Initiatives Foundation is a Boston-based foundation that support projects that use research and related strategies of assessment and inquiry to build knowledge and help address social concerns.

Leonie Bradbury, School of the Arts Distinguished Curator-in-Residence and Director of Emerson Contemporary received a project grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to support the Media Art Gallery exhibit Georgie Freeman: Hurricane Lost, a sculptural video and sound installation that that references extreme weather phenomena and visualizes the effects of our changing climate.

Massachusetts Cultural Council Projects Grants are one-year grants for specific, eligible, public programming to provide access, excellence, diversity, or education in the arts, humanities, or sciences.

Alden Jones, Senior Affiliated Faculty in the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies and the School of the Arts department of Writing, Literature & Publishing received a travel fellowship from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia to study the uses of photography as an antidote to cultural trauma fifty years after the first “viral” photo, “The Terror of War” triggered a great shift in the American perception of the war in Vietnam.

The Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation is a Boston-based foundation whose purpose is to award fellowships to teachers at New England colleges and universities to enable them to study abroad or at new locations within the United States in order to broaden their minds and enhance the quality of their instruction.

Faculty Spotlight: March

By Diana Potter

On April 13, 2021

In Faculty News, Faculty Spotlight

Robin Danzak, School of Communication Associate Professor in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders wrote an article “Someone Else’s Child: A Co-Constructed, Performance Autoethnography of Adoption from Three Perspectives” in The Qualitative Report, an online
journal of qualitative research.

Magda Romanska, School of the Arts Professor of Performing Arts and Executive Director of The Theatre Times published an article “The theatre of cruelty and the limits of representation: Sade/Salò” in
the Intellect Books Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance.

Cathryn Cushner Edelstein, School of Communication Senior-Executive-in-Residence in the department of Communication Studies published a paper “Non-profit Board Membership and the Gender Gap” in Revista Tripodos (Tripod Review) a journal of communication published by Emerson College partner the Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations at University-Ramon Llull in Barcelona, Spain.

Submit your Work to Iwasaki Library’s “Emerson Authors, Creators, and Researchers” Project

By Eric Asetta

On March 12, 2021

In Faculty News, Faculty Spotlight, Scholarship and Research

EMERSON AUTHORS, RESEARCHERS, CREATORS (ARC)

Our full time and affiliated faculty are a vibrant community of Emerson Authors, Researchers, and Creators. A survey of the landscape at Emerson shows there are currently multiple avenues for showcasing faculty research and works. However, long term discoverability and inter-faculty academic connections are the final pieces missing from this landscape.

Iwasaki Library’s mission is to facilitate access and create opportunities for discovery and campus-wide connection. This has led us to the creation of an online space facilitating the discovery of faculty research and works. We will be gathering author, researcher, and creator data on projects, including keywords and descriptions, and creating a searchable and faceted database dedicated to faculty works.

Please help us get started in this important project by entering your 2020 works at: http://bit.ly/emARC2020

2021-22 FAFG Recipients

By Eric Asetta

On March 9, 2021

In Faculty News, Faculty Spotlight, Internal Grant Announcements, Scholarship and Research

The Office of Research and Creative Scholarship thanks the Faculty Development and Research Council for their contribution of time in service to review this year’s FAFG applications and develop their recommendations. Congratulations to the following recipients of the Faculty Advancement Fund Grant:

Amy Beecher, Department of Visual and Media Arts: Container Store Cantastoria: A Contemporary Picture Story Recitation
Gino Canella, Department of Journalism: Activist Media: Book
Lindsay Griffin, Communication Science Disorders: Determining an optimal delivery method for tongue strengthening
Amer Latif, Marlboro Institute: Reading the Qu’ran with Rumi
Ed Lee, Department of Visual and Media Arts: F*** You, It’s Funny
Pablo Muchnik, Marlboro Institute: Judging the ‘Inner-Judge’: Kant on the Limits of Sincerity and the Infallibility of Conscience
Rituparna Mitra, Marlboro Institute: In Partition’s Ruins: Beyond Trauma in South Asian Literature
Ougie Pak, Department of Visual and Media Arts: RED CARD
John Rodzvilla, Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing: Looking Beyond the Advance: Trade Publishing and #publishingpaidme
Magda Romanska, Department of Performing Arts: Transmedia Performance Project: Hamlet/Ophelia/Machine
Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann, Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing: Cuba – 1968: World Historical Location
Rae Shaw, Department of Visual and Media Arts: Untitled Black Kung Fu Chick Mobile Game App

The Faculty Advancement Fund Grant (FAFG) supports the scholarly and creative activities of the full‐time tenured and tenure-track faculty members. The Fund was established to enable the professional work of Emerson’s faculty in its efforts to sustain academic excellence in teaching, research/creative activity, and service. The Faculty Advancement Fund Grant supports proposals deemed likely to substantially improve the quality of research, publication, creative activities, teaching, and service that advance the mission of the College and the careers of its faculty.