BROOKLYN COLLEGE–In an effort to support racial and ethnic studies across the university, CUNY’s Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies program awarded 17 Brooklyn College professors grants for their proposed research. Altogether CUNY received $1.9 million from the Mellon Foundation, with BC faculty garnering nearly $300,000 for their projects. Those selected will collaborate with students and colleagues in their proposed research, determine how to broaden or change the curricula of racial and ethnic studies, and overall highlight different social and racial issues pertinent to the college community.
“CUNY is an incredibly diverse institution, in terms of its community members and intellectual interests, and BRESI brings those interests into focus in a deliberate and coordinated way,” wrote Prudence Cumberbatch, the Chair of BC’s Africana Studies Department, to the Vanguard. Cumberbatch is a BRESI recipient who will conduct a case study on the origins of her own department, which was established through student activism.
