The Center for Global Engagement awarded Global Catalyst Awards to nine professors with a wide range of research areas received the awards to pursue their global research initiatives.
“An important mission of the University of Tennessee is to engage locally and globally, and in doing so, we address and engage global challenges and opportunities through strategic research collaborations,” explains Jamie McGowan, director of the Global Research Office. “We are very fortunate to have so many talented professors who are actively reaching out to build institutional partnerships that will advance cutting-edge research.”
The Global Catalyst Program is a joint effort of UT’s Center for Global Engagement and Office of Research and Engagement as well as the Smith Center for International Development at the UT Institute of Agriculture. The program provides funding for faculty-led partnerships with international universities, institutions of higher education, and research institutes. The Center for Global Engagement, through its new Global Research Office, administers the Global Catalyst Program to support international collaborative research, scholarship, and creative activities to foster and strengthen international partnerships. The awardees are central to defining partnership outcomes and working to implement and continue the partnerships over time.
Awards are made in two categories. The first provides up to $5,000 and support faculty who are in the early stages of establishing, enhancing, or expanding a collaboration. The second provides up to $25,000 and supports initiatives that are at a more advanced stage of development, where the award will deepen the collaboration. recipients must also leverage at least 20 percent matching funding from other campus sources.
All submitted proposals were reviewed by a committee of faculty peers from UT and the Institute of Agriculture. After careful review and discussion, awards will be granted to:
Category One Awardees:
Joel Gwyn Anderson, associate professor of nursing
“Building an International Collaboration in Alzheimer’s Disease Care”
Partnering with the University of Stavanger Health System, Norway
Misty Anderson, professor of English
“Restoring the Repertoire: A Collaboration between Performers and Scholars”
International Partnerships with Oxford University, England; St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University, England; University of Guelph, Canada
Loneka Wilkinson Battiste, assistant professor of music education
“Meu Coco e Forte: An Exploration of Music Pedagogy, Talent Development, and Identity in the Musical Genre of Coco”
Partnering with the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil
Paul K. Gellert, associate professor of sociology
“Natural Resource Commodities, Development Trajectories, and Environment in the Global South: The Palm Oil Commodity Chain in Indonesia”
Partnering with the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Andrea Joseph, assistant professor of social work
“Exploring the local discourse: How Jamaican parents and school-based personnel educate children about sexual abuse and exploitation”
Partnering with the University of the West Indies – Mona, Jamaica
Gregor A. Kalas, professor of architecture and interim Riggsby Director of the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
“Marco-Poitiers Partnership”
Partnering with the Université de Poitiers, France
Curtis R. Luckett, assistant professor of food science
“Forging a Partnership with TU-Dresden through Investigations into Individual Differences in Retronasal Olfaction”
Partnering with the Technical University of Munich, Germany
Category Two Awardees:
Samara D. Akpovo, associate professor of child and family studies
“Collaborative Online Learning Across Borders (COLAB): Examining the development of intercultural competency of teacher candidates using a ‘virtual’ cross-cultural university-based program”
International Partnerships with University of Auckland, New Zealand and The University of Melbourne, Australia
Pamela A. Angelle, professor and program coordinator of the Education Administration Program in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
“Culturally Competent Leadership for Marginalized Children in New Zealand Schools: A Micro, Meso, and Macro Perspective”
Partnering with the University of Waikato, New Zealand
“These awardees will pursue their partnerships over the coming year,” McGowan said. “Our office will continue to support and celebrate their successes. We aim to grow the international research profile of the University of Tennessee – by fostering innovative research, new funding opportunities, and mutually beneficial collaborations across these partnerships.”
Future funding announcements for the Global Catalyst Program are anticipated, and the competition will be run annually with a deadline in early September 2020.