York Professors Receive BRESI Grants

Six York College professors were amongst more than a dozen CUNY colleagues, who were recently awarded BRESI grants (Black Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative).

The [York]Awards ranging from $2,500 to more than $50,000, will fund various proposals. In total, York College professors received $85,541 from this brand-new funding source provided to CUNY The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

According to a CUNY release, BRESI is “a historic initiative at CUNY with the overarching goal of reimagining and transforming University programs in Black, Race and Ethnic studies CUNY-wide. Nine RFP areas were established last spring to seed promising work to advance BRESI’s mission. The $1.9 million in funding from The Mellon Foundation was allocated to support a range of proposals across the university.”

CUNY reports that more than 500 proposals were submitted from across the system and “were evaluated by members of the BRESI Council and nine RFP committees. A total of 126 proposals have been selected for funding, including those that demonstrated such qualities as innovation, focus and impact on development of ethnic studies, and sustainability; emphasis was also placed on representing a broad cross-section of the CUNY community including community and senior colleges and graduate and professional schools.”

The York recipients are Professors Lindamichelle Baron, Robin Harper, Vincent Alexander Jones II, Harrynauth Persaud, Michael Sharpe and Larry Tung.

BRESI Awards

"It is an honor to be one of the BRESI awardees, which couldn’t have come at a better time, said Dr. Harrynauth Persaud, associate program director and associate professor in York’s Physician Assistant Program. “This research focuses on exploring some of the barriers faced by faculty members teaching in the health professions and clinical programs regarding tenure, reappointment, and promotion. The funds from this grant will be used to prepare and disseminate this valuable research on a larger scale, specifically in the form of a peer-reviewed article.”

Dr. Persaud added that the “findings from this research are expected to be valuable to the larger academic community, including York College and CUNY."

Dr. Robin Harper, a professor of Political Science, who received $51,758, says she is,

“absolutely delighted to bring this opportunity to York College students.” Dr. Harper added, “the goal for my grant is to use the funds to help York College students leverage meaningful internships and professional development into public policy careers.”

The Pre-Law mentor explained the difficulties students face in getting meaningful internships while in college makes her grant a vital help.

“The project builds on our Political Science internship class, POL 393 and POL 394 - Seminar-Internship in New York City Government and Community Development, connecting students to careers in public policy,” said Dr. Harper. “By placing them in meaningful internships in lawmakers' offices, providing academic content on issues of timely public importance, and offering a professional development program, students also meet with public policy professionals to hear about potential careers”

Professor Harper says she places students in internships and support them throughout the semester.

“My plan for BRESI is to write about this experience for a pedagogy magazine, said Professor Harper. “I will also be working on developing a guide for internships for students like ours, who often have long work histories but are not able to showcase their skills to get the kinds of careers they want. Due to the generosity of the BRESI grant, students will also be paid for internships in the spring semester POL 394 class. The class is open to all York College students. Please apply.”

The funded York proposals were, respectively to Professor Vincent Alexander Jones II, proposal title: Health Education and Efficacy to Respond to Violence and other Negative Experiences on Dating Apps Among People of Color and Sexual Minorities: A Qualitative Study.

Dr. Persaud’s proposal title: Barriers to tenure and reappointment for faculty employed in clinical programs.

Professor Larry Tung’s, proposal title: Hear My Voice – A Documentary about Three East Asian American Women Members of the New York City Council.

Dr. Harper’s title: BRESI Paid Internships to Leverage Careers.

Dr. Lindamichelle Baron, proposal title: Efficacy of Using 3D Simulations to Support Teaching for Social Justice in the Preparation of Pre-Service Educators; and

Dr. Michael Sharpe, proposal Title: The Politics of Racism and Antiracism in Japan.

Dr. Vincent Alexander Jones II, whose career is still young, received $10,000 and is excited at the outcome of his grant. He was a recent guest on Indoor Voice podcast featuring BRESI awardees.

“I am pleased to have been awarded this grant alongside amazing colleagues who share a vision of improving conditions for marginalized populations,” said Dr. Jones. Given the ubiquity of mobile dating apps, I will use this grant to conduct research that not only documents this important time in history, but hopefully results in education and policy outcomes that promote sustainable and safe online dating, especially for sexual minorities, women, and people of color, who have suboptimal experiences. I am humbled by this opportunity to serve the College in this meaningful way, and hopeful about the positive impact of the work.”