Awards List

The following list, in alphabetical order by the last name of the principal investigator, includes all current awards at SUNY Cortland. Each section shows the investigator name(s), project title, project performance period, sponsor name, allocated funding approved for the project, and estimated project amount over the life of the award. 

"Liberty Partnerships Program 2011-2012"

• New York State Education Department
• Barduhn, Marley - Assistant Provost for Teacher Education
• 9/1/11 - 8/31/12
• Award: $219,372 

Liberty Partnerships Program is part of New York State's initiative to develop comprehensive programs for high risk youths to complete their education and seek further education or meaningful employment upon graduation. The Liberty Partnership Program based at SUNY Cortland is comprised of thirteen school districts, three colleges, a university, and numerous community based organizations and business organizations who work collaboratively to identify and engage existing resources for identified students. Specifically, programs are geared for middle and high school students which provide variations of the following components: mentoring, tutoring, academic/career/personal counseling, case management, parenting, enrichment classes, special events/field trips, and staff development.

"Migrant Education Outreach Program 2011-2012"

• New York State Education Department
• Barduhn, Marley - Assistant Provost for Teacher Education
• Bliss, Elizabeth - Director
• 9/1/11 - 8/31/12
• Award: $1,077,760

The Cortland Migrant Education Outreach Program (MEOP) was established in 1979 after an intensive needs assessment of the migrant population was completed in the Central New York area . For over 31 years, SUNY Cortland's MEOP program has provided educational and health services to thousands of migrant children and their families. The project is coordinated by Ms. Elizabeth Bliss and currently is the fourth largest MEOP in the state, providing direct services to approximately 730 migrant students in 2010-11. Each year, the Cortland MEOP has received evaluations during the summer and school year program by the State Education Department peer review team and each time the program evaluations have been extremely positive. The Cortland MEOP currently has a staff of 21, over two thirds of whom have between 6 and 25 years of experience working in Migrant Education. The MEOP staff provides direct tutoring, ESL, advocacy, family literacy, secondary credit exchange, interstate cooperation, Portable Assisted Study Sequence (PASS), agency coordination and/or referral, preschool education and career exploration. Secondary students have attended programs such as WOW (Women, Opportunities and Work), GAIN (Getting Ahead in the New Millennium), Leadership School and Adolescent Outreach Program activities. During the summer, a summer school has been conducted in Wayne County. A Summer In Home Program services the remainder of the program areas. Additionally, MEOP hosts a Family Center and provides a variety of parent involvement programs each year.

 "Comenzar Even Start Project"

• Genesee Valley Educational Partnership
• Barduhn, Marley - Assistant Provost for Teacher Education
• Bliss, Elizabeth - Coordinator
• 10/1/11 - 9/30/12
• Award: $18,863

This program provides intensive family literacy services to migrant families from high poverty communities who have low literacy skills. Migrant Specialists from the Cortland MEOP are trained as EVEN START Family Educators and provide lessons in adult education, early childhood education, parenting education, and interactive literacy. Through this program, parents and their children read together and engage in a variety of hands-on activities that promote literacy skills.

"Mathematics Achievement and Success Through Engagement in Resources for Migrant Students" (MASTERS)

• New York State Education Department
• Barduhn, Marley - Assistant Provost for Teacher Education
• Bliss, Elizabeth - Coordinator
• 10/1/11 - 9/30/12
• Award: $47,701

The New York State Education Department joins Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, and Wisconsin, in the Migrant Education Consortium Incentive Grant, MASTERS. This multi-state consortium offers a high quality curriculum, instruction, professional development and innovative use of technology through intrastate and interstate collaboration. The Cortland MEOP is the lead MEOP for New York State, working with the other states in the development of the summer mathematics program. The Cortland MEOP coordinates the implementation of the summer program across the eleven MEOP's in New York State. The Migrant Specialists from the Cortland MEOP will provide targeted math instruction in the summer school classroom setting and during In Home tutoring sessions to increase migrant student achievement in mathematics. This is the fourth consecutive 2-year math Consortium Incentive Grant that the Cortland MEOP has received.

"Access to College Education 2011-2012"

• ACE Consortium
• Barduhn, Marley - Assistant Provost for Teacher Education
• Clarke, Carol - Program Coordinator
• 7/1/11 - 6/30/12
• Award: $57,538

ACE (Access to College Education) is a consortium of four area institutions: SUNY Cortland, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Cornell University and Ithaca College, working in partnership with 15 local school districts. The program is designed to help academically capable high school students overcome barriers to college education. Throughout the four years, students and their parents are offered a wide variety of opportunities to experience various aspects of college life. ACE is funded by the four colleges in cooperation with participating schools.

"Diversity of Macrofungi in Tropical and Subtropical Relict Forests from Veracruz: Initiative for Documenting the Occurrence of Agaricales, Russulales and Boletales focusing on Ectomycorrhizal Species"

• SUNY ESF and INECOL (Instituto de Ecologia, Mexico)
• Baroni, Timothy J. - Biological Sciences
• 6/1/12 - 8/31/13
• Award: $5,000 seed grant funding

Timothy J. Baroni is one of four researchers from SUNY Cortland, SUNY ESF, and the Instituto de Ecologia, Xalapa, Mexico to receive seed grant funding of $5,000.00 from a joint collaborative funding source of SUNY ESF and INECOL (Instituto de Ecologia, Mexico) for their proposal: Diversity of Macrofungi in Tropical and Subtropical Relict Forests from Veracruz (East Coast of Mexico): Initiative for Documenting the Occurrence of Agaricales, Russulales and Boletales focusing on Ectomycorrhizal Species.
They received funding to perform biodiversity surveys of sensitive and protected subtropical and tropical ecological zones that have either not been surveyed as yet, or have only received minimal field rersearch. The likelihood of discovering new species in these areas is very high.
These competitive awards were review and chosen by peer reviewing scientists from SUNY ESF and INECOL. One of the main criteria, beyond well-founded science, was that each award showed strong potential to produce preliminary data that could be used to prepare longer and larger proposal that would be submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia Y Tecnologia (CONACYT).
Baroni will be traveling to Xalapa this summer to begin the first of two years of field-work and returning with samples to work up for identification and publication.

Research Team:
Instituto de Ecologia A.C., Xalapa, Mexico (INECOL). Dr. Victor M. Bandala, Dr. Leticia Montoya (researchers), Biol. Pavel del Moral (technician)

State University of New York (SUNY). Dr. Thomas Horton, College of Environ. Sc. and Forestry, Syracuse, Dr. Timothy Baroni, College at Cortland (researchers)

"Corporate Giving Program: Inclusion and Diversity"

• National Grid Foundation
• Burns Thomas, Anne - Foundations and Social Advocacy
• 6/1/11 - 5/31/14
• Award: $50,000

Cortland's Urban Recruitment of Educators (C.U.R.E.) offers ethnically and culturally diverse college students scholarships in exchange for a post-graduation commitment to teach in an urban school district for two years. This highly successful program will be extended through support from The National Grid Foundation, which will fund four future teachers enrolled in C.U.R.E. This funding will include three-year scholarships for four students as well as funding to support the scholars development as teacher leaders through networking opportunities.

"Functional Analysis of VTC3, A Novel Regulator of Ascorbate Biosynthesis in Plants"

• National Science Foundation
• Conklin, Patricia - Biological Sciences
• 3/1/10 - 2/28/13
• Award: $342,691

Ascorbic acid is a small molecule that most people know as the antioxidant Vitamin C. In plants, the synthesis of ascorbic acid is a regulated process. How such regulation is controlled is not well understood. This project aims to define how VTC3 is involved in this regulation via an integrated molecular, genetic, biochemical, and proteomics-based approach.  This approach will lead to an understanding of the biochemical activity of the VTC3 protein domains and how these domains (directly or indirectly via protein binding partners) impact the expression and/or activity of plant ascorbic acid biosynthetic enzymes, and ultimately ascorbic acid levels under differing environmental conditions.  This project is certain to advance the understanding of signal transduction pathways in plants, in particular with regards to the regulation of ascorbic acid biosynthesis in plants.

"Inclusion Matters: Partnering for Authentic Change in Teaching (IM:PACT)

• United States Department of Education
• Cottone, John - Dean, School of Professional Studies
• Rombach, Kimberly - Childhood/Early Childhood
• Smukler, David -  Foundations and Social Advocacy
• 10/1/10 - 12/31/15
• Award: $1,329,056

 The IM:PACT Project is a major redesign effort that will transform the existing teaching preparation program at the State University of New York College at Cortland. The IM:PACT Project will deepen collaboration with public school partners, build on creative models at our institution and result in an increase in the number of our graduates who meet the highly qualified teacher (HQT) requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), so that they will effectively serve students with high-incidence disabilities who are increasingly placed in inclusive classrooms.

"ECIS Evaluation of Additional Vertebrate Cell Lines for Chemical Sensitivity, Temperature Tolerance, and Shelf Life"

• United States Army
• Curtis, Theresa - Biological Sciences
• 5/2/11 - 8/31/12
• Award: $77,147

The goal of the Environmental Sentinel Biomonitor (ESB) system is to use living cells to detect a broad range of agricultural and industrial chemicals in drinking water. Most dringing water today is tested using analyte-specific sensors that quantify and identify specific chemicals. While these sensors are useful, it is not practical that all drinking water be tested because these sensors are costly and time consuming. An efficient way to screen all drinking water for potential chemical toxicants would be to use mammalian cells that respond to a wide array of chemical contaminants. By examining the physiology of a variety of mammalian cells isolated from different tissues, both known and unknown chemical toxicants present in drinking water that pose harm to human health could be detected. The goal of the current grant is to screen a variety of cells (isolated from different tissues and organisms) for chemical toxicant sensitivity, and for the ability to serve in a portable robust sensor.

"Identification, Synthesis and Use of a Larval Trail-Following Pheromone of the Argentine Cactus Moth, Cactoblastis cactorum"

• United States Department of Agriculture, APHIS
• Terrence Fitzgerald - Biological Sciences
• Frank Rossi - Chemistry
• 8/1/12 - 7/31/13
• Award: $11,000

The Argentine cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum, is an invasive insect from South America that poses a serious threat to Opuntia cactuses in the southwestern USA and Mexico. C. cactorum was first seen in Florida in 1989 and has now spread along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts as far west as Louisiana. The USDA has been successful at slowing the spread of the insect and eradicating outbreak populations in some areas but the insect continues to spread and new, eco-rational control technologies are needed to minimize the long term impact of the insect on native desert ecosystems. The primary approach under development in the present project is the disruption of the caterpillar's chemical communication system. Successful colonization of the host cactus requires that the newly hatched caterpillars mount a concerted effort to penetrate the tough cuticle of the plant. This is a time-consuming process and it requires that the caterpillars remain together in a tight aggregate about the attempted entry site. We have determined that the maintenance of the aggregate is dependent on a pheromone which we have now identified. The main thrust of the current phase of the project is to synthesize the pheromone and conduct studies to determine if blanket application of the chemical at the time of egg hatch will act to disrupt the caterpillar's chemical communication system leading to disbandment of the neonates and the failure of the colony to establish on the plant.

"Seven Valleys National Writing Project - SEED Teacher, Leadership Development Grant"

• National Writing Project
• Franke, David - English
• 7/1/12 - 6/30/13
• Award: $20,000

  The Seven Valleys Writing Project of SUNY Cortland is responsible for providing leadership for regional teachers K-16 in the form of workshops, writing-to-learn seminars, conferences on writing pedagogy, and the annual Summer Institute held in the Beard Building at SUNY Cortland. The Seven Valleys Writing Project has developed Professional Development programs at many regional schools and districts, and over 3,500 regional students K-12 are annually taught by a Seven Valleys Writing project teacher.   

The Seven Valleys Writing project has developed Professional Development programs at many regional schools and districts, and over 3,500 students K-12 are annually taught by a Seven Valleys Writing Project teacher. 

"Professional Development in a High Need School-Title II SEED - Candor School"

• United States Department of Education
• Franke, David - English
• 7/1/12 - 6/30/13
• Award: $20,000

This award was granted to Seven Valleys for implementing its proposal to provide leadership and professional development for a rural high-needs school in our region, Candor Elementary in Tioga County. The Seven Valleys Writing Project provides a customized, intensive program to support teachers in reaching rigorous academic standards. The focus of the grant is using writing to learn, both for faculty research and student growth.

"RUI: Over-Printing of Crystallographic Preferred Orientation Patterns in Quartz Aggregates"

• National Science Foundation
• Gleason, Gayle -Geology
• 1/1/10 - 12/31/12
• Award: $143,662

   This project is for an experimental study on the effect of pre-existing deformation fabric on the further deformation of quartz-rich, continental crustal rocks.  Fabric in a rock includes crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs), which can alter the physical properties of the crust and make the properties anisotropic.  In addition, CPOs may create such a strong alignment of the crystal axes that the mineral grains are more difficult to deform in subsequent deformation events.  The proposed three-year project has three objectives:  1) to determine the effect of pre-existing fabric on the strength of crustal rocks; 2) to quantify the shear strain needed to reset fabrics; and 3) to investigate the effect of grain boundary migration during recrystallization on CPOs.  This project will advance knowledge because knowing how the pre-existing fabric influences subsequent deformation is necessary for modeling the strength of the crust and for predicting the movement of seismic waves through it.  Broader impacts include application of the results to models of crustal strength and seismic hazards.   
   

"Center for School Health Systems Change"

• NYSED / U.S. Center for Disease Control
• Hodges, Bonni - Health
• 11/1/09 - 10/31/14
• Award: $986,375

   The CDC and the NYSED are currently engaged in determining and delivering programs aimed at improving the health of young people through building the capacity of schools to coordinate school health programs, policies, and practices, and to deliver evidence-based health and physical education instruction.  One of the avenues to achieving this goal is through the creation and mobilization of partnerships among P-12 districts/schools, and teacher/administrator education programs housed within higher education.  SUNY Cortland’s Health Department is directing a project that provided:  1)  a school health systems change demonstration projects; and 2) a series of professional development institutes to address four school health activities objectives outlines by the NYSED.  Over the 5 years, the demonstration project and institutes provide the platform for collaboration among present and potential partners to facilitate school health systems change to foster and support the achievement of improved health and academic outcomes of your across New York, with a particular focus on districts that exhibit high health and academic needs.  In particular, these activities provide a foundation of technical support and expertise for building the capacity of school districts to develop sustainable school health infrastructure and systematic processes for improving health and academic outcomes through a focus on activities of engagement, assessment, application, and evaluation. 
  

"Creating Healthy Places in Cortland County Evaluation"

• New York State Health Department
• Hodges, Bonni - Health
• 12/1/10 - 12/31/12
• Award - $11,250

   Dr. Hodges will serve as the evaluator for the Seven Valleys Health Coalition's (SVHC) "Creating Healthy Places in Cortland County" New York State Department of Health funded project. In partnership with the Cortland county Health Department, the project focuses on environmental and policy changes and improvements to support physical activity and healthy eating behaviors for primary and secondary prevention of chronic disease.  

"SUNY Cortland AmeriCorps"

• New York State Office of Children and Family Services
• Kendrick, Richard - Sociology/Anthropology
• 10/1/11 - 12/31/12
• Award: $370,068

   SUNY Cortland and its community partners received funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service to continue its AmeriCorps program in the Cortland community. The program funds 41 AmeriCorps positions serving 19 different agencies in the Cortland community (seventeen positions are full-time; eleven are half-time; two are quarter-time; eleven are minimum time).  The agencies served include the City Youth Bureau, Family Counseling Services, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cortland Area Communities that Care Coalition, Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, Lime Hollow Center for Environment and Culture, Seven Valleys Health Coalition, SUNY Cortland’s Institute for Civic Engagement, Cortland Downtown Partnership, and the YWCA, amoung others.  AmeriCorps members work on projects that focus on child care, youth mentoring and recreation, economic development, volunteer recruitment and development, health education, and environmental education. Additional information about the program can be found at http://www2.cortland.edu/get-involved/. Look for the AmeriCorps button on the left.     

 
"SUNY Cortland Teacher/Leader Quality Partnership Program 2012-2013"

• New York State Education Department
• Lachance, Andrea - Dean of Education
• Klein, Elizabeth - Childhood/Early Childhood Education
• Abramo, Alexis - Project Manager
• 9/1/12 - 8/31/13
• Award: $158,421

The Teacher/Leader Quality Partnership (TLQP) Program is administered through New York State's Education Department using federal funds authorized through the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) to improve teaching and learning in core subject areas. Previous awards developed the Teacher Professional Development Network of Central New York, which was created to link professional development resources throughout our region. Housed in SUNY Cortland's School of Education, the Network includes representation from SUNY Cortland's School of Arts and Sciences and Professional Studies, seven area school districts, four area teacher centers, two BOCES districts, and a variety of other nonprofit educational organizations in our region.

We are leveraging the Network structure and strengths of various partners to address the professional development needs identified by our district partners, expecially content area high school teachers in high-needs rural districts and to develop collaborative regional educator professional development opportunities, in order to maximize professional development resources and opportunities for all teachers.   
     

"SUNY Cortland Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program"

 Funding for this project is provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)      

• National Science Foundation
• Phelan, Gregory - Chemistry
• Burns Thomas, Anne- CURE
• Cirmo, Chris - Geology
• Klotz, L. Richard - Biology
• Gfeller, Mary - Mathematics
• Janke, Rena - Biology
• Smith, Brice - Physics
• 6/1/09 - 8/31/14
• Award: $899,968

Through this scholarship program, SUNY Cortland will create 50 scholarships for secondary school teacher candidates in math, science and technology areas. These teachers will serve in central New York and the five major city areas of New York State. Partners in the project include departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics, the School of Education, SUNY Cortland's Urban Recruitment of Educators (CURE), the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center, and CNY school districts including Cincinnatus, Cortland, Dryden, Homer, Marathon, and South Seneca public schools. The broader impact of this project will increase the numbers of well qualified STEM teachers in NYS through the creation of 50 scholarships. Ideally, having highly trained STEM teachers who truly understand both their content and pedagogy will engage students in such ways as to increase the numbers of both future STEM professionals and the next generation of STEM teachers.    
 

"First Person America"

• US Department of Education / OCM BOCES
• Sheets, Kevin - History
• 7/1/10 - 6/30/13
• Award: $332,317

First Person America is a new collaborative project funded by the U. S. Department of Education. Using biography and the individual experience as a lens to understand American history, the three-year project empowers K-12 teachers of American history to transform their classrooms into exciting workshops of discovery. Associate Professor of History Kevin B. Sheets leads SUNY Cortland's partnership with OCM BOCES and the Onondaga Historical Association in developing enriching professional development opportunities for 72 K-12 teachers in the 24 school districts in Onondaga, Cortland and Madison counties and the City of Syracuse. This collaboration builds district capacity for delivering research-based teaching approaches for the study of history through a coordinated program of workshops, seminars, field experiences and summer institutes. Teachers explore several critical eras in American history, including the American Revolution, the antebellum and Civil War years, and the watershed period from World War I to World War II. A core component is a web-accessible series of chronologically sequenced maps of American history hyperlinked to primary and secondary sources aligned to state standards and district curricula. Created by teachers, these maps will serve as a permanent resource for teachers planning lessons and developing classroom learning activities. First Person America leverages critical resources in the Central New York region and cultivates mutually supportive partnerships to help teachers enhance their knowledge and classroom practices and measurably improve student achievement in history.         

"4C-CITI: Four-College Consortium for Innovative Technology Integration"

• SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG)
• Shi, Shufang, Project Director - Childhood/Early Childhood Education
• Widdall, Chris - Childhood/ Early Childhood
• Gradel, Kathleen - Language Learning and Leadership, SUNY Fredonia
• Raimondi, Sharon - Exceptional Education, University of Buffalo
• Klein, Karl - Computer Studies, Onondaga Community College
• 7/1/12 - 6/30/12
• Award: $20,000

Faculty from four SUNY Campuses - Cortland, Fredonia, Buffalo State, and Onondaga Community College will capitalize on inter-campus skills in innovative technology integration. Their goal is to pilot a collaborative model using relevant digital learning tools within teacher education coursework. Their work will be done through mutual mentoring in instructional design, technical knowledge, and navigating the complexity of multi-layered P-16 institutions, as they use, demonstrate, and then compile exemplary teaching strategies. They anticipate completing several rounds of modeling and refining teaching practices, by embedding what they envision as project-identified Backpack Tools in collaborators' courses. These instructional experiences will be compiled as project digital Strategy Backpacks during year one and disseminated through campus and SUNY-wide channels.

"SUNY Global Workforce Project"

• Levin Institute / U.S. Education Department
• Skipper, William - Sociology/Anthropology
• 8/1/09 - 7/31/12
• Award: $103,579

This project will be carried out by a consortium of three institutions: SUNY Brockport, SUNY Cortland, and The Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce.  The purpose of the project is to prepare undergraduate students to compete effectively in the global workforce through increased knowledge of globalization’s impact, improved foreign language competence, and enhanced cross-cultural skills.  Globalization concepts will be integrated into the General Education curriculum, thereby providing students a basis for understanding the context in which they will be working.  The power of China as a global player is expected to increase over the next few decades and there are few options for students to learn the Chinese language.  In order to make the Chinese language instruction available across the SUNY system, the Global Workforce Project proposes to develop online Chinese language courses.  While in-person Chinese language instruction continues to be offered at Cortland, an introductory online-Chinese language program will be created and piloted to Brockport students.  The project objectives include that within three years: 1) twenty faculty members at SUNY Cortland and SUNY Brockport will integrate the Globalization Curriculum into 20 general education courses, reaching 1,600 SUNY undergraduate students; the consortium will develop pilots and assess a high-quality, online introductory Mandarin Chinese program, piloted to 30 students; and 3) students taking modules in their general education courses will be exposed to global content and gain global workforce-related knowledge and skills, such as cross-cultural communications, holistic thinking, knowledge of global issues, and technology skills.

"Advocacy in Action Tobacco Control Program"

• Onondaga County Department of Health
• Smith, Catherine - Student Health Services
• 7/1/09 -6/30/12
• Award: $15,000

The focus of this project is to engage young adult leaders to work on and off the college campus to limit where and how tobacco products are promoted, advertised and sold, and to advance local and statewide policy action to prevent and reduce tobacco use.  The three main components of the project are:  1)  tobacco industry sponsorship and promotion; 2)  smoke-free multi-unit dwellings; and 3) outdoor tobacco free policies. There are educational activities involved in each component as well as policy advocacy.  
    

"Frontier and Empire on the Central Anatolian Plateau: Transitions at Çadir Höyük"

• National Science Foundation
• Steadman, Sharon R. - Sociology/Anthropology
• 6/1/11 - 5/30/14
• Award: $294,260

A National Science Foundation grant will support archaeological work at the site of Çadir Höyük in central Turkey (Anatolia). Steadman and an international team will conduct three years of fieldwork including excavation and the conservation of both artifacts and architecture. The international team, consisting of scholars from the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Turkey, will investigate three important periods during the 6,000 years of nearly unbroken occupation at the Çadir Höyük site (ca. 5200 B.C.E. - 1170 C.E.). Previous research has demonstrated that the settlements at Çadir Höyük experienced three significant transitional periods in which comfortable, stable, and well-stocked communities, located either at the heart, or the frontier, of contemporary empires, became far more unstable and residents coped with considerabley more meager circumstances. The first transition occurred in the later prehistory in the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze I (ca. 3300-2800 BCE), the second when the Hittite Empire collapsed around 1200 BCE, and the last during the Byzantine empire's fading control of central Anatolia (ca. 600-1100 CE). The Çadir team will examine the experiences of these settlements' residents as their surrounding worlds collapsed. Particular areas of focus include subsistence practices, craft production, trade relations, and domestic and public buildings and spaces; results will reveal how residents experienced and reacted to changes and challenges in their day-to-day living circumstances; we will also assess wheather residents fared differently depending on wheather they lived in the frontier region of an empire, or near its heart, and identify reasons for any differences. Our investigations at the village level sill be a lens through which we may view both the impact a collapsing empire had on local populations, and what role changes in these local/rural settlements played in the dissolution of these powerful imperial systems.

"NYU Goren Research Fellowship"

• Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History at New York University
• Storch, Randi - History
• Award: $25,000

"American Democracy Imperiled": Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and the Formatioin of Twentieth-Century American Ideals 
Rampant abuse of industrial workers, insidious nativism and racism, unbridled corruption in municipal politics and devasting global war were just a few of the controversial social and political problems challenging the health of American democracy in the first half of the twentieth century. Believing that American Democracy's ideals should be everyone's guiding principle, fundamental belief, and crucial right if the United States were to be judged as a humane and just society, Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949), one of the most significant and respected Jewish Americans of the twentieth century, spent his lifetime working to realize such a place. Using his political acumen, moral suasion and well-placed friendships (he had close relationships with Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and with Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Fleix Frankfurter), Wise convinced lawmakers, labor and civic leaders, and the populace to rethink the responsibilities of citizenship in ways that elevated social justice and fostered cross-class, ecumenical, racial, and ethnic dialogue. In doing so, he shaped a new Jewish-American identiy committed to these goals, and had crucial impact on reframing American ideals and shaping national and international policies and law. The book project examines Wise's life-long battle to overcome his greatest fear that "American democracy [was] imperiled" to understand the nature of American democracy and its fundamental challenges in the twentieth century.