The College of Education manages several dozen scholarship awards that are given annually to students meeting criteria specified in the scholarships. The awards are established by donors to honor various individuals who have been part of the College community over the years. Several of the awards for 2020-2021 were received by students at CIE.
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Sayed Javid Mussawy received the Jerome and Florence McCormick Doctoral award for 2020-2021. The award provides support to doctoral students in their dissertation-writing year.
Javid’s dissertation investigates the implementation of a new national accreditation process for public teaching and research universities in Afghanistan. The structure and procedures for accreditation of universities have been developed in the past several years, partly with support from a large project managed by the Center for International Education at UMass Amherst. His study analyzes the experiences of provincial teaching universities in contrast with the experiences of the larger, urban research universities as they implement the accreditation process. The scholarship will provide support for Javid as he finishes his dissertation.
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Hassan Aslami was awarded the Joseph W. Keilty Memorial Scholarship which provides support to full-time graduate students with preference given to doctoral students with exceptional promise.
Hassan’s dissertation research examines the current sources of funding for public higher education in Afghanistan, and explores potential alternative resources and policy options to increase and sustain funding for the public higher education system. Because the constitution of Afghanistan provides for free education for students through the Bachelor’s level, the problem of funding public higher education is particularly challenging.
Hassan’s study examines a variety of alternative funding sources and looks at the policy and legal issues that would have to be addressed to take advantage of some of the alternatives. The scholarship will provide support as he analyzes his data and finishes writing his dissertation
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Mariam Rashid received the Helen Eaton Timson Scholarship which provides support for students in enrolled in degree programs in the College of Education.
Mariam describes her research interests below:
In the wake of the global refugee crisis and forced displacement, public discourses on refugee representation have failed to take into account the gendered, racialized and colonial aspects of refugee (re)settlement education. As a scholar in the field of education, I recognize that (re)settlement education in host communities and third countries of asylum is critical, if refugees are to rebuild their ruptured lives. I also recognize that (re)settlement pedagogies and practices such as those that advocate for economic self-reliance/sufficiency among displaced populations are deeply embedded within coloniality and racial capitalism. My research attempts to unsettle and re-imagine resettlement practices and pedagogies through the lenses of raciality, postcolonial theories, and critical research methodologies.
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