Funding (Fridays on) Thursdays Session 8: Community and Student-Engaged Research

This panel reflects on UMass faculty experience with research that actively involves community partners and students as collaborators in the production of knowledge. Panelists will discuss their models of community-engaged and student-centered research across disciplines, highlighting both the intellectual value and the ethical responsibilities of shared inquiry. Topics will include building reciprocal partnerships, mentoring students through research experiences, navigating institutional and community expectations, and assessing impact beyond traditional academic metrics. Together, the panel considers how community and student-engaged research can advance scholarship while fostering equity, experiential learning, and meaningful public engagement. ISSR Associate Director of Research Advancement and Operations, Katie Smith, PhD, will be on hand to discuss the nuts and bolts of budgeting grants for such projects.

Keisha Green is Associate Professor of Teacher Education & School Improvement and Director of Civic Engagement and Research at the UMass Amherst Center in Springfield. She is a community-engaged scholar and critical teacher educator and is the co-founder and co-director of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research. Dr. Green also serves as a consultant for area educational institutions supporting their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

Susan Shaw is Director of the Center for Community Health Equity Research (CCHER) and Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Policy. CCHER aims to advance our understanding of health equity, cultivate equitable research partnerships with communities, and contribute to programs that increase the participation of people from underrepresented groups in health professions research and training programs. My research and teaching interests include racial and ethnic health disparities, gender and sexuality, access to health care, and chronic disease self-management. I use community-responsive and participatory research methods to understand the effects of social inequality on health and I seek to contribute these research findings to advance community-driven responses to gaps in care.

Erica Scharrer, Professor of Communication, studies the role of media in young people's lives. She has a longstanding community-engaged research media literacy project with a local elementary school. In recent years, together with graduate students, she has studied 6^th graders' views of social media influencers, personalized online ads, and AI.

Grants funding can be critical to faculty careers, but difficult to pull off on your own given limited time. ISSR invites you to take part in a flexible, workshop series aimed at motivating, informing, and supporting faculty writing grants for submission.

Stop by each session for collaborative learning and work sessions that will help you stay on track for your goals, or hop in for only the sessions you need. Our registration form offers you a one-stop chance to sign up for the Funding (Fridays on) Thursdays sessions that interest you most, all semester long. An online option is also available by request.

All can self-enroll for the Funding (Fridays on) Thursdays on Canvas, where you will find a full library of helpful resources for all stages of the grant writing process. New registrants can review past materials, and seek support from ISSR for early stages of grant development.

Sessions meet on selected Thursdays from 12:00 am - 1:15 pm - with food and drinks provided in the ISSR Lab.

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