DSC Knowledge Grants
A couple of years after the DSC stopped contributing money to Student Affairs’ Conference Presentation Support fund*, it was discovered that the fund still had several thousand dollars of student money, which was then returned back to the DSC. In the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years, the DSC voted to use some of this surplus to establish the DSC Knowledge Grants. Separate from the general DSC grants fund, which is a recurring budget line to support student-led projects and events, The CUNY DSC Knowledge Grant fund was a temporary funding source specifically for projects produced by GC students that proposed fomenting archival information or enhancing the institutional knowledge or memory of the DSC, the Graduate Center, or CUNY. The grants were evaluated by a five-person committee of DSC representatives, including the DSC’s Co-Chair for Business. Successful projects were ones designed to bring long-term benefit to Graduate Center students by recovering, preserving, or creating significant institutional history. Items produced should be used, shared, and/or witnessed by Graduate Center students for years to come or have lasting effects at the Graduate Center. Original ideas and approaches were encouraged.
Due to the popularity of these grants and the overall need for projects that enhance institutional memory, especially for the benefit of students, the DSC hopes to bring back the Knowledge Grants as a permanent budget line if the $6 student activity increase is approved in the spring of 2016.
Below, please find links to the Knowledge Grant projects awarded funds in 2014-2015.
* The DSC stopped contributing this the Travel and Research fund due to the limitations on which students could apply to receive this money. As students in the clinical programs (Audiology, Physical Therapy, Nursing, and Public Health) are excluded from this program, the DSC deemed it unfair that student money that is coming from all Graduate Center students be used in a way that excludes some of the students who were paying into that fund.
2014-2015 Knowledge Grant Funded Projects
The CUNY Syllabus Project (Laura Kane, Erin Glass, Michelle Johnson, Andrew McKinney)
The CUNY Syllabus Project is a “robust resource providing a way to search, compare, and visualize syllabi across institutions, disciplines, and departments” housed on the CUNY Academic Commons.
“From Students to Scholars” Podcast (Darren Kwong, Karen Okigbo, Carlos Camacho, Colin Ashley)
“From Students to Scholars” is “a podcast series that provides peer mentoring to Graduate Center doctoral students and helps them prepare for the careers to which they aspire”
CUNY in the 1960’s-’70’s Oral History Project (Sean Molloy)
Sean Molloy (English) created an oral history of CCNY’s SEEK and Basic Writing Programs, instituted in the 1960’s and 1970’s and which later became models for basic writing instruction across CUNY and the country. The resulting videos are available on CompComm’s (a DSC chartered organization) YouTube page.
English Students Association Archive and Oral History (Paul Hebert and Jason Neilsen, on behalf of the English Students Association)
As one of the longest-active student associations—over thirty years—and representing students in one of the largest programs at the Graduate Center, the English Students Association’s archives are a rich source of information on student organization and advocacy at the Graduate Center. Digitization and organization of the archives is ongoing. Check back in March, 2016, for an update. Until then, access recent news and information from the ESA on their website.
50th Anniversary Video: Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences PhD Program (Jet Vonk)
In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences PhD Program, current students talk about their research performed at Graduate Center labs.
Sociology Students Association Exam Archive (Hamad Sindhi)
The Sociology Students Association has a vast archive of print materials for use by students while preparing for their comprehensive exams. The efforts of this Knowledge Grant funded project will result in a digitized archive made available to all Sociology students, as well as Graduate Center students with overlapping interests and needs.
CUNY Food Services Supply Chain Investigation (Alexandra Sullivan)
Check the CUNY Food Chains website soon for the preliminary visuals on the CUNY commodity chain analysis funded by the DSC. Alex has been hired by the CUNY Institute for Urban Food Policy (housed at the new CUNY School of Public Health) to do some campus food outreach and workshops with CUNY students, groups, faculty, and staff, so the project will be growing over the course of the next semester to include the building of institutional memory, networks, and collaborative planning for the future of CUNY campus food and the website will be updated to reflect this new information.