A research project highlighting residents’ stories from the historical exhibit “Wilmington, 1968” and a study examining the emotional and cultural intelligence of prospective teachers have been awarded University of Delaware grants.

The awards from the College of Arts and Sciences’ Center for the Study of Diversity and the College of Education and Human Development’s Delaware Center for Teacher Education were made under the centers’ 2018 Collaborative Grant Program.

The collaboration was developed to help support the work of teacher preparation faculty or instructional staff interested in exploring a line of inquiry, climate-related issue or curriculum innovation focused on promoting equity, diversity and inclusion for education stakeholders.

The 2018 grant recipients are:

• Deborah Bieler, associate professor of English, Melva Ware, adjunct faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Administration, and Angela Winand, affiliated assistant professor of history, for the project "Delaware Historical Society and UD English Education Freedom Schools Partnership." English education students, in collaboration with the Mitchell Center for African American Heritage, will develop and implement a curriculum for Freedom School Scholars to conduct an oral history project. Teams of middle and high school students will research “Wilmington 1968” and focus on the stories of residents.

• Tia N. Barnes and Bridgette Johnson, both assistant professors of human development and family sciences, for "Examining the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, and Teacher Candidates’ Self-Efficacy in Delivering Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices." They will study Early Childhood Education (ECE) teacher candidates’ emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence and self-efficacy in using culturally responsive practices in teaching social emotional competencies. They will collect online surveys from current juniors and seniors in the ECE program this spring semester.

The collaborative grants program aims to facilitate a wider understanding of the social and academic impacts of diversity and to inform and support equitable practices within the teacher preparation community.

Applicants for the grants were encouraged to make connections between their proposals and specific aspects of campus climate mentioned in the "Inclusive Excellence: Action Plan for Diversity at UD" and/or President Dennis Assanis' strategic principle of "Building an Environment of Inclusive Excellence."