GCI

Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Faculty Scholar Detail, 2004-2005

David Stovall
Assistant Professor, Department of Policy Studies
College of Education
From Hunger Strike to High School: Success and Challenges Across Communities
in Creating a Neighborhood School

While at the Great Cities Institute, Dr. Stovall has been able to use his position as a Faculty Scholar to increase the scope and visibility of his work in the field of social justice in education. His research has resulted in the publication of preliminary findings in the journal Education Leadership and two edited volumes, Black Protest and Education and Youth Communities and Social Justice. His time as a Faculty Scholar was spent collecting background data, consulting with community members and experts who were involved with social justice projects in education throughout the country, and visiting schools with special social justice agendas.

The latter included classroom observations, interviews with students, teachers and administrators, and analysis of community inclusion in the function of the school. Through visiting institutions, Stovall was able to document the struggles and successes of inter-racial community inclusion in developing school culture and curriculum aimed at social justice. Stovall was also invited to present his preliminary findings at numerous conferences throughout the year, including the Youth, Communities, and Social Justice meeting in New York City, the Emerging Scholars Conference at the CUNY Graduate Center and the American Educational Research Association National Meeting in Montreal, Canada.

The Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholars Program brings UIC faculty to the institute for a year in residence to begin, further, or complete an engaged research project. Scholars are free from their formal teaching responsibilities during their term. Prospective scholars apply by submitting a proposal that is peer reviewed along three key metrics of engaged research: interdisciplinarity, partnership, and impact.

GCI Faculty Scholars implement and further their own research agendas, as well as develop grant proposals, participate in the Great Cities Institute Lecture Series, and contribute to the Great Cities Institute Working Paper Series. Applications are released in the fall semester and due at the start of the spring semester.