Athens, Ga. (November 7, 2007) – The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia has awarded five grants under the Poverty and the Economy Faculty Research Grants Program. The grants program, sponsored by the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., provides seed funding to support and encourage applied research and creative scholarship related to poverty and the economy in Georgia.

This year’s grants will support research projects that include investigations of the linkages between persistent poverty and education, healthcare, and housing; an evaluation of the effectiveness of the graduation coach program to reduce high school dropout rates among low-income students; and a study of raising awareness of poverty in historically low-income counties.

“I am continually impressed with how UGA faculty are engaging in research of the causes and consequences of persistent poverty,” said Art Dunning, vice president for public service and outreach at UGA. “The research that will result from this year’s grants reflects collaboration across our academic and service units, builds upon UGA’s strong traditions of teaching, research, and service, and has great potential for future extramural support. Most importantly, the research funded through this year’s grants informs how we can more appropriately deal with persistent poverty here in Georgia.”

Grant award amounts range from $15,000 to $26,000.

Grant recipients are:

• Santanu Chatterjee and David Mustard, Terry College of Business, Department of Economics, “Understanding Poverty and Inequality in the Developed World: A Study of Healthcare and Education in Georgia;”
• Angela Fertig, College of Public Health, Department of Health, Policy and Management, and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Research and Policy Analysis Division, and Doug Bachtel, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Department of Housing and Consumer Economics, “Exposing Persistent Poor Health in Georgia;”
• John Greenman and Diane Murray, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, “Raising Awareness of Persistent Poverty through Journalism;”
• Jeffrey Jordan and Bulent Anil, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and Velma Zahirovic-Herbert and Swarn Chatterjee, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Department of Housing and Consumer Economics, “Why Do Dropouts Happen? Exploring Education, Homeownership, and Poverty;” and
• Jolie Ziomek-Daigle, College of Education, Department of Counseling and Human Development Services, “Georgia’s Graduation Coach Program: Impacting Poverty by Increasing School Completion.”

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This article was posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Grants, News, Grant recipients.