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The McCourtney Institutefor Democracy

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Kudos and Congratulations: Spring 2020

Kudos and Congratulations: Spring 2020

We’ve reached the end of another academic year; with it comes the opportunity to recognize the excellent work being done by students and faculty who are part of the McCourtney Institute’s activities.

Center for Democratic Deliberation Awards

Through its Student Engagement Award and Burke Prize in Rhetoric, the CDD recognizes outstanding undergraduate and graduate student achievement in rhetoric and civic engagement.

This year’s Student Engagement Award winners are senior Camryn Wilson and Ph.D. students Audrey Gradzewicz, and Taylor Hare. The Burke Prize in Rhetoric was awarded to Ph.D. student Curry Kennedy and Jacob Nagel.

Read more about their work on Penn State News.

Research in Democracy Grants

For the second year, the McCourtney Institute is offering research support grants of up to $5,000 for faculty or graduate students within the College of the Liberal Arts. These grants are designed to support research on topics related to democracy.

This year’s grant recipients are:

  • Jens-Uwe Guettel, Associate Professor of History and German: Radical Democracy in Germany 1871-1918

  • Michele Kennerly, Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences: Automatic Athens: Technology, Place, and Democratic Promise, 1820-2020

  • Cyanne Loyle, Associate Professor of Political Science: Rebel Rules: The Impact of Rebel Group Judiciaries on Democracy and Rule of Law

  • K. Bailey Thomas, Philosophy Ph.D. Student: Insidious Ignorance

  • Joseph Wright, Professor of Political Science: Technology and the Personalization of Politics

  • Wayne Yeung, Comparative Literature Ph.D. Student: The Nation and its Discontents: Ethnographies of the People from the Peripheries

Student Success

Several of our Nevins Fellows and Mood of the Nation Poll interns have gone on to success in other parts of Penn State.

  • Seniors Erin Doolin and Abby Luke received awards as part of Penn State’s Undergraduate Exhibition. Doolin will also serve as the student marshal for criminology at this spring’s commencement ceremony.

  • Senior Panini Pandya will serve as the student marshal for international politics at the spring 2020 commencement ceremony.

  • Junior Eric Bilbrough will be the executive director of State of State, a student-run organization that focuses on building community through dialogue, for the 2020-21 academic year.

Congratulations to everyone and thank you for a great year!