Lender Center for Social Justice Seeks Applicants for Student Fellows

The Lender Center for Social Justice is seeking students from all academic disciplines to apply as a 2020-22 Lender Student Fellow.

The Lender Center welcomes students who are passionate about finding solutions to complex problems, and the two-year fellowships will allow students to engage in collaborative research led by Faculty Fellow Jonnell Robinson.

Five Lender Student Fellows will engage in research, community engagement, dialogue and reflection to inform local efforts to create a more equitable, sustainable and inclusive food system in Central New York. Working in partnership with Professor Robinson and the Syracuse Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA)—a new food policy council—student fellows will conduct participatory action research to promote community-driven food policies and practices.

“We’re very excited to involve students across disciplines who want to learn more about food systems and community engagement and can bring their interdisciplinary insights into those food insecurity issues,” says Lender Center Co-Director Marcelle Haddix, Dean’s Professor in Reading and Language Arts in the School of Education.

During the two-year period, students will conduct secondary research on food policy councils and food justice initiatives and collaborate with SOFSA to conduct primary research on the strengths and weaknesses of the local food system. The goal of the research will be to provide a model for how local food policy councils can address structural inequalities in food systems.

The selected fellows will:

• Work closely with the faculty fellow in developing the collaborative research project
• Work with students from various disciplines in a dynamic research environment
• Participate in public discussions and presentations of the research project

The deadline for the applications is Oct. 15. For more information on how to apply and submit an application, please visit the Lender Center webpage.