Ewa Protasiuk ’15 and Sarah Wooton ’15– recipients of the Projects for Peace grant during their work in Uganda.
The Max A. Shacknai COVE exists through the efforts of individuals. During the course of Fiscal Year ’15, we have had a number of opportunities to recognize the work of others.
Dean’s Community Service Award
This award is given to the most worthy individual, residential unit, or group at Colgate which through the year immediately preceding the award has given significant service to the local community. This service exemplifies an understanding that we are part of a larger community and that volunteer service and civic participation are part of the responsibility of well-educated women and men. Kristi Carey and Jocelyn Simpson were awarded the 2015 Dean’s Community Service Award.
Newman Civic Fellows Award
Many people see others struggle to overcome barriers — a special few take action to create change. Caroline Boudreau ’17 is one of those committed individuals. For her actions on behalf of those in need, Campus Compact named her a 2015 Newman Civic Fellow. Read more about Newman and the fellowship.
Projects for Peace
Sarah Wooton ’15 and Ewa Protasiuk ’15 spent two months in the summer of 2015 in Nakuru, Kenya dedicated to a qualitative study about the experiences of people who participate in microfinance in Nakuru. The study compared Western assumptions about microfinance, development, and peace to these experiences. The results of the study revealed that sometimes lived experience diverges from Western assumptions. While microfinance does seem to be helping some people in Nakuru, it does not work in the way that the West thinks that it does. For example, microfinance is not accessible to the poorest of the poor; additionally, participant experiences made it clear that there are issues of structural inequities in Nakuru that microfinance cannot address. Wooden and Protasiuk learned directly from individuals excluded from mainstream discourse in the West and connected that commentary to what they have studied at Colgate about peace, development, and social justice.
The project was funded with a $10,000 grant from Projects for Peace, an initiative for undergraduate projects designed to find solutions to conflicts. Projects are conducted during the summer, and can focus on an issue anywhere in the world, including the U.S. The Projects for Peace grant is available to students in 90 colleges and universities affiliated with the Davis United World College Program, an organization that provides scholarships to its partnered institutions.