The Steven D. Levy ’72 Fund for Urban Curricular Programs supports student investigations of a broad range of key urban issues confronting humankind in the 21st century. Of special interest are projects that highlight the urban realities of the city of Hartford. Examples of such issues include diasporic communities, educational and health policy, residential segregation, environmental problems, urban art/culture, human rights, and the creation and maintenance of public spaces (both physical and social).
Levy Research Grants for Urban Studies
All students undertaking investigations of urban issues for a Trinity course, or who are doing similar work under the direct supervision of a Trinity faculty member, are eligible to apply for grants from the Levy Fund to attend conferences, visit libraries, conduct fieldwork, or offset other research-related expenses.
A faculty committee meets each year in April to evaluate applications and to determine the amount of grants, which ordinarily will not exceed $1,000.
We also will consider and encourage joint proposals from two or three students with different majors who can draw from complementary disciplinary expertise to investigate a complex urban topic. For example, a student in environmental science may team up with a history major and a sociology major to examine a particular set of social and ecological consequences of industrialization and then deindustrialization in the Connecticut River Valley for the City of Hartford. Excellent interdisciplinary joint proposals will be funded up to $1,200.
Students awarded grants are expected to make use of their funding by September of the following year, or, in the case of seniors, by graduation, and to submit a report to the Center for Urban and Global Studies describing the activities made possible by the grant.
Deadline
All 2013 grant applications should be submitted to Anne Lundberg (anne.lundberg@trincoll.edu) at the Center for Urban and Global Studies by April 8, 2013.
Application
Click here for the Levy Research Grant application form.
The Levy Senior Research Prize for Urban Studies
The Levy Fund also supports an annual prize competition for theses or senior research projects dealing with urban issues. Eligible work includes theses or other projects based on original research undertaken for a Trinity course or under the supervision of a Trinity faculty member during a student’s senior year.
Nominations of eligible work must be received from the supervising faculty member each year in April.
First prize will carry a cash award of $400, and second prize an award of $100.
- Prizes and certificates will be awarded on Honors Day.
The review committee for both the research grant and senior research prize is chaired by Professor Jonathan Gourley, and includes Professors Stefanie Chambers, Garth Myers, and Dean Xiangming Chen.
Submission of Entries
Nominations for the Levy Prize are due on April 8, 2013.
Nominated papers should be submitted electronically to Anne Lundberg (anne.lundberg@trincoll.edu).
Congratulations to the 2012 Winners of the Levy Prize:
Chang Liu '12, first prize: "Shallow Urbanization in China: Causes, IMpacts and Policy Implications"
Kate H. Pool '12, second prize: "Quantifying Total Mercury within Fluvial Sediment of the Park River Watershed, Greater Hartford, CT"
Kelsey A. Semrod, second prize: "Geomorphological"
Past Winners:
2011
First Prize: Alexander S. Stein '11: "Mapping Residential Segregation in Baltimore City"
Second prize: None
2010
First Prize: Nicholas A. Bacon, '10: Lost in Dialectic: A Critical Introduction to Urban Space in Greater Hartford 1633-2010
Second Prize: Ezra H. Moser '10: "Re-Imagining Portland, Maine: Integrating a Refugee Community"
2009
First Prize: Mary P. Rose '09: "College Alcohol Policies as Institutional Myth"
Second Prize: None
2008
First Prize: Kathryn M.B. Levett '08: "The Medicalization of the HOmeless: The Impact of the Medical Model on Homeless Individuals and their Recovery"
Second Prize: Andrea B. Chivakos '08: "The Right to Faith: The Role of Faith-based Organizations in the Refugee Resettlement"
Read the winning theses by clicking on their links above.
Questions
All questions regarding Levy Research Grants or the Levy Prize competition should be directed to Professor Jonathan Gourley at jonathan.gourley@trincoll.edu or at ext. 4128.