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Grants Awarded
Please see below for awards received during the current and prior fiscal year. Click on In This Section/Past Grants Awarded for awards going back to FY 2013.
FY 2027
FACULTY GRANTS
 Trinity College and the Stowe Center for Literary Activism were awarded a supplemental grant from the Council of Independent Colleges and the Mellon Foundation to digitize archival materials central to their Histories and Legacies of American Slavery-funded project, After Slavery, Contested Rights: Black Hartford’s Civic Worlds, 1800-1830. The project examines how Black Hartford residents built communities, institutions, economic networks, and civic lives during gradual emancipation while confronting disenfranchisement, colonization pressure, and restrictions on Black education and expression. The supplemental award supports digitization of materials identified by the Trinity-Stowe partnership into long-lasting resources for research, teaching, preservation, and public interpretation. Scott Gac, Professor of History, is leading this effort. |
SCHOLARSHIPS & FINANCIAL AID GRANTS
Trinity received generous grants from the following organizations in support of student scholarships and financial aid:
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FY 2026
FACULTY GRANTS
 Abby Fisher Williamson, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy & Law, received a grant from the Russel Sage Foundation to survey elected officials and bureaucrats across a nationally representative sample of US immigrant destination towns and cities to better understand the factors that support or undermine local immigrant welcoming. |
 Michelle Kovarik, Dr. Henry A. DePhillips, Jr. Professor of Chemistry, and Cheyenne Brindle, Associate Professor of Chemistry, received an American Chemical Society (ACS) Project SEED grant to provide a high school student from a low-income household with a stipend to participate in a chemistry research project at Trinity for 8 weeks during the summer. This award was also supported by the Connecticut Valley Section of the ACS. |
 Dang Do, Assistant Professor of Political Science, received a 2026 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders from the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. This award supports research on how marginalized communities, particularly racial minorities, achieve representation with systems that often exclude them. It supports completion of Do’s book, Voices of Color: The State-Level Dynamics of Racial Minority Interest Group Lobbying. The work draws on an original dataset of over two decades of lobbying activity in California and Texas and demonstrates that RMIGs are persistent and strategic actors that build coalitions to navigate institutional constraints. The book argues that lobbying is not solely the realm of corporate elites but also a contested space where racial minorities are active and achieve meaningful influence. |
 Jonathan Elukin, Associate Professor of History, received a Fellowship from the Frankel Institute for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan for his research, “A New Intellectual History of Antisemitism and Racism”. This year-long residential fellowship is part of the 2027-2028 theme of the Frankel Institute, “Rethinking Antisemitism” that brings together a group of Fellows for ongoing discussions and presentations around this topic. Related story: Trinity Faculty Member Receives Yearlong Frankel Institute Fellowship. |
 Martha K. Risser, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, won the ASCSA Senior Fellowship for Advanced Research in the Humanities from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. She is studying the archaeological remains from a cemetery at Isthmia, Greece. These remains provide important information about ordinary, not wealthy, people who were residing near one of the four panhellenic cult centers in the ancient Greek world during the Archaic and Classical periods. To understand these people, she employs a more holistic, osteobiographical approach than has been the norm in classical archaeology, seeking to understand and convey the lives of the deceased and their mourners through a comprehensive individual-centered perspective. The fellowship allows her to spend the year in Athens accessing archeological materials for research. Related story: ‘A Dream Come True’. |
 Natassja Gunasena, Assistant Professor of International Studies, was awarded Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars for her research, Cobra Women: Black and South Asian Feminist Intimacies in the African Diaspora. Gunasena argues that Black feminist, diasporic theory is essential to understanding South Asian women’s lives in a racialized world, and that Black and South Asian women are deeply, and sometimes painfully, connected. Examining an interdisciplinary archive of literature, poetry, performance, oral history, and religious ritual, her work offers the term “hybrid textuality” to describe how women’s bodies are called on to perform multiple labors: the material, gendered labor of sex and care, as well as the symbolic labor of representing nations, collectives, and aesthetic ideals. Related story: Institute for Citizens & Scholars Fellowship Will Support Trinity Faculty Member’s Book Project. |
| Scott Gac, Professor of History, received a grant from the Council of Independent Colleges to investigate Black Hartford from 1800–1830, the decades bracketing the 1823 founding of Washington College (now Trinity College). Partnering with the Stowe Center for Literary Activism, this research will illuminate how slavery’s legal remnants and social afterlives shaped everyday life, politics, education, religion, and culture in lower New England. The research products—podcast, public forum, and community education modules—will translate archival findings into usable, publicly accessible local history. The partnership shines new light on the era of Northern emancipation and the ways systems of slavery—North and South—shaped life in New England. Related story: Professor Receives Grant Award from Council of Independent Colleges.
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 Katsuya Izumi, Senior Lecturer in Language & Cultural Studies, received an award from the Northeast Asian Council of the Association for Asian Studies to examine differences between English and Japanese language articles published in the Manzanar Free Press, the newspaper written by the Japanese and Japanese American internees of the Manzanar internment camp during World War II. The Japanese articles are translations of the English ones but have rarely been examined to understand how they differ from the more official English version. Discovering these differences can bring to light the thoughts and feelings of the internees living under harsh circumstances. Related story: Trinity College Faculty Member Receives Grant from Association for Asian Studies. |
 Megan Crutcher, Ann Plato Postdoctoral Fellow in History, received a grant from Institute of Nautical Archeology, for her project Where Trees Meet the Tide: Documenting Traditional Watercraft Construction in Liberia, West Africa which documents the design, construction, and cultural significance of traditional dugout canoes and larger, motorized “Fanti boats” in Liberia, West Africa. The grant will allow Megan to travel to conduct her research. Related story: Grant from Institute of Nautical Archaeology Funds Faculty Project. |
 Philipp Gemmel, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, received an American Chemical Society 2025 ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable Grant for Increasing the Breadth and Utility of Enzymes in Pharma Manufacturing. Philipp’s green chemistry project, Enzyme-mediated protecting group chemistry: Site-selective deprotection of benzyl ethers, is a collaborative research project, with monthly input from selected Roundtable member representatives, and will explore a critical step in organic synthesis. Related story: Trinity Faculty Member Receives American Chemical Society Grant for Research. |
 Davarian Baldwin, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies, received a subaward through The Renewal Project, a Mellon Foundation grant to the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities. Davarian will provide intellectual and strategic oversight to the Renewal Project helping to guide conceptualization and implementation of the archival, pedagogical, and public humanities pillars for the project. The award will support Davarian’s time during the summer of 2025 and 2o26. |
INSTITUTIONAL GRANTS
 Trinity College received a $150,000 Tennis Venues Service Grant from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to remove the existing asphalt tennis courts in the Paul Assaiante Tennis Center and install new post-tension concrete courts. The tennis center will continue to have eight tennis courts which will be used by the varsity men’s and women’s teams, club teams, Trinity’s physical education classes, as well as members of the community. |
| Dang Do, Assistant Professor of Political Science, received two grants from the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation (formerly the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving) for his Hartford Voter Captains Project as part of the foundation’s 2026 Civic Education and Civic Participation opportunity. The grants will support the recruitment and training of Voter Captains who will mobilize their social networks through narrative-based outreach, personal and community stories, and peer-to-peer voter mobilization. Project goals will include increasing voter turnout and engagement among contacts reached by Voter Captains, strengthening Voter Captains’ confidence to speak about voting, and increasing voter turnout in neighborhoods and surrounding areas reached through the project. |
 The Lower Connecticut Valley (LCV) Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) awarded two grants to the Trinity Prison Education Project (TPEP). On award supported “Philosophy and the Self,” a course taught by Carmen de Schryver, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, at York Correctional Institute during spring 2026. The second award supports “Mathematics in Society,” a course taught by Ariel Weiss and Dylan Green at York Correctional Institute, the state’s prison for women during spring 2027. TPEP is co-directed by Anna Terwiel, Associate Professor of Political Science; Joseph Lea, Visiting Lecturer in Human Rights; and James Truman, Director of Peer Tutoring in Writing and Senior Lecturer in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric. |
 The Hilla von Rebay Foundation awarded funds to support The Studio Arts Program Postbaccalaureate Fellowship. The program invites developing artists, who have recently completed undergraduate studio arts degrees, with the opportunity to live and work on campus while building a cohesive body of artwork, programming external artist exhibits, and gaining experience with art and gallery productions. Fellows acquire the skills, experience, and professional networks that support successful transitions to graduate study, artist residencies, museum careers, and other opportunities in the arts. The program is led by the Studio Arts Program Director. |
 Michelle Kovarik, Dr. Henry A. DePhillips, Jr. Professor of Chemistry, received a grant from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) for the RCSA Fellows Initiative 2026. The program supports postdoctoral fellows as they prepare for and transition into tenure-track positions. RCSA Fellows are paired with institutions to give them mock interviews in preparation for their actual job interviews, and Trinity has been chosen as a hosting institution. The award both funds the Fellow’s mock interview and contributes to Trinity’s Chemistry seminar series. In her application, Michelle highlighted among other things, the Chemistry Department’s strong mentoring culture, its diverse makeup, and her own interest in promoting professional development. |
 Ryan’s Circle of Giving, a fund of the Community Foundation of Middlesex County, continues to support Trinity’s Learn to Skate program at the Koeppel Community Sports Center. Trinity student coaches taught Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA) students foundational skating skills on Wednesdays during the Spring semester. Liliana Polley, Executive Director of the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research oversees this program. |
 Christina Bleyer, College Librarian, College Librarian and Director of Special Collections and Archive, partnered with the Hartford Medical Society to secure a CT Humanities Capacity grant. Funding will support a comprehensive assessment and digitization planning report that advances the long-term preservation and public accessibility of the Hartford Medical Society Collection. |
 Seth Markle, Associate Professor of History and International Studies and Faculty Advisor to the Trinity Chapter of the Temple of Hip Hop, co-curated a multi-sited photo exhibit with Jasmin Agosto ’10 of Sageseeker Productions. Support for the Living Declarations Photo Exhibit on Global Hip Hop in the City of Hartford was provided by CT Humanities as part of its America 250 | CT program. The photo exhibition celebrates 19 years of the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival in Hartford and examines how Hip Hop music and culture, situated in a global and historical context, speaks to the ideals articulated by the Declaration of Independence of 1776 while challenging some of its core silences. The exhibit was held on campus and in the community in April in conjunction with the International Hip Hop Festival. Related story: Trinity International Hip Hop Festival Marks 20 Year |
| The CT Open Educational Resources Coordinating Council awarded an Impact Grant to support the work of Dang Do, Assistant Professor of Political Science, as he creates an open educational resource textbook on Connecticut state politics. The textbook is being written by students in Trinity College’s Legislative Internship Program under Dang’s supervision, providing students with a unique opportunity to contribute to a publicly accessible resource on Connecticut government and politics. The grant will support the completion of the textbook for use in the Spring 2027 Legislative Internship Seminar. |
 American Eagle Financial Credit Union (AEFCU) awarded a grant to support the VITA Tax Clinic offered at Trinfo for the 2026 tax season. Serena Laws, Assistant Professor, Public Policy & Law and VITA Program Director implemented the program. With the support of AEFCU, the VITA Clinic filed a record-breaking 784 tax returns this year. Related story: Trinity’s Student-Supported VITA Tax Clinic |
 Simon Hoellerbauer, Director of Social Science Research and Lecturer in Political Science, received a grant to provide feedback on Open Educational Resources for classroom use. They wrote a review of the open-source textbook Statistics Through an Equity Lens by Yvonne Anthony, evaluating the textbook for use as a supplementary text in introductory social science research methods courses. The review will appear in the CT OER Repository. |
| Ryan’s Circle of Giving, a fund of the Community Foundation of Middlesex County, continues to support Trinity’s Learn to Skate program at the Koeppel Community Sports Center. Trinity student coaches taught Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA) students foundational skating skills on Wednesdays during the Spring semester. Liliana Polley, Executive Director of the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research oversees this program. |
 Trinity Dream Camp received grants to support the 2026 camp season from the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation, Stanley D. and Hinda N. Fisher Foundation, Elizabeth M. and Harriette M. Landon Charitable Foundation, The Barnes Foundation, Inc., Charles Nelson Robinson Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee, George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee, and the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee. |
STUDENT GRANT RECIPIENTS
| Trinity College students Jackeline Garcia Alvarado ’27 and Hanna Saffi ’26 were each awarded a Projects for Peace grant for independent peacebuilding projects for the summer of 2026.
Project leader Jackeline García Alvarado and Darian Mehran-Lodge ’27 will design and run a series of workshops centered on 3D printing to encourage young girls in an underserved public high school in rural Costa Rica to get involved in the STEM fields. Hanna Saffi will run Booky Club: Cultura y Paz, an 8-week after-school creative learning program for at-risk children ages 5-16, combining literacy, music, art, and civic storytelling. She created the program to transform how children approach education in La Chacarita, Paraguay. Related story: Trinity Students Awarded Two 2026 Projects for Peace Grants |
STUDENT FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS
| Julianna Boris ’26, was awarded a Fulbright for an English Teaching Assistantship, in Taiwan. Julianna majored in Anthropology and Religious Studies. In addition to teaching English, she is excited to engage with the community through outdoors activities and her love of folk and jazz music. Related story: Trinity Student Awarded Fulbright to Teach English in Taiwan |
| Mia Creane ’25, was awarded a Fulbright for English Teaching Assistantship, Slovak Republic. Mia majored in Computer Science and was Phi Beta Kappa. She is interested in the Slovak Republic’s national effort to increase digital skills and hopes to engage with the community through board games. Related story: Trinity Alumna with Fulbright Grant |
SCHOLARSHIPS/FINANCIAL AID GRANTS
Trinity received generous grants from the following organizations in support of student scholarships and financial aid:
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