The CE Initiative extends annual mini-grants to faculty in order to support, motivate and help produce community-engaged research and teaching activities. Applications are evaluated by a committee along several dimensions, including but not limited to: the project’s potential direct impact on its community stakeholder, along with its focus on diversity, inclusivity and equity; the project’s innovativeness; its potential to succeed; and the continuation of its impact in future years.
These grants are supported by the Lam-Larsen Fund for Global Innovation, established through a generous gift from alum Chris Larsen (B.S., ’84), his wife Lyna Lam, and the Rippleworks Foundation.
Read about this year's mini-grants recipients:
2023 Mini-Grants Recipients
Camille Antinori, Ph.D.
Economics Lecturer Faculty Camille Antinori incorporates a detailed field research component to her class where students are engaged in the valuation of local recreational and subsistence fishing access where undetermined number of fishers and other regional users of the Berkeley waterfront, Berkeley City Council, Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission, Berkeley residents, other local public water and coastal agencies and nonprofit organizations are impacted. The work has the potential to influence the narrative and planning around the SF Bay coastline where proposed development options range from highly commercialized designs perceived to generate explicit revenue but could limit public access to designs geared to support low-cost access to water recreation, which generates indirect, implicit value as measured in her study. The class project also has social equity implications. Data collected to date show that lower income and underrepresented socioeconomic groups use this space to fish at a greater rate than other socioeconomic groups. This is a continuation of her work from last academic year and also a great example to illustrate the impact of these awards. Visit Camille's website for more info.
Min Chen, Ph.D.
Accounting Professors Min Chen and Lena Yang will be working with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, including recruiting and training of LFCoB student volunteers who will be tax preparers during the tax season, communicating and working with the IRS to support our student volunteers licensed through IRS exams, working with CPA review firms to secure free studying materials for the volunteers, supervising five managers and 50 tax preparers, and communicating with clients if there is any dissatisfaction.
John Logan, Ph.D.
Labor and Employment Studies Program Director and Professor John Logan's project is about investing in our students through Inside Organizing and the Revival of Worker Voice at US Corporations workshop where they play a leading role in building the first unions at Starbucks and Trader Joe’s. According to John Logan, this is the first time these corporations have had any independent worker voice. Since these companies are household names and because people have a very direct relationship with them, union organizing campaigns at Starbucks and Trader Joe’s attract enormous news media and social media attention, and this is how they inspire young workers to try to organize their own workplaces.
Julia Miyaoka, Ph.D.
Decision Sciences Professor Julia Miyaoka's project is about bringing real-world math applications in business to incoming high school freshmen participating in the four-week Summer Bridge Academy at Mountain View/Los Altos High School District. These incoming freshmen have been identified in middle school as having struggled in math. About 80% of the students are Latinx, and about 50% are from low-income families. In addition to helping students increase numeracy skills, these activities will allow students to see the value of math and how it is applied to solve business problems.
Theresa Roeder, Ph.D.
Decision Sciences Professor Theresa Rhoeder serves as a volunteer faculty at, and board chair of, Mount Tamalpais College (MTC), which offers students at San Quentin State Prison an in-person, accredited associate’s degree. In collaboration with CPaGE, they will be offering a pilot program to give students SF State classes inside prison. Students would have the opportunity to earn credits from a well-known university, credits that would easily transfer. Students not directly participating in the program will also be influenced as they will see their peers’ participation and may realize that they are also capable of doing this type of work. Working with under-served students, like those currently incarcerated, is strongly within the social justice mission of the university and college.
Lihua Wang, Ph.D.
International Business Professor Lihua Wang's project, through generating more engagement with Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT), aims to strengthen the partnership with local communities and business leaders, enhance the brand of LFCoB, and involve more senior and graduate students in international business-related learning, networking, voluntary and employment opportunities. OWIT is a global association with a focus on adding value for corporate, mid-sized, and small businesses and individual members around the world. Chapters like OWIT-NC are governed and operated at the local level, hosting programs and events that enable members to learn, network and forge professional relationships in their business communities.
Lena Yang, Ph.D.
Accounting Professors Min Chen and Lena Yang will be working with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, including recruiting and training of LFCoB student volunteers who will be tax preparers during the tax season, communicating and working with the IRS to support our student volunteers licensed through IRS exams, working with CPA review firms to secure free studying materials for the volunteers, supervising five managers and 50 tax preparers, and communicating with clients if there is any dissatisfaction.