On May 14, the Waterloo Centre for German Studies (WCGS) announced the winners of its first-ever Diversity and Inclusion grants.
The goal of the grant program is to improve the accessibility of German studies in Canada by supporting projects revolving around diversity and inclusion. This year, a total of $12,000 was awarded.
The recipients and their respective projects are:
Maria Mayr, for Workshop: Anti-Racist Pedagogies in the Language Classroom
Angelica Fenner, for East Germans: (Re)Claiming Black Identities Through Cultural Activism
Elizabeth Nijdam, for Indigenizing the Canadian German Studies Curriculum
Michael Boehringer, for Dis/ability in German Culture
John Plews, for Canadian Summer School in Germany (CSSG) Content Diversification
The individual grants vary in values of up to $5,000. They may be awarded to any instructors, faculty, graduate students or programs at a Canadian university.
Since its official founding in 2004, one of the main interests of the WCGS has been to help bring German studies to a larger audience. A national grant program was one of the Centre’s more recent initiatives for this ongoing goal.
“It benefits us as a field as much as it benefits society in terms of just being more equitable,” said James Skidmore, director of the WCGS and German studies professor.
To be considered for a grant, applicants were required to submit a detailed outline of their project, a breakdown of the estimated budget and a timeline of the project’s duration. Proposals were assessed by a committee led by the director of the WCGS.
Expenses that the grants may cover include research materials, teaching assistance, training costs and/or publication costs.
The WCGS was founded to support research and provide education on the language, culture and civilization of German-speaking peoples. The institute also arranges cultural programming and events for the University of Waterloo and wider community and provides awards to those interested in studying in Germany.
The progress and results of the award winners’ projects will be shared with the public by the WCGS on their website as well as their Twitter account once available.
