UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the sixth year, faculty and graduate students from across the College of the Liberal Arts will receive more than $30,000 in support from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s Research in Democracy Support Grant program to advance their work on topics related to democracy. 

Started in 2019, the grant program supports projects in the humanities and social sciences that broadly address one of the institute’s four research clusters: 

1. Democratic dissent, protest and deliberation
2. Political and social polarization; discord and division
3. Political participation, civic engagement and democratic responsiveness
4. Guardrails of democracy

Recipients for the 2024 grant cycle are:

• Anthony Albanese, sociology doctoral student, for "When the Leader Falls: Invincibility and Charisma as Interpreted by the Far Right"
• Ugan Choedup, postdoctoral teaching fellow of history, for "Colonial Genealogies of Tibetan Democracy in Exile"
• Elaine Hui, associate professor of labor and employment relations and Asian studies, for "“Impact of Chinese Multinational Corporations in the U.S. on Industrial Democracy”
• Kayla M. Kemp, sociology and criminology doctoral student, for "Segregation Academies as Potential Sources of Social Polarization"
• Jacob Lee, associate professor of history, for “The Laws of Nations: Legal Jurisdiction and the Struggle for Sovereignty in Indian Territory”
• Valerie Li, political science doctoral student, for "Drivers Of “Connective Actions: An Experimental Study of The Determinants of Protest Spillovers in Authoritarian Contexts"
• Tommaso M. Milani, George C. and Jane G. Greer Professor of Applied Linguistics, Jewish Studies, African Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, for "Political Polarization in Online Discourse about Israel/Palestine on U.S. College Campuses"
• Vineeta Yadav, associate professor of political science, and Bumba Mukherjee, professor of political science, for "Female Leaders, Conflict-Affected Rural Zones, and Civic Engagement: Evidence from Field Experiments"
• Muyun Zhou, comparative literature and Asian studies doctoral student, for “Circulatory Entanglement: An Interethnic Genealogy of the Baodiao Movement”

Grant applications were reviewed by Michael Berkman, director of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and professor of political science, and Xiaoye You, director of the Center for Democratic Deliberation and Liberal Arts Professor of English. 

The grant program is available to any faculty member or graduate student in the College of the Liberal Arts. The application process for the 2025 grant cycle will begin in January. Visit the McCourtney Institute for Democracy website for additional information.