SALEM — The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to Salem State University (SSU) for the creation of the Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium (DEFCon), a national network of public universities that serve underrepresented student populations.
These courses will prepare students to communicate with multiple audiences through digital exhibits, data visualization and digital archives.
The universities involved will work to develop programming in digital ethnic studies, which uses data visualization to highlight the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities.
DEFCon will be led by Roopika Risam, Ph.D., who serves as chair of secondary and higher education, a professor of English and higher education, faculty fellow for Digital Library Initiatives, and coordinator of the graduate certificate in digital studies at SSU.
Salem State University President John D. Keenan said Risam is widely recognized for her leadership in advancing racial equity and social justice through digital scholarship.
“We are extraordinarily grateful to the Mellon Foundation for its generous commitment, which reflects the core attributes that define a Salem State education: engagement, inclusion, and the importance of the liberal arts,” Keenan said. “This investment in digital ethnic studies allows Professor Risam to further the impact of her talent and vision, along with the expertise of her colleague at Salem State, Professor Keja Valens, and their partners across the country.”
Partner institutions include New Jersey City University (NJCU), Texas Southern University and California State University – Fullerton.
Risam said SSU is so grateful for the Mellon Foundation’s support, which comes at an opportune time.
“The way we understand our past, present, and future will be greatly influenced by who is doing the storytelling, and that increasingly comes down to who is prepared to use these digital tools effectively,” Risam said. “While many private universities have digital humanities courses, recent research shows that less than a quarter of public universities offer these opportunities despite high interest on campus. In a digital world, we are risking a deepening divide when it comes to the stories we hear and who is telling them.”
In addition to preparing underrepresented student populations to communicate through a variety of digital tools, digital ethnic studies programs are designed to turn public attention to issues such as anti-Black racism, settler colonialism, and xenophobia.
“Digital ethnic studies scholars can mobilize public engagement on these issues by collaborating with community partners, attracting minority students to humanities disciplines, and preparing students to combat injustice and steward the humanities beyond universities,” Risam said.
During the next three years, DEFCon’s national consortium will work to build digital ethnic studies programs, develop and share models for embedding digital ethnic studies programs into other universities, and regrant funds to 85 digital ethnic studies faculty members across the country.
Program Director of the Mellon Foundation’s Higher Learning area Phillip Brian Harper said they are honored to help SSU and its partners deepen equity in higher learning.
“DEFCon will elevate the scholarship and stories of historically underrepresented students through the innovative use of computational technologies, platforms, and new media,” Harper said.
Risam will be joined by co-principal investigators including Keja Valens, Ph.D., professor of English at Salem State University; Sonya Donaldson, Ph.D., professor of English at New Jersey City University; Toniesha Taylor, Ph.D., chair and professor of communication at Texas Southern University; and Jamila Moore Pewu, Ph.D., professor of digital humanities and new media at California State University – Fullerton.
Activities that coincide with DEFCon’s include convening the DEFCon Steering Committee, a virtual annual meeting, and virtual speaker series; establishing its governance and business model; facilitating a regranting program to support course and curriculum development at regional comprehensive universities that are not yet part of DEFCon; and providing subawards to the three collaborating universities to support the development of coursework, research fellowships for students, and professional development for faculty.
This grant is the second time that the Mellon Foundation has supported a digital humanities effort led by Risam.
Last year, the newly launched journal ”Reviews in Digital Humanities,” which Risam is piloting with fellow editor Jennifer Guiliano, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), received a $66,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to support its growth as the only publication dedicated to peer reviewing digital scholarship.
