Communication Assistant Professor selected as the recipient of the University Neighborhood Partner Community Scholar in Residence award for 2013-2015

Assistant Professor Sonya M. Alemán was selected as the recipient of the University Neighborhood Partner Community Scholar in Residence award for 2013-2015. This is an award of $5,000 per year for two years to support her work to build the capacity of the University of Utah's only bilingual, alternative, ethnic student publication, Venceremos. Alemán's proposal was selected out of a pool of five very strong submissions because of its potential for innovation in the connections between University curriculum and community-based engagement, as well as for the way it forges a connection between her scholarship and teaching. Moreover, UNP recognizes the potential for this project to foster social justice-oriented journalism practices in the local community and in the academy. The committee was especially interested in what kinds of new links could be made between Venceremos and other community resources like the West View, high school journalism projects, etc. that would strengthen the partnership and contribute to its sustainability.

The fellowship will be used to:
1) Develop a teaching infrastructure that builds the capacity and sustainability of publications likeVenceremos. This might involve new modalities or strategies (on-line, community-based, new newsroom models, new student recruitment strategies);
2) Re-forge partnership ties between UNP and Venceremos. This might strengthen links with other UNP community partners in a way that builds bridges between issues and voices in both spaces; and
3) Catalyze research in the area of audience reception and perception of Venceremos, by surveying readers whether the social justice/activism component of the publication creates any measurable change in action or perception among it's audience.