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The University of Colorado Boulder School of Education has selected two initial projects to launch the new Dean’s Public Scholarship Fund, an initiative designed to strengthen public‑facing scholarship and deepen the school’s impact in communities across Colorado and beyond.

Established by Dean Amanda Haertling Thein, the initiative helps faculty and staff build skills essential for public engagement, from grant writing to media communications to community-partnership development. Awards range from $1,000 to $5,000. Thein announced the new initiative this spring semester to advance the school’s mission striving to center democracy, diversity, equity and justice in educational research and practice and support faculty and staff.

The fund offers four categories of support: incentives to develop and submit grant proposals; media training and guidance for pitching stories to major education media outlets; financial assistance to attend external professional development opportunities; and seed funding to initiate or sustain community partnerships. ��

“School of Education faculty are very successful in competitive campus research and public scholarship opportunities through the Research and Innovation Office and the Offices for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship,” said Joe Polman, associate dean for research. ��

“Dean Thein’s new initiative aims to build on that success by deepening the communication, grant writing and partnership capacity across our School."

��In April, two projects and faculty were granted inaugural support:

Evolution: Shifting How We Think about Learning����

Awardee: Erin Furtak, professor of STEM education

Category 3: External Professional Development Award����

Furtak will participate in a summer nonfiction writing workshop to advance a public‑facing essay that uses biological evolution as a metaphor for how ideas about learning have changed over time. Drawing on her expertise in science education research, Furtak aims to translate dense theories of learning into accessible writing for parents, families and the broader public. Furtak will submit the essay to a public-facing outlet that publishes narrative nonfiction. Her project directly supports the school’s mission by bridging scholarly knowledge and public discourse to influence how society understands learning.

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Supporting Food Security in Qikiqtaaluq, Nunavut

Awardee: Vandna Sinha, associate research professor in learning sciences and human development ��

Category 4: Initiate or Sustain a Community Partnership

Sinha will use the award to produce a public‑facing accessible final report on a major community‑engaged study examining food insecurity in the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut, Canada’s only Indigenous territory. Food insecurity is a major challenge to efforts to fully realize Indigenous self-determination in the region, where eight out of ten Inuit children experience food insecurity. Conducted in full partnership with Inuit organizations and funded by the regional Inuit governance body, the project documents the implementation and abrupt discontinuation of a universal food security program. The funding will support graphic design and the purchase of photographs and artwork from Inuit artists. Sinha and her partners hope the report will inform future policy efforts that ensure access to food with dignity and serve as a community and research resource. By centering Indigenous voices and addressing the deep connections between food security and equity, the project embodies the school’s commitment to justice‑oriented, community‑rooted scholarship.

“The inaugural awardees and their thoughtful projects reflect the breadth and ambition of the public scholarship initiative,” Thein said. ��

“We look forward to learning alongside of Vandna and Erin and hope others will consider joining them in thinking creatively about their scholarship and the additional skills and supports they are interested in developing.”

Dean’s Public Scholarship Fund applications are reviewed monthly by a committee that includes Dean Thein, Associate Dean for Research Polman, Jenna Abrams, executive assistant to the dean, and Michelle Renee Valladares, associate director of National Education Policy Center and faculty affiliate. ��

Dean Thein and the award committee hope that the initiative will inspire more faculty and staff to engage in public scholarship and reinforce the school and university’s commitment to serving the public good.

If you are interested in donating to the fund, contact Assistant Dean for Advancement Micah Abrams. ��
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