Campus News Georgia Impact

Five grants awarded to study poverty and economy in Georgia

The Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach has awarded five grants under the Poverty and the Economy Faculty Research Grants Program.

Sponsored by the University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc., the grants program provides seed funding to support and encourage applied research and creative scholarship related to poverty and the economy in Georgia.

“I am continually impressed with how UGA faculty are engaging in research of the causes and consequences of persistent poverty,” said Art Dunning, vice president for public service and outreach.

“The research that will result from [these] grants reflects collaboration across our academic and service units, builds upon UGA’s strong traditions of teaching, research and service, and has great potential for future extramural support,” he said. “Most importantly, the research funded through this year’s grants informs how we can more appropriately deal with persistent poverty here in Georgia.”

Grant amounts range from $15,000 to $26,000.

Grant recipients, their department and project title are:

• Santanu Chatterjee and David Mustard, Terry College of Business, department of economics, “Understanding Poverty and Inequality in the Developed World: A Study of Healthcare and Education in Georgia;”
• Angela Fertig, College of Public Health, department of health administration, biostatistics and epidemiology, and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, research and policy analysis division, and Doug Bachtel, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, department of housing and consumer economics, “Exposing Persistent Poor Health in Georgia;”
• John Greenman and Diane Murray, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, “Raising Awareness of Persistent Poverty through ­Journalism;”
• Jeffrey Jordan and Bulent Anil, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, department of agricultural and applied economics, and Velma Zahirovic-Herbert and Swarn Chatterjee, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, department of housing and consumer economics, “Why Do Dropouts Happen? Exploring Education, Homeownership and Poverty;” and
• Jolie Ziomek-Daigle, College of Education, department of counseling and human development services, “Georgia Graduation Coach Program: Impacting Poverty by Increasing School ­Completion.”