Two ESS Professors Selected as Periclean Faculty Leaders

Assistant Professors Anne Toomey, PhD, and Monica Palta, PhD, in the Department of Environmental Studies and Science, have been selected for the first cohort of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Periclean Faculty Leaders (PFLs) program in STEM and Social Sciences. This is the first time that Pace faculty in STEM and Social Science have participated in this program. The program was established last year to support scholars in incorporating civic engagement into their curriculum and empower students to tackle real-world problems.

Toomey and Palta will receive funding to coteach a course, expected to be offered this fall, that will bring students and community-based waterfront groups together through the implementation of civic science. “Civic science has great potential both as an empowering force for local communities and as a tool for public engagement and advocacy, as community-based groups gain the capacity to conduct research for the benefit of their own communities,” Toomey said. The PFLs program in STEM and Social Science is supported by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and The Eugene M. Lang Foundation.

Periclean Faculty Leaders are a community of scholars dedicated to incorporating civic engagement into the curriculum while empowering students to use their academic knowledge to tackle real-world problems. PFLs will collaborate with Project Pericles and their Periclean Program Director, faculty, administrators, students, and communities.