Alfred State Assistant Professor honored for global perspective

Alfred State’s Dr. Angela Graves is honored to be one of only ten fellows announced by Chancellor John B. King, Jr. in the inaugural class for the Civic Education and Engagement and Civil Discourse Fellowship for the State University of New York (SUNY).

Graves, an ASC Assistant Professor of Global and Diversity Studies, was selected with nine other esteemed educators statewide to advance SUNY’s shared commitment to civic engagement as an essential outcome of higher education. The group will also work to promote civic discourse among students, faculty, and staff across campus communities.

“Civic engagement initiatives are often traditionally associated with the liberal arts, including my own discipline within the social sciences,” commented Graves. “However, I am incredibly excited about the work that Alfred State is doing to develop these initiatives across our broad range of degree programs, including vocational. Given the challenges facing us in higher education, framing our civic engagement efforts as an integral part of workforce readiness and democratic citizenship is essential.”

Originally from the Washington D.C. area, Graves moved to Eastern Europe after high school to study post-communist transition firsthand. After six years in the region, during which time she received a bachelor’s degree from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania and a master’s degree from Central European University in Hungary, she returned to the U.S. to complete a Ph.D. in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Graves teaches in Alfred State’s Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, with general education responsibilities on the Wellsville and Northland campuses as well. Her research focuses on citizenship, political culture, and the comparative study of democratic institutions. 

“SUNY is committed to being a place of inclusion and inquiry. SUNY’s colleges and universities have long been bastions of civic engagement and civil discourse where students learn to become better, more engaged citizens as part of the path to academic achievement,” said SUNY Chancellor King. "Each of the 10 fellows have extraordinary accomplishments and their collective experiences will help ensure SUNY continues to lead in promoting civic engagement across the system and inspiring generations of socially responsible SUNY graduates.”

The Fellows will:

• Foster the development of and facilitate a faculty/staff Community of Practice focused on civic education and engagement.
• Gather and amplify resources for faculty to use when developing content for SUNY’s new U.S. History and Civic Education and Engagement general education requirement.
• Develop and co-lead a learning convening in Fall 2024 to showcase SUNY activities, including highlighting intersections between civic education and engagement and other topics like sustainability.
• Help inform a civic education and engagement strategic plan while assisting in the identification of data needs and data gathering.
• Coordinate with campus Student Government representatives on civic education and engagement matters.

Graves will be joined in this fellowship by Angie Chung, Professor of Sociology, University at Albany, Babette Faehmel, Professor, Liberal Arts Division, SUNY Schenectady, Ashley Mercado-Liegi, Assistant Director of the Center for Civic Justice, Stony Brook University, Nirav Patel, Instructor of Environmental Science, Binghamton University, Laura Rao, Director of the Katherine Conway-Turner Office of Civic and Community Engagement, Buffalo State University, Joseph Scanlon, Associate Professor of Political Science, Monroe Community College, John Suarez, Director of the Institute for Civil Engagement, SUNY Cortland, Amy Werbel, Professor of Art History and Museum Professions, Fashion Institute of Technology, and Jean Yang, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.