UMD Faculty Receive IDEA Awards

Four faculty members received Institute on Diversity, Equity and Advocacy (IDEA) Multicultural Research Awards.

IDEA Awards are given for research that addresses issues related to the Institute’s mission “to transform the University by enhancing the visibility and advancing the productivity of an interdisciplinary group of faculty and community scholars whose expertise in equity, diversity, and underrepresented populations will lead to innovative scholarship and teaching that addresses urgent social issues.” 

Award recipients present their work as part of U of M’s Diversity through the Disciplines Symposia sponsored throughout the academic year.


Derek Jennings, assistant professor, Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences, for his research “Gimaajii Mino-Bimaadizimin Children’s Program”

Melissa Lewis, assistant professor, Biobehavioral Health & Population Sciences, School of Medicine, for her research “First-Year Medical Students Learning and Personal Growth following Indigenous Health Lectures

Jennifer Gomez Menjivar, assistant professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, College of Liberal Arts, for her research “Black in Print: Fictions, Discourses and the Politics of Seeing Blackness in Latin America”

Shannon Drysdale Walsh, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts, for her research “Engendering State Institutions: State Response to Violence against Women in Latin America”