The Ithaca Fund: Small Grants Deliver Big Ideas
 

Biology major Elizabeth Peterson '04 has been interested in studying monkeys since childhood. Now, thanks in part to a new program in the School of Humanities and Sciences, she is fulfilling her lifelong passion. Peterson became one of the first beneficiaries of the School of Humanities and Sciences' Ithaca Fund grant program. The dollars it provided allowed her to travel to Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea to study primates in their native habitat -- and led to a job offer doing similar research in Kenya. In a very real sense the new grant program helped her dreams come true.

	Studying an endangered species -- a red colobus monkey

Now concluding its inaugural season, the Ithaca Fund grant program provides support for students in the School of Humanities and Sciences to pursue a variety of research ventures. These can be course-related projects, independent initiatives, or collaborative efforts between students and faculty. "With typical grant amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000, the program offers funding for student-centered projects that might otherwise fall through the cracks," said David García, associate dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences.

"There are sources of research funding on campus that help pick up one piece or another, but our Ithaca Fund process fills a niche," he said. "We're using it to fund things that otherwise wouldn't happen -- projects that are close to our institutional mission but wouldn't necessarily attract attention without a dedicated program."

Indeed the humanities and sciences projects supported by the Ithaca Fund this past year are diverse. Along with Peterson's primate research the fund supported an art history class research trip to a local museum, a study in the psychology department to correlate media exposure with perceptions of body image, and an assessment of media literacy curriculum to be used by elementary school teachers in the Ithaca City School District.

"One of the most exciting things, and a real mark of the program's success, is the breadth of ideas we've come across," García said. "Half, maybe three-quarters of the projects, we could have anticipated. But the rest are things we would never have known about -- projects that perhaps wouldn't have happened without this program."

James Searl '04 had such a project. A politics major with a lifelong passion for music, Searl was to use an $800 Ithaca Fund grant to travel to Ghana and record West African drum music at one of that country's informal "street schools." Searl and fellow student Mark Weinberger '04 hope to use these street schools as venue for a grassroots cultural and educational exchange. Searl's trip laid the groundwork for an outreach program that may one day forge links between American students and people in that West African nation. Searl's interest in the project spun from coursework in his Initiatives in African Development class.

"There are a lot of cultural programs connecting the U.S. and Africa, but most of them are at an elite level; they don't reach average people," Searl said. "The best way to create awareness is through personal introduction, direct people-to-people exchange, creating relationships. We're hoping to create a path for students from the West to go there and work with real people on the ground."

The application process for Ithaca Fund grants is straightforward. Students complete a one-page application out- lining their project, the specific use of the funding, and the expected outcome. Applications are solicited twice annually. García and three faculty members constitute a committee that approves grants. "Most of the 20 to 30 applications received last year were approved," García said.

"We were very happy with the number of projects we funded and their quality," he said. "Our goal is to maintain funding for 20 to 25 projects per year."

Funding for the program comes from Ithaca College alumni and friends through the College's small-donation program. Those donations might be earmarked for the College, individual schools, departments, or specific programs within departments. Money donated for the School of Humanities and Sciences goes to the Ithaca Fund grant program.

Because the program relies on small, annual gifts rather than an endowment, its future is directly tied to the generosity of donors. "Their support is what makes this program possible," García said. HS