Reshmi Singh is Recipient of UW Faculty Engagement Award

Reshmi Singh, a University of Wyoming social and administrative pharmacy associate professor, is among four recipients of the 2020-21 Faculty Engagement Fellowship awards from the Office of Engagement and Outreach (OEO).

Singh will receive the OEO-Center for Global Studies (CGS) International Faculty Engagement Fellowship. The two offices collaborate to build capacity for engaged scholarship/teaching/service and to coordinate with colleagues, who do work in international engagement and programming in and out of Wyoming.

The fellowship will enhance the work between CGS and OEO in engaged and service learning, scholarship and community outreach, says OEO Director Jean Garrison.

The other three UW recipients are Alyssa McElwain, a human development and family sciences program option assistant professor; Nga Nguyen, a Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering assistant professor; and Tiger Robison, a music education assistant professor.

The fellowship competition attracted proposals from a broad range of disciplines across UW, from people working in public engagement, engaged teaching, engaged scholarship and outreach focused on community impacts.

The awards are for faculty members working on projects during the 2020-21 academic year. Fellows receive a stipend of $10,000 and up to $2,000 to support outreach programs and travel expenses. Recipients will work with Garrison and members of the UW Engagement Council to develop their projects and organize at least one significant outreach program series both on and off campus. Projects focus on faculty development or enhancing engagement and outreach in their respective fields of study.

This is the second faculty engagement fellowship competition.

“This year, our new cohort of Engagement Fellows comes from a wide variety of backgrounds and presents new ideas and solutions to problems around the state and the world,” Garrison says. “We look forward to working with the new fellows and seeing their creative solutions for engagement during this time of uncertainty.”

She adds that the fellowships, along with UW’s Marvin Millgate Awards for faculty, staff, students and community partners, are the top awards given by OEO.

Singh’s project, titled “Engaged Scholarship to Develop International Cohort for Teaching and Research,” will create a cohort of UW faculty to work on plans for rural engagement in Asia, with a focus on India. The cohort will contribute expertise in international engagement and provide an opportunity for those at UW with an interest in engagement in this area of the world to be involved, Singh says.

Using a strength-based approach to inquire how faculty and other stakeholders view and experience success with international engagement, Singh hopes to uncover the interest of faculty in engagement on an international level, specifically in Asia. This approach will include focus groups and interviews to understand the current interest for international engagement and build capacity for future engagement.

“Dr. Singh’s work truly brings to life the idea of bringing the world to Wyoming,” Garrison says. “This project will help to bring together faculty and students from across campus who study and work in Asia. Dr. Singh also plans to work with these faculty and students to share the experiences of international students and our study-abroad students with groups around the state.”