2022–2023 Justice Research Fellowship Nominees and ALS-RTC Faculty. Front Row: Prof. Lindsay Vaughan J.D., Terriann Booker, Isabella Angott; Back Row: Professor Brandon Vick, Professor Rob Orth, Angelique Alcantara, Benjamin Swanson, Antonio Gamble, Owen Zablocki
Two students, Angelique Alcantara (Department of Economics) and Owen Zablocki (Department of Sociology), have been selected from a pool of exemplary nominees to be the inaugural Justice Research Fellows at the IUP Administration and Leadership Studies Research and Training Center.
Alcantara and Zablocki are juniors nominated along with a cohort of other Sociology and Economics students by department faculty and recognized for their superlative academic talent.
The Justice Research Fellowship will allow Alcantara and Zablocki to participate in real-life, practical mini-research projects with IUP faculty during the winter and spring 2023 terms. They will be immersed in the activities of IUP ALS-RTC faculty currently positioned at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency in Harrisburg. Justice Research Fellows will also be funded to travel to attend training and experiential learning opportunities.
The Justice Research Fellowship program is supported through a Council of Chairs and Office of the President Strategic Plan Grant.
ALS-RTC Director Christian Vaccaro said that the experience would have multiple beneficiaries. “Not only will it provide research experience to serve the public good, but it also develops a talent pipeline of our best and brightest from IUP to Pennsylvania State public agencies. Everyone wins in that equation.” Professor Orth, principal investigator for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency at the ALS-RTC, said of the student nominees that interviewed for the Fellowship, “all showed a clear passion to learn, assist, and someday be a change agent in the system. I wish we had the resources and time to extend the opportunity to all nominees.”
Superlative nominees interviewed for the Justice Research Fellowship also included Isabella Angott, Terriann Booker, Antonio Gamble, and Benjamin Swanson.
In future semesters, the Administration and Leadership Studies Research and Training Center hopes to work with other departments across IUP to extend eligible majors for the Justice Research Fellowship and develop a standing “for credit” clinical opportunity that deepens the opportunity.
For more information, contact Christian Vaccaro at cvaccaro@iup.edu.