George and Ann RichardsCivil War Era Center

Colored Conventions
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2021 Catto-LeCount Fellows Program for Equity and Inclusion

2021 Catto-LeCount Fellows Program for Equity and Inclusion

The Richards Center hosted its annual Catto-LeCount Fellows Program for Equity and Inclusion March 25-27 over Zoom. Formerly known as the Emerging Scholars Undergraduate Mentoring Program, this initiative introduces talented undergraduate students from under-represented backgrounds to graduate education in history. Fourteen Fellows participated in this year’s virtual program. The Fellows represented a variety of institutions, from large universities Texas State and USC to Ivy League institutions Brown, Dartmouth, and Harvard. Fellows learned about the graduate application process, graduate student life, and the history profession. Fellows also learned about Penn State’s innovative dual-title degree programs in history and African American studies and history and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, the Latina/o Studies program, and the professional development opportunities offered by sister centers, like the Africana Research Center, the Center for Black Digital Research, and the Humanities Institute.   Three alumni of the Catto-LeCount Fellows Program, Richard Daily, Alexandria Herrera, and, most recently, Keon Burns, have been admitted to graduate study in history at Penn State, since the program’s inception. Daily is a doctoral candidate in history and African American studies, and Herrera is a doctoral candidate in history and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Burns will begin his graduate study in August 2021. The Fellows program is named in honor of Octavius V. Catto (1839-1871) and Caroline LeCount (1846-1923), who were scholars, educators, and civil rights leaders in Civil War era Philadelphia.

Daily, Herrera, Burns