Art education researchers from across the country are gathering this week at Penn State’s University Park campus, as universities nationwide grapple with federal funding challenges for research.
This year’s symposium marks the 10th anniversary of the Art Education Research Institute, and its first time meeting in Pennsylvania.
“The symposium is really about possibility during the current moment (and) in the future," said Kimberly Powell, an art researcher at Penn State and one of the event's organizers. "And in times like these, that kind of vision and dialogue that we can have together isn't optional. It's essential.”
This week’s sessions include discussions on artificial intelligence, Asian American civics and how to respond to current federal research funding challenges. The federal government has canceled or delayed dozens of research grants this year at Penn State alone.
Powell said she applied for grant funding earlier this year from the National Science Foundation.
“I had an experience where my NSF grant with two other people, who are actually in STEM fields, was delayed for quite a long time," Powell said. "It had the word 'equity' in the title.”
That research project would have integrated the arts into engineering education. The grant proposal, for about $840,000, was eventually denied. Powell said much of the money would have gone toward graduate assistants.
The Trump administration sent a letter Wednesday to nine major universities, including the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, to commit to the president’s political priorities in exchange for better access to federal funds.
