HC Fellow Recognized for Community Focused Archive-Building
Syracuse native Caroline Charles keeps research ‘in the family’
Caroline Charles receives Graduate Dean's Award on March 5, 2025
Layers of support and recognition continue to develop for AY25 Humanities Center Dissertation Fellow, Caroline Charles (Ph.D. candidate - English). Earlier this month, Charles was one of just eight recipients of this year's Graduate Dean's Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work, competing with 60 nominees for this selective honor.
Charles' publicly engaged humanities project -- for which she also earned grant support from Humanities New York in AY2023-2024 -- is colloquially known as "Black Family Photography in Syracuse." As a founding member of the local "Turning the Lens Collective," Charles draws inspiration, in part, from the work of Thomas Allen Harris (Yale University), whose documentary filmmaking explores the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present. Since the project's launch in Fall 2023, Charles and collaborators have hosted numerous family photo workshops and story sharing activities throughout the community.
In a special gathering on March 5th, Graduate School Dean Peter Vanable welcomed this year's awardees, their advisors, peers, and supporters, acknowledging the impressive scope and potential of each scholar's research. Representing programs in English, media studies, social sciences, computer engineering, and others, each awardee offered a brief summary of their work as they received their certificates. Topics ranged from race and gender disparities in housing and wellness to innovative ideas for A.I.-enhanced wearable devices, and the development of biodegradable wound care materials for improved healing.
About the Graduate Dean’s Award
Two primary criteria are used to judge applicants: (1) the overall strength and impact of the applicant’s achievements in research or creative work as a graduate student at Syracuse University, and (2) the strength and impact of the applicant’s proposed presentation of research or a creative work.