2012-2013 Jeffrey Brace Book Awards
The Jeffrey Brace Book Award provides $500 awards to be used for books and supplies by students who exemplify academic excellence and an active commitment to achieving social and economic justice. The award is named in honor of Jeffrey Brace, an early 19th-century black Vermonter, former slave and activist. To be eligible, students must be current first, second, or third year students at UVM who will be enrolled full time in fall '12 at UVM.
Awards will be made based on academic excellence and demonstrated involvement in issues related to economic and/or social justice consistent with UA's values.
To apply for this award, interested students should send an unofficial copy of their academic transcript, a two-page (singlespaced) statement outlining their interest and involvement in advancing the goals of economic and/or social justice, and the names of two faculty or staff members familiar with the student's interest in issues related to economic and/or social justice. Please send both email and hard copies of application materials to:
Professor Denise Youngblood
Chair, UA Scholarship Awards Committee
History Department
442 Main Street
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
with any questions.
The deadline for the Brace award is April 15, 2012. Award winners will be selected by a committee appointed by the Executive Council of United Academics and will be announced by mid-May.
Brace Award Winners for 2011-2012
Five students at the University of Vermont have been awarded a scholarship by United Academics (AAUP/AFT) for demonstrating their dedication to social and economic justice. Each year the faculty union at the university provides $500 to be used for books and supplies by students who exemplify not only academic excellence but also an active commitment to achieving justice. The scholarship is named in honor of Jeffrey Brace, a Black American who lived and farmed in Vermont from the late 1700s until his death in 1827.
The United Academics Jeffrey Brace Book Award for 2011-2012 goes to Jeanelle Achee, a Nursing major from Rochester, VT; Amy Goodnough, a Linguistics major from Plymouth, NH; Rachel Schneider, a Social Work major from Fair Haven, VT; Nisha Lata Shanmugaraj, an English major from Groton, MA; and Cayla Tepper, an Environmental Studies major from Newton, MA. This is the eighth year the scholarship has been awarded.
“United Academics is honored to present the Jeffrey Brace Award to these five deserving student activists, who have taken their commitment to social justice well beyond the UVM campus,” said Kathy Fox, Sociology Professor and Vice President of the faculty union.
For junior Jeanelle Achee, helping others through awareness and activism began before she arrived at UVM. After spending two weeks with students from Iraq through the Iraqi Youth Leadership Program hosted at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, she worked with other participants to create the Vermont Student Summit on Peace Building in Iraq. While at UVM, she volunteers every week as a trained crisis worker on a hotline for women who have experienced sexual violence.
Senior Amy Goodnough was a founding member of the UVM chapter of Active Minds, a nationwide nonprofit working to educate students about mental health and reduce the stigma of mental illness on campus. As co-president, she facilitated volunteer work with the Vermont chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to bring attention to the 1,100 college students who die by suicide each year. Other activities include volunteering at the student-run Translating Identifies Conference and working at the Writing Center tutoring students facing a range of challenges.
Improving the lives of at-risk teens has motivated Rachel Schneider, a senior, to establish community-based programming for rural youth in her hometown of Fair Haven both throughout the school year and during the summer. She has also developed programming and supervised youth centers in Burlington and Rutland that provide adolescents with mentoring and educational support. And she has helped refugee students in an English language learners’ classroom at H.O. Wheeler Elementary School in Burlington.
Nisha Lata Shanmugaraj, a senior, became committed to service after spending a spring break in the Dominican Republic, living in a migrant community of indigent Haitian and Dominican workers and helping to build a house for a family there. As a tutor at the Writing Center on campus, she has taught a class helping English language learners gain proficiency and confidence in their speaking skills.
In addition to chairing the Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Environmental Ethics at UVM, senior Cayla Tepper is leading an effort to create a support system at UVM for students who feel disenfranchised by their socioeconomic class status. Her goal is to alleviate some of the stress and isolation these students may be experiencing. She is also active in community service activities off campus, such as Food Not Bombs in Burlington, and at home, such as Charles River Clean-up days.
“We hope this award will continue to encourage students to take action on key issues in social justice, inspired by the example set by Jeffrey Brace,” said Fox, one of four United Academics judges for this year’s awards. Also on the award selection committee were Professors Alice Fothergill and Beth Mintz, both of Sociology, and Trina Magi, UVM Libraries.
UVM students and social justice: In the tradition of Jeffrey Brace
Born in West Africa, Jeffrey Brace was captured in 1758 by slave traders and eventually sold as a slave in Connecticut. Brace enlisted in the Revolutionary Army in 1777 and fought for American liberty for five years before being honorably discharged and, only then, freed from slavery. Following the war, like many veterans, Brace and his wife moved to the new State of Vermont to take up farming. Virulent racism drove him and his family from their first homestead in Poultney to St. Albans where Brace established a new farm. Brace's struggles for personal and social justice are detailed in one of the earliest biographies of a Black American still in existence. The Special Collections of the University of Vermont contains one of the few copies of this important and rare book, The Blind African Slave.
Jeffrey Brace did not seek out struggles for social justice but neither did he fear them. Although stolen from Africa, he fought for national independence. Although a veteran, a farmer, and a Vermonter, Brace had to continually fight for his rights as a citizen in the country he had helped create. He fought this fight in words, using the courts and the press.
“In memory of this important early Vermonter, United Academics hopes to promote the pursuit of social justice and academic excellence by UVM students, exemplified this year by Jeanelle Achee, Amy Goodnough, Rachel Schneider, Nisha Lata Shanmugaraj, and Cayla Tepper,” Fox said.
Last updated March 21, 2012