The UWM Libraries are pleased to announce that the 2020 Morris Fromkin Memorial Research Grant and Lectureship has been awarded to a collaborative team of five UWM faculty–Julie Ellis (Nursing), Paru Shah (Political Science), Sandra Millon-Underwood (Nursing), Renee Walker (Public Health), and Lynne Woehrle (Sustainable Peacebuilding)–along with two community partners, Nicole Brookshire (Milwaukee County Office of African American Affairs) and Darryl Davidson (City of Milwaukee Health Department).
The title of their proposal is “Collaborative Team Science on Race, Equity and Health: Racism Is a Public Health Crisis.”
Recipients of a 2019 UWM Collaborative Team Grant, the scholars are working “to create a historical framework for understanding racism in Milwaukee, providing an overview of how the city and county has addressed racism and health over the last 50 years, and how these efforts can best be understood through the lens of nursing, public health, political science, and social justice.”
Their proposal notes that despite a number of programs and initiatives addressing race-based health disparities in Milwaukee, “the crisis persists.” As a “wicked problem”–or an exceedingly complex problem that resists an answer–solving it “requires holistic systems thinking, flexible and inter-sectoral approaches, informed debate, engaged stakeholders and longterm focus.”
The team will present their research this fall at the 2020 Morris Fromkin Memorial Lecture in the Golda Meir Library. Established by Morris Fromkin’s family, the lecture series, which is dedicated to social justice, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019 and is the longest running lecture series on campus.
This year’s Fromkin committee included Michael Doylen, Tracey Heatherington, Ryan Holifield, Jesse McLean, Margaret Noodin, and Max Yela.