Graduate School of Education , School of Arts & Sciences Four Penn doctoral students named 2020 Spencer Dissertation Fellows

Congratulations to the latest Penn graduate students to be recognized as Spencer Dissertation Fellows!

Four Penn doctoral students have been named 2020 Spencer Dissertation Fellows by the National Academy of Education.The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship supports individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, analysis, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world. This highly competitive program aims to identify the most talented researchers conducting dissertation research related to education at U.S. institutions. This year just 35 fellowships were awarded.

These scholars are researching an array of topics including young people in Guatemala fighting to remain in their communities, how education is valued in Indonesia, how work by individuals and families with disabilities changed the way disabilities are viewed in American society, and the role of schools in managing the movement, sound, and shape of children’s bodies.

Penn’s National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellows are:

• Chelsea Chamberlain, PhD candidate in History (SAS)
  Dissertation: “Receiving, Sorting, and Disposing of Children”: The Place of Human Defect in Progressive America

• Peter Francis Harvey, PhD candidate in Sociology (SAS)
  Dissertation: Shaking Hands and Standing Still: Lessons in Body Management from Two Elementary Schools

• Briana Nichols, joint PhD candidate in Literacy, Culture, and International Education (GSE) and Anthropology (SAS) 
  Dissertation: Waiting for Change: Indigenous Youth Striving for Non-Migration in Guatemala

• Jessica Peng, is a joint PhD candidate in Education, Culture, and Society (GSE) program and Anthropology (SAS) 
  Dissertation: Archipelagic “Potentials”: Infrastructures, Education, and Labor in Indonesia

Read more about these students and their research on the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellows webpage.