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Release date: Jan. 12, 2004 Emory Announces 2004 Class of Kenneth Cole FellowsEmory University announces its third class for the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change, a comprehensive, 12-month program that combines teaching, research and community service to prepare Emory undergraduates to be the next generation of community builders. “The 2004 Kenneth Cole Fellows represent a select group of Emory students drawn from a wide variety of disciplines. Regardless of what career track students ultimately pursue, their year as a fellow gives them an important foundation for understanding the dynamics of urban communities and the role that public, private and nonprofit organizations play in addressing important public problems,” says Michael Rich, associate professor of political science and director of Emory’s Office of University-Community Partnerships. This year’s class includes 10 juniors and two sophomores from 11 different departments and programs, nine states and one country abroad. The Kenneth Cole Fellowship introduces some of Emory’s brightest students to the challenges and opportunities for strengthening communities in contemporary urban America. Through academic coursework, an intensive summer practicum, site visits, small group discussions and an annual leadership conference, Kenneth Cole fellows learn firsthand the role collaboration plays in resolving serious public problems. “We are extremely proud of what the 2003 class of fellows were able to accomplish, both in terms of their tangible contributions to the work of their community partners – the core of the program – and in terms of their own personal growth and development,” Rich says. “We believe the program has added significant value to their Emory education and are confident that this investment and their hard work will yield significant returns in the future as the Kenneth Cole fellows assume positions of leadership in their communities.” Working in teams for 10 weeks this past summer, the fellows: helped transform a fledgling radio station for and by African refugees into a strong nonprofit organization; continued to grow the Metro Atlanta Women of Color Initiative, which Kenneth Cole Fellows helped launch in 2002, to combat the rising incidence of HIV and AIDS among women of color; created new tools for Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood to preserve its affordable housing stock while improving the economic foundations of its residents; and turned 26 high school students, many of them new immigrants or refugees, into effective agents for positive community change in Clarkston. New this year is the Urban Documentary Film Program, a companion program run by the departments of art history and film studies at Emory. Through this project, a select group of Emory students will collaborate with the Kenneth Cole fellows in documenting this year’s summer projects. “Our hope is that this partnership will allow Emory students and their community partners to use film as a medium for informing and educating the public about a variety of urban issues affecting city neighborhoods and the greater Atlanta region,” Rich says. The second group of Kenneth Cole Fellows recently completed the program and will make brief presentations on their summer projects at this year’s Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum on “Many Faces In One Place: Building the Diverse Community,” to be held Jan. 28-29 at Emory. Emory launched the fellowship program, the first of its kind in the United States, in 2001 with a lead gift from the Kenneth Cole Foundation. Cole, chairman, CEO and creative director of Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. and a trustee of the Kenneth Cole Foundation has long used social-consciousness messages in marketing his products. He is a 1976 graduate of Emory and a university trustee. The Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum is an initiative of Emory’s Office of University-Community Partnerships. Visit the Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum Web site for full program details at http://oucp.emory.edu/Info/kennethcolefellow.html. The 2004 Kenneth Cole Fellows for Community Building and Social Change include: Carina Alberelli Allison Cohen Jenny Cooner Ansley Dillehay Tori Gordon Christian Idiodi Shijuade Kadree Judith Kaine Kathryn Roberts Melissa Roudi Alicia Sanchez Salim Vagh ### Note to editors: For more information on any of the individual fellows, contact Deb Hammacher at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu. Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For more than a decade Emory has been named one of the country’s top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, a comprehensive metropolitan health care system.
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