The Creative Arts Across Disciplines initiative provides opportunities for students to work together on creative research projects.

2025: Faculty-Driven Projects
This summer, CAAD will support three faculty-proposed projects for summer creative research. Students will work one-on-one with faculty mentors as research assistants and collaborators.

Student Stipends: $4,800 for an eight-week project. Please note: this is a full-time program, and students may not hold other college positions during the session. If you have any questions, please contact Tom Pacio.

CAAD Summer 2025 Application—Due March 3, 2025, by 5 p.m.

2025 projects

Project Title: Memory Sites in Texas and More

Katherine Hite, Professor of Political Science

The CAAD Scholar will accompany me as a co-mentor and designer with the Celebrating the African Spirit youth summer intensive, working with us on Poughkeepsie’s so-called “hidden histories,” commemorative projects, and graphic design. In particular, the CAAD scholar will help Poughkeepsie High School students and recent graduates (ages 15–19) to research themes that they select—often serious current issues in our community whose origins can be traced back to structurally discriminatory, violent pasts and resistances. The students then work with one another and with us to produce “paper monuments,” visual representations with brief explanatory texts that are displayed on large posters. The participating summer program students will publicly present the posters on Saturday, August 2^nd, Celebrating the African Spirit’s 5^th Annual Frederick Douglass Day, as well as in other venues throughout the year.

See the 2025 Youth “Hidden Histories” Summer Program.

Specific Skills/Experience Required for the Project:

• People skills, including experience with both K-12 and older generations of folks.
• Comfortability and ease with a Black-led and centered, multiracial, multi-class, multi-generational community organization and priorities.
• Communications, technical, graphic, and social media skills.
• Artistic/design ability.
• Punctuality, self-discipline, and acute awareness of how the CAAD Scholar will be modeling engagement, participation, and general behavior for the high school student participants throughout the duration of the program.

Project Title: Visual Representation of the Long-Run Impact of the Measles Vaccine in Mexico

Alicia Atwood, Assistant Professor of Economics

Hybrid: In person/remote

This project will utilize historical data from Mexico to estimate the causal impact of the measles vaccine on adult outcomes. The student will then create visual representations of the data and their estimated results to communicate their findings to a broad audience. These visual representations will include maps, figures, and infographics. This is the ideal opportunity for a student to explore how data visualization can aid in communicating results. Experience with stats, econometrics coursework, and GIS experience is required. Anticipated activities might include cleaning the data on measles vaccinations and adult outcomes and linking data sources, describing the merged data in figures and tables, estimating causal models for the impact of measles vaccination, creating maps and other figures to visualize the data, and researching best practices for data communication. Throughout the summer the Economics Department hosts a weekly Brown Bag Seminar for summer students. They are each expected to present during the seminar on their project. This is done to foster community, provide support for each other, and gain insight and hands on experience in the full research process. Faculty participate in the seminar as well.If the student/mentor team gets to the point of producing causal estates this summer, the student(s) will be asked if they would like to be co-authors on the eventual paper that will result from this preliminary work. This could also mean presenting the work at a conference in the future.

Project Title: Children in War

Tracey Holland, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies

Hybrid

The summer project, Children in War, focuses on creating a traveling photography exhibit and a companion book (or catalog) that highlights the experiences of children in war. Using the photograph collection from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, this initiative aims to educate diverse audiences about the devastating impact of war on children, fostering empathy and understanding through compelling visual narratives. The project builds on work from the past four years in the LALS class (LALS271) I teach, where students curate a photography exhibit at the FLLAC. This summer, the focus will be on designing an exhibit featuring 12–15 carefully selected photographs, each accompanied by detailed texts exploring themes of children, human rights, and armed conflict. The summer project will also involve drafting a proposal to enable the exhibit to travel beyond Vassar to venues such as museums, libraries, and educational institutions. Finally the summer work entails creating a draft of a catalog to accompany the exhibit. This project embraces creative and experiential learning principles by intertwining the “making and doing” aspect of curating with the educational goals. The act of designing a photography exhibit and its accompanying materials is inherently creative, requiring hands-on engagement with theoretical concepts and empirical challenges, including the challenge of teaching about violence. By critically exploring themes of children, war, and photography through the curatorial process, this project turns theoretical inquiry into creative work. Qualifications: Professional experience, coursework and/or interest in visual art, design, photography. Adobe, or other software skills. I'd like to explore the possibility of making exhibition materials available to Spanish speaking audiences, so some knowledge of Spanish would be helpful.

With the assistance of a CAAD scholar, summer activities will focus on:

1. Image Selection and Research
   • Identify 12–15 photographs that align with the exhibit’s theme.
   • Research on each photograph, covering historical, cultural, and social contexts.
2. Exhibit Proposal Drafting:
   • Draft the exhibition rationale, addressing its significance and educational goals.
   • Develop logistical plans for transporting, preserving, and installing the photographs.
   • Identify potential venues and initiate discussions with curators and program directors about curatorial practices and exhibition spaces
3. Budget Planning:
   • Research and outline costs for insurance, transportation, and display logistics.
   • Develop a comprehensive budget to support grant applications.
4. Book/Catalog Development:
   • Draft a proposal for a companion catalog, including:
   • Concept summary and thematic overview.
   • Image selection rationale.
   • Proposed design concept, including layout and text elements.

By the end of the summer, the project will produce:

1. A finalized selection of photographs and accompanying texts for the exhibit.
2. A comprehensive proposal, including budget, for the traveling exhibit, ready for submission to potential host venues. Preliminary inquiries have been made with the Wallach Art Gallery, UNICEF Headquarters in New York City, and the Children’s Museum. Outreach efforts will expand to libraries, smaller galleries, and academic institutions to ensure a wide reach.
3. A draft of the book/catalog proposal, including sample images, layout concepts.

CAAD Summer 2025 Application—Due March 3, 2025, at 5 p.m.