By Christina Mancebo, College of Arts and Sciences
The David G. Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities, the WSU Graduate School, and WSU Libraries have selected the 2025 Publicly Engaged Fellows cohort.
Created with funding from a National Endowment for the Humanities NextGen grant, the PEF program supports students through providing mindset and skills training necessary to work equitably with community partners and then offers those students opportunities to develop an independent, funded summer project of engaged scholarship.
This year’s cohort includes four graduate students, all from the College of Arts and Sciences: Keegan Baatz, Gavin Doyle, Calby Van Hollebeke, and Ashley Wells.
“The Center and its partners are thrilled to announce this year’s PEF cohort and their respective projects. The PEF program provides these unique opportunities as part of the cohort’s graduate experience that also benefits communities,” said Chris Dickey, director of The Center.
The program supports students by providing mindset and skills training necessary to work equitably with community partners, and offers opportunities to develop independent, funded summer projects of engaged scholarship.
Baatz, from the Department of Art, will be leading a summer workshop series to engage community members in analog photography and interactive image-making and artmaking in collaboration with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
“This photographic workshop series, ‘Slow Light’ will bring analog photography into community settings, offering hands-on workshops that invite participants to reflect on personal and shared landscapes. In partnership with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the series will foster intergenerational dialogue through pinhole photography, cyanotypes, and engagement with historical photographic works. As a Publicly Engaged Fellow, I’m excited to merge my studio practice with accessible, community-based art experiences, encouraging people to slow down, observe more closely, and connect through creative storytelling rooted in place,” said Baatz.
Doyle, from the Department of English, will be creating a working archive and special collection of UAW 4591 that chronicles the ongoing work of academic student employees at Washington State University.
“The tentative title of my project is Reigniting Labor in the Palouse: Recording the Voices, History, and ongoing struggle of UAW 4591. This project is a very personal endeavor given my immersion in the creation of the Academic Student Employees union. Now, serving on our executive board as a trustee, I want to take every opportunity I can to create a sustainable future for UAW 4591, and that includes a sustained past. In working with MASC, my project will set out to build the foundation for an ever-growing archive that’ll record not just the history of our union, but the stories and voices of our workers,” said Doyle.lan
Van Hollebeke, from the School of Music, will be leading Harvest Interludes, a community outreach event. This is a concert series in Eastern Washington to feature classical chamber music within rural communities.
“The idea for this project actually came about during a brainstorming session with my mom. I knew I wanted to do something that combined my passion for music with my connection to the Palouse, and thus the idea of playing chamber music for wheat harvest lunches was born. This project also provides the opportunity to give back to the communities and families who support WSU and the surrounding Palouse area,” said Van Hollebeke.
Wells, from the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race, will be designing and implementing a community-based project focused on bridging the gap between faith and mental health within the lives of Black women.
“As a scholar committed to bridging academic research with community care, I created Grace & Grounding to open space for honest and intergenerational conversations surrounding mental health, healing, and spirituality among Black women. This summer dialogue series — co-hosted with a Black church in New York City — will invite women to share stories, reflect on emotional wellness, and challenge the silences that often exist in faith spaces. The Publicly Engaged Fellowship allows me to turn my research into a living and breathing project. It is an honor to be a part of a cohort that values public scholarship,” said Wells.
See past PEF cohorts.