About the Event
Interested in learning about the foundation philanthropic landscape and hearing directly from representatives from foundations that support academic research and programs?
Dimitra Koutsantoni, senior director of university corporate and foundation relations, will lead a conversation with foundation leaders and faculty colleagues on foundations’ missions and funding priorities, decision-making processes, and ways they develop partnerships with higher education institutions and faculty. Faculty will also learn about Columbia's Office of Corporate & Foundation Relations and strategies for finding support for their research.
Panel:
Dimitra Koutsantoni, senior director of university corporate and foundation relations, Columbia University
Shawn Morehead, vice president for grants at New York Community Trust
Bruce Western, Bryce professor of sociology and social justice, Columbia University
About the Panelists:
Dimitra Koutsantoni
Dimitra works with Columbia University academic and administrative leaders and faculty to develop and deepen partnerships with foundations and corporations in support of university strategic initiatives, programs, and faculty research. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Research Administration at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where she led the administration and management of the Department of Pediatrics’ portfolio of grants and clinical trials. Dimitra has also held research administration and foundation relations positions in Columbia’s Sponsored Projects Administration and Business School. Before coming to Columbia in 2010, Dimitra headed up research development and knowledge transfer at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City University London. A social scientist by training, Dimitra holds a PhD in Sociolinguistics and has published a research monograph, peer reviewed journal articles, and higher education policy papers.
Shawn Morehead
Shawn oversees The New York Community Trust’s competitive grantmaking program, which distributes approximately $50 million annually. Prior to this position, she served as The Trust’s program director for Human Justice and Education grantmaking. She received her B.A. from Columbia University and her J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Bruce Western
Bruce Western is the Bryce Professor of Sociology and Social Justice and Director of the Justice Lab at Columbia University. He studies poverty and socioeconomic inequality with a focus on the U.S. criminal justice system. Current projects include a randomized experiment assessing the effects of criminal justice fines and fees on misdemeanor defendants in Oklahoma City, and a field study of solitary confinement in Pennsylvania state prisons. Western is also the Principal Investigator of the Square One Project that aims to re-imagine the public policy response to violence under conditions of poverty and racial inequality. He is the Co-Chair of a National Academy of Sciences panel on reducing racial inequality in the U.S. criminal justice system. He is the author of Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison (Russell Sage Foundation, 2018), and Punishment and Inequality in America (Russell Sage Foundation, 2006). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences.
Note: this event will take place via Zoom. The Zoom link will be distributed via email before the event.
