Thursday, May 6, 12 p.m. via Zoom

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Community engagement, at its core, is being responsive to the needs of our communities. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, our community of scholars and practitioners reconsidered approaches and practices of community engagement and research. Collectively we responded and reallocated resources to focus on COVID-19 responsiveness and supporting TU students who had lost employment. Since then, undergraduates have supported dozens of faculty research projects related to COVID-19 and community engagement.

Join TU leadership and the BTU team for a virtual forum that highlights lessons learned and celebrates successes of community-engaged research during the pandemic.

Welcome remarks

• Matthew Durington, director, community engagement and partnerships
• Kim Schatzel, president

Project presentations

COVID Messaging on Social Media
Faculty/staff lead: Sushma Kumble

With the onset of COVID-19 and WHO declaring it a pandemic, there has been a surge of information of various sorts from various sources. Many health and governmental organizations have been actively communicating about the pandemic and using social media to reach a wide set of audience. On the other hand, there have been several conspiracy theories and misinformation that have plagued the social network sites. These conspiracy theories, including information about the virus being invented in a laboratory by sequencing RNA’s or that this is a “Plandemic,” are disturbing as they hinder people’s ability to trust in science and adopt the behaviors advocated. This study examines Twitter conversations around conspiracy theories and uses social network analysis and content analysis to understand the virality of the conspiracy message and practical implications that health agencies can take to mitigate some of the negative effects.

Empowering Communities Project
Faculty/staff leads: Donn Worgs and Amina Sillah

Towson University's Empowering Community's Project (ECP), a BTU investment, helps minority-led community based and nonprofit organizations in Baltimore to build their capacity and increase their community impact. In response to COVID-19, with support from a student research assistant, ECP conducted a survey to understand the impact that the pandemic has had on area organizations. The outcomes of this research will help guide the work that ECP does with its current and future cohorts to better address these needs.

Hostile Terrain 94
Faculty/staff lead: Joyce Garczynski
Student researcher: Sydney Avelino

This community engagement exhibition, focused on undocumented migration and the violence of U.S. immigration policy, was supposed to be placed in Cook Library in fall 2020, but is delayed due to COVID-19. This project has involved hiring a student to research how TU could implement this exhibition in a virtual environment, which documents over 3,000 migrant deaths through the display of toe tags on a nine-foot map of the Mexican border. 
 

Facilitated conversation with project leaders

Closing Remarks

• Melanie Perrault, provost and executive vice president