The chapter is excited to announce that two graduate students, Kathleen McCallops and Aly Blakeney, have received 2020 National Love of Learning Awards. Learn more about their projects below.

Kathleen McCallops, a fifth-year PhD student in the Human Development and Family Sciences program, was awarded a 2020 National Love of Learning Award to assist in her dissertation research. The purpose of her dissertation research is to examine and explore the intergenerational schooling experiences of street-identified Black girls and women in Wilmington, Delaware using a mixed methods participatory action research design. She will use funds from the award to purchase a statistical software package in order to analyze her data and to continue her involvement in professional associations in her field of study.

2017 publicity photo of Aly Englert, Center for Research in Education and Social Policy. – (Evan Krape / University of Delaware)

Aly Blakeney, a fourth-year student in the PhD in Economic Education program, was awarded a 2020 National Love of Learning Award to assist in her dissertation research.  She is studying the prevalence of “under-borrowing,” the behavior by which postsecondary students choose to fund their education through 20+ work hours a week at low-wage jobs over taking out federal student loans.  The award funding will be used to purchase a single-use license of a statistical software package to test her hypotheses with the expectation that research findings will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication