by Sarah Dougher, Sonja Taylor
March 10th 2025
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I4J students gather around the Vanport Mosaic at the Delta Park/Vanport MAX Light Rail Station in Portland, Oregon.
Photo by Sonja Taylor.
The University Studies Program is proud to announce that professors Sarah Dougher and Sonja Taylor have been awarded a second Teagle Foundation grant in the amount of $150,000 over three years to support the Inquiry For Justice (I4J) program. This grant will be matched by Multnomah Education Service District’s TRIO. Building on the success of the first Teagle Knowledge for Freedom grant awarded in 2022, I4J funds a 2-week residential program at Portland State University, providing an onramp to our dual credit programs, Senior Inquiry and Oregon Inquiry.
I4J is designed to build confidence and familiarity with new concepts and skills for succeeding in high school and persisting in college. Each year we invite a cohort of 20 rising first-generation college students and students from populations historically excluded from higher education. The cohort remains connected over the course of the school year through monthly meetings, where they receive on-going social, intellectual, and college-going support, including community-engaged research and participation.
Our program combines textual reading and analysis through speaking and writing, together with hands-on learning focused on the history of Vanport and its legacy in our city.
Students in the program come from area high schools: Roosevelt, McDaniel, Helensview, Alliance, and Rosemary Anderson POIC. Since its first cohort in 2022, I4J has served eighty-eight students, with 90% BIPOC students.
The program also provides valuable leadership and teaching opportunities hiring up to eight PSU students a year. These mentors play a crucial role in supporting participants while developing their own relational and professional skills.
Applications for the 2025 program (July 13-25) will open in April.
This program produces excellent results. From our first cohort (2022), 18 students completed the course, nine are at Portland State, and all but one went on to higher education.
Please contact us if you would like more information: sed@pdx.edu.