Ava Chuppe
Staff Writer
[email protected]

An Indianapolis-based private philanthropic organization awarded a doctoral graduate student with a Teacher Creativity Fellowship.

Jaron Mann, the recipient, is a student in the Doctorate of Arts in English Pedagogy and Technology program.

Mann said the grant has always been on her radar, but she said she never felt she had the time to commit to the application process. 

However, that changed when she was tasked with applying for two grants through Associate English Professor Danielle Nielsen’s course in proposal and grant writing.

“The grant has always been a goal of mine, but it takes a fair amount of research and planning,” Mann said. “The last few years of teaching have been difficult and complicated … so the timing perfectly aligned.”

The organization, the Lilly Endowment, was established in 1937. According to its website, the Endowment intends to help educators “renew their commitment to teaching.”

The Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program was added in 1987 to support Indiana’s K-12 educators working in public and private schools.

Each Fellow receives up to $12,000 for personally and professionally meaningful activities. The grant is given to educators from various backgrounds, including public, private and charter schools in urban, suburban and rural areas of the state.

In her class, Nielsen provided students with texts outlining the appropriate language for grant writing. Students also used the texts as a guide to analyze grants other people had written. Then, students worked through the topic proposal process. 

After Nielsen approved Mann’s topic proposal, Mann applied for the grant.

“Dr. Nielsen was very helpful in offering feedback that ensured we were meeting the genre expectations,” Mann said.

For their final project, each student was asked to research and apply for a formal grant. Students  wrote reflections on their experiences that tied to class discussions about grant writing.

Some students chose to work with nonprofit organizations or with their school districts. Other students, like Mann, chose to apply for grants or write proposals for projects they were working on for their professional development. 

Currently, Mann works as the instructional coach at the Fort Wayne Virtual Academy in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She said she aims to serve as a dual credit liaison between secondary and postsecondary institutions so she can spread her passion for reading.

“I love introducing students to canonical texts that may seem old or outdated and helping them to understand why these seemingly outdated texts are still relevant,” Mann said. 

With the funding from the Lilly Endowment, Mann will travel to England to explore and research artifacts influential to canonical, or religiously sacred, British literature.

She will visit several points of interest, including the Canterbury Cathedral, as portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” and the British Library, which houses a 10th century manuscript of “Beowulf.”

Nielsen said Mann’s travels will enrich her teaching career.

“Grant and proposal writing is an imminently practical skill for professionals, especially those in education, and I’m always excited to work with our doctoral students on their projects in this class,” Nielsen said. “Jaron’s award will provide her with an excellent opportunity to engage with historical and cultural landmarks that matter to her classroom practices.”

To learn more about the Doctorate of Arts in English Pedagogy and Technology program, email Program Director Kevin Binfield at [email protected] or visit murraystate.edu/graduate and click on the “Graduate Programs” tab.