Jennifer McCoy, a Regents’ Professor in Georgia State’s Political Science Department, has been named a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
McCoy is one of 28 to receive the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, which is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Fellows will receive stipends of $200,000 each for research that seeks to understand how and why our society has become so polarized, and how we can strengthen the forces of cohesion to fortify our democracy.
The funding will support McCoy’s project titled “Mitigating Pernicious Polarization Through Innovative Civic Educational Interventions.” McCoy’s project aims to build student civic skills and dispositions to navigate the growing challenges of disinformation, distrust in government, divisive political rhetoric and social fragmentation. McCoy and co-investigator Michael Evans, a senior lecturer at GSU, will measure the impact of innovative civic education assignments given to over 16,000 students over two years.
“I am honored to be named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and to work with my colleague Mike Evans on this project,” McCoy said. “The next generations are critical to strengthening democratic health and resilience, but in today’s polarized environment it is easy for people to become cynical and alienated. We hope to encourage, instead, civic engagement and participation among young people through greater knowledge about government and enhanced civic values and skills.”
McCoy is an internationally known expert on political polarization and democratic backsliding, having published extensively on the causes and consequences of severe political polarization in democracies around the world, including the United States. She coined the term “pernicious political polarization” to describe the “us versus them” division of society into mutually distrustful political camps. McCoy published with an international group of experts two volumes of case studies and theoretical pieces diagnosing the dynamics of polarization among political parties, leaders and citizens, comparing the conditions leading to the rise of severe polarization, and examining its consequences for democracies. She is completing a book with Murat Somer on depolarizing politics.
Amy Steigerwalt, chair of the Department of Political Science, said McCoy deserves this recognition.
“We are thrilled that Dr. McCoy’s outstanding research, as well as her applied efforts to address widespread political polarization, are being recognized by the Carnegie Fellows program,” Steigerwalt said. “Dr. McCoy and Dr. Evans’ project will directly contribute to efforts to increase civic engagement and help decrease political distrust and pernicious political polarization. Dr. McCoy’s work has consistently focused on supporting democracy around the globe, and this award reflects her ongoing commitment and success in this endeavor.”
The Carnegie Corporation of New York hopes the study of political polarization in the United States will raise awareness in the philanthropic sector, guide public policy and help inform the foundation’s grantmaking in democracy, education, and international peace and security.
For more information on McCoy and her work, visit sites.gsu.edu/jmccoy/.
For more information on the Carnegie Corporation of New York, visit carnegie.org.
— Amanda Head, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations for the College of Arts and Sciences; originally published at the university News Hub here.