During the Spring 2017 semester, Johnson C. Smith University and Davidson College students are conducting research on Charlotte’s West Side in a joint research course, The Sociology of Beatties Ford Road. During the semester, students will work in teams on JCSU’s campus to investigate pressing social issues in Charlotte’s under-resourced community. From education to family history, students will engage in data collection and capture oral histories, that will aim to tell the stories of the community.

One Davidson professor, Dr. Joseph Ewoodzie, and two Johnson C. Smith University professors, Ron Stodghill, and Tiffany Taylor collaborated to teach the class ensuring that research projects are methodologically sound, culturally relevant, and allow both groups to learn from one another in the classroom.

Tiffany Taylor

Ron Stodghill

Joseph Ewoodzie

Final presentations for the course will be held in Grimes Lounge at the end of the semeester and are open to the public.

The research will continue during a 6 week summer intensive. Students will get the opportunity to focus more in depth on their own research and expand their individual ideas. Students from Johnson C. Smith University can use the work that is produced from the summer to inform their student investigative paper, a requirement of the university, and potentially publish their work in peer-reviewed journals and present it at various academic conferences.