WKU News

Professors Joel Turner (pictured left) and Timothy Rich (pirctured right) have been awarded Research & Creative Activities Program (RCAP) grants for the upcoming year. RCAP is an internal grant program administered by the Office of Research and Creative Activity to encourage eligible full-time faculty and instructors to develop individual projects leading to the pursuit of external funding sources and the promotion of research, scholarly, and creative activities.

Rich’s project, The Power of Framing: A Multi-Method Approach to Understanding Taiwanese Public Opinion, will analyze Taiwanese public opinion in four major areas: views on China, immigration, Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts, and gender and elections. His goal is to identify to what extent public opinion is shaped by how issues are framed to the public. He will have several undergraduate students as research assistants on this project, likely leading to publication opportunities for the students.

Turner’s proposal, The Political Implications of Southern Regional Identity, will allow for a thorough examination of the current state of Southern Politics. He notes, “The South has always been a very distinctive region, and this grant will allow me to investigate both the reasons for this distinctiveness and the impact this distinctiveness has both politically and culturally.” Turner is a frequent presenter at the Symposium on Southern Politics held every other year at The Citadel.

To date, RCAP funding has led to over 65 external grant awards, over 150 journal articles, over 800 posters, presentations, and creative works, and has supported nearly 700 students directly and indirectly in research, creative activities, and other scholarly pursuits.