Advanced Research Collaborative
About Our Awards
The Advanced Research Collaborative (ARC) invites tenured and tenure-track scholars both within and outside of CUNY to apply for our Distinguished Scholar Awards. These scholars enter a stimulating interdisciplinary environment in which they conduct their own research, access the GC’s research centers and institutes, and collaborate with other leading scholars.
Broadly defined, the research areas are:
- Race, Migration, & Diversity
- Inequality
- Global Urbanism
- Collective Memory
Distinguished Awards fall into two categories:
Distinguished Visiting Scholars
For scholars who are not employed by the City University of New York. A Distinguished Visiting Scholar will receive an office, computer, and access to The Graduate Center’s academic infrastructure. Scholars can stay for one or two semesters, or for a shorter period. Depending on the duration of stay, travel costs to and from the fellowship can be reimbursed for the most economical fare only (up to maximum of $3,000) following the submission of the required documentation.
Distinguished CUNY Scholars
For tenured and tenure-track faculty at one of the campuses of the City University of New York, excluding central line faculty at the Graduate Center. A Distinguished CUNY Scholar will receive course buyouts up to a maximum of 3 course releases for one semester.
Click here to apply.
Our Events
ARC spring 2023 Seminar Schedule
Our Director

Philip Kasinitz
Director, Advanced Research Collaborative
Presidential Professor, Sociology, International Migration Studies, Africana Studies
+1 212-817-8787
pkasinitz@gc.cuny.edu
Upcoming Events
Recent News
Jul 21, 2022
Prominent Graduate Center Sociologists Recognized by ASA
The American Sociological Association honored Philip Kasinitz and Margaret Chin for their influential work in ethnography.
- GC Stories
- Faculty News
Jun 27, 2022
ARC Publication: Ricard Zapata-Barrero
Urban migration governance under the resilience lens: conceptual and empirical insights
Apr 6, 2022
Silvia Dapia Receives Inaugural Polish Studies Award for Book on Witold Gombrowicz
Her book examines the work and life of the Polish-born writer through a transnational lens.
- Faculty News
- GC Stories
Jun 22, 2021
‘POOR QUEER STUDIES’ BY PROFESSOR MATT BRIM EARNS WORKING-CLASS STUDIES ASSOCIATION AWARD
Poor Queer Studies describes how the field has been molded by wealthy, elitist institutions, leaving out students from working-class backgrounds and creating a set of ideas that is often irrelevant to them.
- Faculty News
Recent Books
All ARC Books
ARC Publication: A Story to Save Your Life
Communication and Culture in Migrants' Search for Asylum
Sarah C. Bishop
A young woman flees violence in Mexico and seeks protection in the United States—only to be trafficked as a domestic worker in the Bronx. A decorated immigration judge leaves his post when the policies he proudly upheld capsize in the wake of political turmoil. A Gambian translator who was granted asylum herself talks with other African women about how immigration officers expect victims of torture to behave. A border patrol officer begins to question the training that instructs him to treat the children he finds in the Arizona desert like criminals.
Through these and other powerful firsthand accounts, A Story to Save Your Life offers new insight into the harrowing realities of seeking protection in the United States. Sarah C. Bishop argues that cultural differences in communication shape every stage of the asylum process, playing a major but unexamined role. Migrants fleeing persecution must reconstruct the details of their lives so governmental authorities can determine whether their experiences justify protection. However, Bishop shows, many factors influence whether an applicant is perceived as credible, from the effects of trauma on the ability to recount an experience chronologically to culturally rooted nonverbal behaviors and displays of emotion. For asylum seekers, harnessing the power of autobiographical storytelling can mean the difference between life and death. A Story to Save Your Life emphasizes how memory, communication, and culture intertwine in migrants’ search for safety.
Published August 2022
Columbia University Press

ARC Publication: Mental Health Evaluations in Immigration Court
A Guide for Mental Health and Legal Professionals
Co-authors: Virginia Barber-Rioja, Sarah Vendzules
Every day, large numbers of immigrants undertake dangerous migration journeys only to face deportation or “removal” proceedings once they arrive in the U.S. Others who have been in the country for many years may face these proceedings as well, and either group may seek to gain lawful status by means of an application to USCIS, the benefits arm of the immigration system. Mental Health Evaluations in Immigration Court examines the growing role of mental health professionals in the immigration system as they conduct forensic mental health assessments that are used as psychological evidence for applications for deportation relief, write affidavits for the court about the course of treatment they have provided to immigrants, help prepare people emotionally to be deported, and provide support for immigrants in detention centers.
Many immigrants appear in immigration court—often without an attorney if they cannot afford one—as part of deportation proceedings. Mental health professionals can be deeply involved in these proceedings, from helping to buttress an immigrant’s plea for asylum to helping an immigration judge make decisions about hardship, competency or risks for violence. There are a whole host of psycho-legal and forensic issues that arise in immigration court and in other immigration applications that have not yet been fully addressed in the field. This book provides an overview of relevant issues likely to be addressed by mental health and legal professionals. Mental Health Evaluations in Immigration Court corrects a serious deficiency in the study of immigration law and mental health, offering suggestions for future scholarship and acting as a vital resource for mental health professionals, immigration lawyers, and judges.
Published August 2022
NYU Press

Not Eleven Languages
Translanguaging and South African Multilingualism in Concert
by Leketi Makalela
Dynamic language practices of African multilingual speakers have not been cogently described in a book-length publication. This book challenges assumptions that have led to 11 languages being assigned official language status in South Africa, and it makes a case for mutual inter-comprehensibility and fluid multilingual practices in post-Apartheid South Africa. Students, teachers, and scholars in sociolinguistics, multilingualism, translanguaging, and teacher education will find this book thought-provoking.
Makalela, University of the Witwatersrand, Languages, Literacies and Literatures Department, was a former ARC Scholar.
Published July 2022
Walter de Gruyter