A professional development grant to visit Brussels, Belgium, and Luxembourg was awarded to Dr. Donald Gregory of Reinhardt University. He will travel with European Union officials this May.
The grant is awarded annually through the University of Pittsburgh, to attend a six-day trip geared towards universities that do a lot of teaching without sufficient time or money. Grant recipients return to the states more informed, to better equip their students.
Provost John Miles thought Gregory would be an eligible candidate for a professional development grant. “I’ve been to Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany, taught classes on racial problems and social relations in Europe. My goal is to see how they deal with refugees, how they’ve integrated into the community, and how they deal with various social or environmental problems.”
Gregory has been a professor at Reinhardt since starting the sociology program in 1999. He grew up in a small town in Ohio, born into a working-class family. His mother couldn’t read or write, and his father never graduated from high school and society treated both unfairly. This led him to study sociology, saying, “It gave me insight and understanding on how people are viewed.” He double majored at Milligan University in sociology and anthropology, and obtained his Master of Divinity degree at Emory University.
After being approached about his eligibility, Gregory wrote a grant proposal and discussed why he wanted to go to Brussels and learn about the European Union, as well as what deliverables he would bring back.
This is an exciting and rewarding accomplishment for both Gregory and the University as a whole.
