We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Transformative Impact Scholar Award, a new initiative from NYU’s Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC) in collaboration with NYU’s Prison Education Program (PEP).
This initiative is rooted in a bold vision: to recognize and invest in scholars who are creating transformative change in and with communities—often through underrecognized and underfunded work. These individuals take initiative, pursue creative and community-centered solutions, and push the boundaries of traditional scholarship—not for accolades, but because they see possibilities where others see limits.
We are proud to name Dr. Mercy Agyepong, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Education in Steinhardt, as our inaugural Transformative Impact Scholar. Dr. Agyepong’s work exemplifies the purpose of this award. Born in Accra, GH, and raised in the Bronx, NY, her work draws from her lived experiences and deep commitment to justice, equity, and community-engaged research. Her work centers the voices of African immigrant students, asylum seekers, and Black youth, and interrogates how schools and social institutions reproduce racial and structural inequalities. Through ethnographic inquiry, narrative methods, and critical theory, Dr. Agyepong challenges dominant narratives and uplifts the educational and migratory experiences too often ignored in mainstream scholarship. Beyond the academy, she partners with grassroots organizations, volunteers in mutual aid efforts, and mentors first-generation students—demonstrating that transformative scholarship is not just about what we study, but how and for whom we do the work.
Unlike traditional grants, this award is designed as an unrestricted investment —a flexible form of support that allows recipients to pursue their vision. Inspired in part by the MacArthur Fellowship Program, commonly known as the “Genius grant”, this award is a recognition of the transformative impact the scholar has already made. Further, the award is a commitment to an individual’s originality, insight, and potential. It is a statement of belief in the power of bold, community-rooted scholarship and action to shift narratives, institutions, and futures.
Let’s celebrate the work happening at the intersections of research, equity, and community—and those leading the way.
I’m deeply honored to receive the Transformative Impact Scholar Award. This recognition affirms the power of community-rooted and community-inspired research and the importance of centering the voices of those most often marginalized. My work is grounded in the belief that scholarship should not only critique systems of inequality, but also imagine and help build more just and humane futures.
We are so proud to celebrate Professor Mercy Agyepong as NYU's first Transformative Impact Scholar—a recognition that honors her unwavering commitment to equity, access, and the transformative power of education. Her scholarship, teaching, and service embodies the core values of the NYU Prison Education Program: dismantling barriers, uplifting communities, and reimagining what’s possible when education is a right, not a privilege.
We are so honored to recognize Dr. Mercy Agyepong for her bold and boundary-pushing scholarship, teaching, and service that centers the voices of racialized young people, uplifts how they make sense of the world around them, and equips them with tools to navigate systems and pathways. Dr. Agyepong epitomizes IHDSC’s core mission to support and amplify innovative and equity-driven scholarly research and prioritize community engagement and collaboration in order to achieve social impact.
