ALUMS JENNY FREMLIN, PHD, AND KRISTIN PALMER, EDD, RECEIVE DIANNE KIPNES SOCIAL INNOVATION AWARD

Two alums can now add the mantle of 2023 Dianne Kipnes Social Innovation Award to their repertoires and work. Jenny Fremlin, PhD (Media Psychology, ‘12), and Kristin Palmer, EdD (Education, '15), will advance their work in their respective fields in 2023-2025.

Dr. Fremlin’s project, “Enabling Women to Self-Advocate for Better Sexual Health Care,” gives special attention to women across diverse demographic groups with healthcare access challenges. Dr. Fremlin’s award will support her research for Glyciome LLC to analyze language and beliefs that negatively impact young women’s ability to seek provider education around genital diseases, such as those that causally link to genital cancers. It is expected that her research will result in the design of a prototype mobile e-health app that women can confidently use for self-care and to foster more productive, efficient healthcare, no matter their background or health literacy.

Dr. Palmer will use her award to partially fund her project,

“Providing Skills Training to Women Entrepreneurs in Africa’s Leading Ladies Community.” This partnership project with DeAfrica (Distance Education for Africa), Coursera, and the University of Virginia, will support mentors for African women enrollees in online business courses over a two-year period. Dr. Palmer’s work will include research to assess the impact of mentoring and online community-building efforts on networking and entrepreneurship learning outcomes.

The Dianne Kipnes Fund for Social Innovation was established in 2016 with an exceptional gift from Clinical Psychology alum Dianne Kipnes, PhD (’98). The Fund currently supports alumni projects that demonstrate innovation and collaboration for improving the lives of individuals, organizations, and/or communities.