Jen Freed is a third-year doctoral student in Literacy Studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, where she studies intergenerational civic co-writing and teacher inquiry communities. Her research investigates how intergenerational partnerships and participatory action research methods shape civic literacy practices. A third-generation Philadelphian and longtime high school English teacher, she is committed to community-based research that centers learning with and from young people and community members.
Jen has collaborated extensively with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships’s Civic Engagement and Anti-Violence programs, supporting youth-driven activism in third spaces. As coordinator of the Youth Civic Engagement Research Project, a Write4Change team member, and a Philadelphia Writing Project teacher consultant, she co-facilitates intergenerational research and writing experiences with educators and youth to inquire into and address local challenges. Currently, she also supports efforts to establish an Office of Undergraduate Education at GSE, advising undergraduates in the Urban Education Minor, and working with the Assistant Dean to identify and strengthen collaborations between GSE and Penn undergraduate programs.
Drawn to the SNF Paideia Program out of a belief in the transformative potential of dialogue and collective inquiry, Jen hopes to explore how writing and conversation can help educators and students reimagine learning and civic life in precarious times. As a Graduate Fellow, she looks forward to investigating the “long-path” commitments (Wallach, 2022) that sustain teaching, learning, and community. In her Paideia role with the Undergraduate Fellows, she is excited to foster spaces through the Fellows Council, where shared leadership and listening can help sustain an intergenerational community of learners.