Cal State LA emerita professor receives funding from CSU-ERFA Foundation for pro-democracy activism and advocacy research

Cal State LA Professor Emerita Connie Corley has received a 2025 grant from the California State University-Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association (CSU-ERFA) Foundation to support the "Resilience in Activism and Advocacy" research project.

The CSU-ERFA funding will enable Corley, who is a professor emerita of social work in the Rongxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services, to conduct and archive in-depth oral history interviews with a group of U.S. activists and advocates devoted to protecting democracy and voting rights.

The project will combine narrative accounts, archival research, and thematic analysis, supported by a student research assistant, to preserve first-person accounts of civic engagement across generations.

The research was inspired by a student assembly organized last fall by Cal State LA's Association of Student Social Workers, focused on California voting issues and civic participation.

Corley said, "Conversations with students following the event highlighted the impact of lived experiences in motivating civic engagement-particularly among younger voters, whose participation rates remain historically low."

Through interviews with leaders such as Lydia Camarillo, executive director of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and the William C. Velásquez Institute, as well as other regional and national advocates, the project will document first-person experiences of activism and advocacy.

According to Corley, by documenting these experiences, the project seeks to encourage civic engagement among younger people while strengthening resilience among activists and advocates across generations.

"This work focuses on the voices of those who have carried democracy forward and ensures their stories inform both scholarship and civic education," said Corley.

Findings will contribute to Corley's forthcoming book and digital project, Resilience for the Resistance (2026), and will be shared through peer-reviewed publications, a publicly accessible digital archive, and campus and community presentations.

Corley has published extensively on resilience, gerontology, intergenerational mentoring, and lifelong learning, and has led multiple externally funded research projects.

The CSU-ERFA Foundation grant provides a stipend to support student research assistance, reinforcing the foundation's commitment to faculty-student collaborative research that advances public good.

California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 22,000 students and has more than 260,000 distinguished alumni.