The mission of the Penn Migration Initiative (PMI) is to advance and promote interdisciplinary scholarship, original research, and intellectual exchange among Penn faculty and students across disciplines and schools along with community stakeholders with an interest in immigration policy and immigrant communities. Of main focus is the relationship between United States immigration policy and the educational, developmental, and employment trajectories of immigrants and their children.
PMI will serve as 1) a place of convening for scholars, students, and policy working on issues of immigration and 2) a clearinghouse for rapid response, non-partisan research and usable knowledge relevant to scholars, policy makers and practitioners.
In keeping with these emphases, our major lines of inquiry consist of:
- Research that explores policies impacting the life experiences and trajectories of immigrants
- Research that focuses on the impacts of immigration enforcement on the everyday lives of immigrants and their families and communities
- Scholarship addressing the intersection of immigration policy, place, and community supports
- Research that seeks to understand the relationships between immigration policy, health care and adolescent and adult development
In carrying out and disseminating research relevant to policy and practice, the goals of PMI are:
- To understand the complex ways in which immigration policy impacts the everyday lives and future trajectories of immigrants and their children
- To create an action-based research agenda
- To inform multiple stakeholders (scholars, policy leaders, educators, community practitioners)
- To train the next generation of immigration experts
- To utilize an interdisciplinary approach in PMI’s work
We will actualize PMI goals through the following activities:
- Research brief series, distilling current and new research into short, accessible briefs aimed to identify policy and practice relevance
- Dissemination plan to bring PMI sponsored research studies to the widest possible audience of policymakers and stakeholders at the local, state, and national levels
- A yearly cohort of Fellows composed of advanced level doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars across disciplines and universities studying immigration issues related to the mission of PMI
- Ongoing seminar series open to the university and broader community, featuring renowned immigration experts
- Interdisciplinary research and training opportunities for undergraduate, MA, doctoral, and postdoctoral scholars across the university
- An interdisciplinary course on Immigration and Policy for graduate students and advanced undergraduates
