TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of the Graduate Student in Inclusive Undergraduate Research Experiences
AU - Franz, Hannah
AU - Hudley, Anne Charity
AU - King, Rachael Scarborough
AU - Calhoun, Kendra
AU - Miles-Hercules, Deandre
AU - Muwwakkil, Jamaal
AU - Edwards, Jeremy
AU - Duffie, Cecily A.
AU - Knox, Danielle
AU - Lawton, Bishop
AU - Merritt, John Henry
N1 - We would like to thank our colleagues Mary Bucholtz, Cheryl Dickter, Carol Genetti, Monica Griffin, and Christine Mallinson. We would also like to thank all of our former undergraduate research students at William and Mary and at UC Santa Barbara and Charity Hudley’s coprincipal investigators on the NSF AGEP proposal from UC Santa Barbara, UC Merced, California State University Channel Islands, and California State Fresno. This work was supported by the following grants: • National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site: Talking College: Increasing African-American English Speakers in the Linguistic Sciences through Research on Language and Social Mobility. Grant 1757654.
We took this model, and with others—including linguists Carol Genetti and Carlos Nash—Charity Hudley applied for an National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant. The grant has a focus on preparing underrepresented students to teach at non-R1 universities and to teach students at R1 universities to engage in high impact practices that are more prevalent at teaching-focused universities. Participation in PhD programs is increasing for underrepresented minority (URM) students, but these students are not making the transition to the professoriate at the same rate as non-URM students (Gibbs et al. 2016; Li and Koedel 2017). Career choices for some URM students are motivated by issues of social justice and a desire to give back to their communities (Puritty et al. 2017; Allen et al. 2015). These students also may prefer to stay near their extended families (Gardner 2013). Given these motivations and preferences, one possibly appealing pathway to the professoriate may be to work at local MSIs, such as campuses in the California State University (CSU) system for Californian students. Our focus on pedagogical training to prepare students to teach at a broad range of institutions is based on three potential barriers to participation in the professoriate that have been identified in previous research. One often cited barrier is that many underrepresented students are motivated by communal goals (Allen et al. 2015; Puritty et al. 2017). In contrast, research done in relative isolation is not perceived as affording communal goals. For example, the role of the professor, especially at research-intensive institutions, is often seen as isolated and focused on self-achievement (Puritty et al. 2017). Teaching at an MSI offers underrepresented graduate students an opportunity to enter the professoriate while also achieving their goals to give back to their communities. Our model also gives UC students more exposure to high-impact practices, which are a key feature of learning for all students but particularly for underrepresented students.
Ballitore Project, funded by the UC-HBCU Initiative. UCSB English PhD student Maria Sintura served as the graduate project assistant, while Howard MA student Cecily Duffie was one of five student interns from that HBCU. Working with the UCSB Library Special Research Collections Ballitore Collection, an archive of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Irish Quaker correspondence and journals, the students learned skills and techniques at UCSB that they can apply in the archives of Howard. Our most successful ventures in the Ballitore collection came from the application of scholastic and experiential techniques from Howard—using approaches toward Blackness, whiteness, gender, religion, and class that students had previously encountered in coursework at their HBCU. The bridge between these two experiences was Sintura, who previously held a position as an instructor at Howard. It was a boon to have a Person of Color familiar with both UCSB and Howard who could direct students’ energies and facilitate communication most effectively.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - The authors present a lab‐based research model that engages graduate students in undergraduate research mentorship positions that are mutually beneficial for graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty. They show how this model can be scaled up and adapted across the range of English disciplines. The authors share examples of the different types of research that they have engaged in for linguistics, literary archival studies, creative writing, and writing pedagogy. These examples illustrate how undergraduate research mentorship can prepare graduate students to teach and mentor students using effective methods in various institutional contexts.
AB - The authors present a lab‐based research model that engages graduate students in undergraduate research mentorship positions that are mutually beneficial for graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty. They show how this model can be scaled up and adapted across the range of English disciplines. The authors share examples of the different types of research that they have engaged in for linguistics, literary archival studies, creative writing, and writing pedagogy. These examples illustrate how undergraduate research mentorship can prepare graduate students to teach and mentor students using effective methods in various institutional contexts.
KW - graduate student development
KW - institutional change
KW - minority-serving institutions
KW - undergraduate research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123018858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123018858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1215/15314200-9385522
DO - 10.1215/15314200-9385522
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123018858
SN - 1531-4200
VL - 22
SP - 121
EP - 141
JO - Pedagogy
JF - Pedagogy
IS - 1
ER -