The Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity (SRD)

The Vice President’s Student Research in Diversity Grant 2023-2024 Awards                                 

The Role of Women Activists in Ghana’s Higher Education, 1948 to Present

By: Theresa Cann, Ph.D. Student 

Department of International and Transcultural Studies

This study presents the history of women’s activism in Ghana’s HE from 1948 to the present to answer the question, who are the women who participated in student activism, and what did women’s activism contribute to higher education transformation in Ghana from 1948 to the present? The objective of this study is to fill the lacuna in student activism discourse critical for policymaking in HE from a gender and global south perspective. It delineates the activism and agency of women in shaping Ghana’s HE to contribute to literature on student activism, which historically has been masculinized bequeathed through colonial vestiges and patriarchal Ghanaian cultural norms, and it describes the impact of women’s activism on Ghana’s HE and what their efforts translate into for women. The conceptual framework derives from Albach’s (1989) model of student activism and Critical Social Movement Studies. The coupling of these frameworks accounts for a more critical approach relevant for the study of activism by a population that is historically marginalized, women in this case. Theoretically, it is grounded in postcolonial feminism. This lens enables the study to construct and account for women’s activism in a patriarchal postcolonial educational system, such as Ghana’s. Designed as a qualitative life history study, it combines archival data and in-depth interviews with fifteen women from three public HEs and to highlight the importance of the women’s individual voices on their activism.

Jesters of Gender: An Archival Exploration of College Humor in the Early 20th Century

By: G Capone, Ph.D. Student

Department of Organization & Leadership

Jesters of gender is a conceptual paper that examines the impact of gendered societal norms on culture within Ivy League institutions of higher education in the twentieth century. This paper considers how humor contributes to the culture of gender in academia and socializes those within institutions to the spectrum of gender in subtle and not so subtle ways. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of white institutional presence, gender performativity, and critical race theory to illustrate gendered transgressions, this work contributes to understanding the ideologies embedded in organizational culture. Through an archival exploration of college humor magazines, such as Jester of Columbia, the satirical artifacts of institutions come to life to depict early assumptions about gender normativity.

What do Mothers Want: Investigating Perceptions of Developmental Intervention Helpfulness among Mothers Experiencing Low Income

By: Emma Hart, Ph.D. Student 

Department of Human Development

In the field of Developmental Psychology, much research has focused on understanding the impact of income on child development, and using this information to design child- and parent-directed interventions to prevent crucial income-related disparities in development. For theoretical and empirical reasons, the field is at a crucial impasse in refocusing this work using strengths-based theory towards structural, resource-focused interventions that may be efficacious in preventing disparities. As researchers engage in considerations around these shifts, the perspective of a critical informant is missing: mothers. This project aims to investigate what kinds of interventions mothers experiencing low income anticipate would be helpful in supporting children’s early development. Additionally, this project aims to understand whether various theoretically-motivated factors predict within-group variability in the kinds of interventions mothers anticipate would be most helpful.

Can Schools Teach Innovation? Experimental Evidence from India

By: Saloni Gupta, Ph.D. Student 

Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis

A randomized evaluation of a program called “Think and Make” (TM) is being conducted in India. TM works with eighth-grade students from marginalized communities in forty schools to develop innovation and collaboration skills. Students participating in the TM program work in teams to identify local community problems in the health, agriculture, environment, and education sectors, develop prototypes of their ideas and build potential solutions. Four methods were used to measure innovation skills in these children, including a novel measure of innovation developed with the help of real-world innovators. The other three methods involve - investors’ grants, user feedback, and a laboratory game for measuring innovation skills. Other higher-order skills, such as team skills, risk-taking, fluid intelligence, and Big 5 Personality traits were also measured. Using the state curriculum, two academic skills - Mathematics and Science were measured. All these skills are shown to be closely associated with innovation. The baseline results show that the students in treatment and comparison students have comparable skills, and these student groups are similar at the start of the program. The mid-line was completed in December 2022 and end-line was completed in February 2023. A final analysis is currently being conducted through the second year of the program.

Coping Flexibility, Potentially Traumatic Events, and Acculturative Stress among International Students

By: Minsheng (Simon) Li, M.A. Student

Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology

International students (IS) are an understudied and vulnerable population that is exposed to the challenges of adapting to a new culture (i.e., acculturative stress) and college life. Although IS are at a higher risk of developing stress-related psychopathology, such as depression and anxiety, few studies have focused on their college student adjustment and associated acculturative stress, as well as protective factors for psychopathology, such as emotional coping strategies. To understand how the bicultural context of the acculturation process may impact coping flexibility and psychological health, this study will employ Latent Growth Mixture Modeling to examine trajectories of psychological distress, and whether coping flexibility facilitates adaptation to a new culture. In addition, this study aims to develop a framework for elucidating potential psychological pathways linking acculturative and adjustment stressors to adverse mental health outcomes among IS. This study will also elucidate different patterns of psychological adjustment to college life and new culture among IS using a prospective design, identify risk and protective factors that predict healthy adjustment, examine the potential psychological mechanisms underlying the influence of the acculturative and adjustment stress, and inform potential prevention and intervention strategies for this understudied and vulnerable population.

Decolonizing Citizenship Through the Lived Experiences of Syrian Refugee Youth in Lebanon

By: Samaya Mansour, Ph.D. Student 

Department of International and Transcultural Studies

Emerging scholarship provides insight on how forced displacement and migration challenge traditional notions of citizenship, agency, and participation (Bradley et al., 2019). Along these lines, this study explores the ways in which Syrian refugee youth in Lebanon understand and experience their civic lives and roles in displacement contexts. Drawing on decolonial perspectives on citizenship (Isin, 2015), this research challenges the universal narrative of refugees as vulnerable, lacking agency and/or passive victims. Through a qualitative study, it sheds light on the ways in which uprooted youth navigate their social and political lives, further expanding normative frameworks on citizenship. It will contribute to reconstructing displacement not as a descriptive process, but as an active navigation process of refugees’ socio-political life.

Representations of East Asian Americans on Television beyond the 2000s: A Slow But Steady Movement towards Visibility and Inclusion

By: Larry Tund, Ed.D. Student

Department of Arts and Humanities 

The media has a profound impact on people and can create the illusion of reality. East Asian Americans are often significantly under-represented in American media culture. From model minority (Kawai, 2005; Deo et al., 2008) to perpetual foreigners (Chin et al., 2017), the portrayals are often one-dimensional and not authentic representation of their complexities. But in recent years, more television networks and independent production houses are filling the void/gap and have cast Asian actors and written stories about the Asian American experience. But there is still much work to be done. This research will consist of contextual analysis of selected television series beyond the 2000s and interviews of East Asian American media professionals. It seeks to reveal the trajectory of change in portrayals of East Asian Americans and hopes to offer educational implications for multicultural students’ development of social, cultural and media literacies.

The Vice President’s Student Research in Diversity Grant 2021-2022 Awards 

The Promise of Integrating Divergent Knowledge and Perspectives: A Study of Cross-functional Teaming of School Leadership Teams

By: Hyunjin Choi, Ph.D. Student

Education Leadership Program – Department of Organization and Leadership

Abstract

Few empirical studies reveal what happens at the heart of School Leadership Teams (SLT) knowledge diversity integration. This research investigates how SLT members integrated divergent knowledge and perspectives by using Edmondson and Harvey’s (2018) cross-functional teaming model as an analytic lens, while employing case study research and techniques from discursive analysis and a grounded theory approach. Anticipated findings include (a) what challenges emerge from diverse expertise, background and perspectives of SLT members, (b) how SLT members address the challenges by interacting with each other to integrate divergent knowledge and perspectives, and (c) what outcomes SLT members achieve as results of the team interactive processes of integration.

Gender Policy and Politics in Early Childhood Education: The Enactment of Gender-Inclusive Policies in Kindergarten Classrooms

By: Carolina Snaider, Ed.D. Student

Early Childhood Education – Department of Curriculum and Teaching

Abstract

Schools have historically been hostile places for students who do not fit into gender stereotypes, and data show that LGBTQ students still experience discrimination. This study will examine how NYCDOE gender-inclusive policy is being enacted in at three NYC public kindergartens, including, observations and teacher and principal interviews. This study will analyze local sites within a broader social, material, and political context.  Thus, data will be collected at the district, state and federal policy levels.

Black Women’s Use of Virtual Educator Affinity Learning Groups While Working in Hostile Environments

By: Mia Kirk, Ed.D Student

Education Leadership – Department of Organization and Leadership

Abstract

The turnover rate for Black teachers, specifically Black female teachers is continuously increasing. This increase in the exodus of Black female teachers exacerbates the ongoing disproportionality of a non-diverse teaching workforce and the growing population of students of color. Continued research is important to understand the experiences that compel Black female teachers to stop working in schools. This study will focus on how virtual educator affinity groups influence the learning needs of Black women (a topic where little research currently exists). Moreover, further research will be important to understand the learning that occurs through this virtual participation and how it may influence the ongoing teacher exodus. This proposed study will employ an explanatory sequential mixed method design that will be framed through a Critical Race Theory lens focusing on intersectionality and counter storytelling.

SEA-ing the Past, SEA-ing Ourselves: Meaning Making Processes of the Children of Southeast Asian Refugees

By: Van Anh Tran, Ph.D. Student

Social Studies Education – Department of Arts and Humanities

Abstract

The experiences of the second-generation individuals from refugee backgrounds represents a growing population in the U.S. With unique political, social, and historical perceptions, the experiences of refugees, and later, their children, contribute to a more complex narrative of remembrance, citizenship, and belonging in the U.S. This project explores how the second-generation forms, represents, and produces historical understandings. Further, this study engages narrative inquiry and participatory visual methodologies to answer the following questions: How do the children of Southeast Asian refugees make meaning through their negotiations of generational memories? How do they engage in post memorial practices? How do they (re)produce historical understandings? How do their understandings impact their self-making?

Initial Development and Evaluation of the Latinx Sexual Minority Stress Scale.

By: Christian Adames, Ph.D. Student

Counseling Psychology– Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Recent polls have indicated that the United States has more people identifying as LGBTQ+ and Hispanic/Latinx than ever before. However, despite increasing representation of these populations, LGBTQ+ and Latinx communities continue to be stigmatized, reporting disproportionate incidence of mental and physical health disparities. Intersectionality theory provides useful frameworks to understand that these health disparities are not rooted in intrinsic deficits of these populations, rather, in systems of oppression in the form of distal and proximal stressors that then contribute to health disparities. Responding to renewed calls from the American Psychological Association to take an intersectional stance to practice with sexual minority clients, this current study aims to begin to close the gap in quantitative literature and center the experiences of sexual minority Latinx people. This project outlines plans for the initial development and validation of the Latinx Sexual Minority Stress Scale – a quantitative measure designed to capture the unique manifestations of oppression on sexual minority Latinxs.

The Vice President’s Student Research in Diversity Grant Awards for 2017-2018

1. Acute Effects of Resistance Exercise Intensity in a Depressed HIV Sample: The Exercise for People who are Immunocompromised (EPIC) Study

By Sanaz Nosrat, Ph.d. Candidate in Kinesiology, Department of Biobehavioral Sciences

People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) experience a range of symptoms among which depression and fatigue are highly prevalent. Depressive symptoms and fatigue are important because they are linked to progression of the HIV disease, and poor medication adherence. Psychological distress is also linked to chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, which leads to development of other comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease. Therefore, exploring interventions to improve mental health of PLWH is of great importance. Research with the non-HIV population has shown that exercise as short as a single bout (i.e., single session) can stimulate beneficial changes in mental health and inflammation. Additionally, moderate intensity exercise bout is shown to stimulate greater psychological benefits compared to other intensities. Therefore, exercise might be an ideal tool with anti-inflammatory benefits to help with immediate mood regulation among PLWH. However, these effects are less clear with resistance exercise, and less examined with chronic diseased population (e.g., PLWH). Of note, research is specifically scarce with Black/African American PLWH who comprise the largest proportion of PLWH.  The primary aim is to test the acute (i.e., single session) effects of varying resistance exercise (RE; i.e., weightlifting) intensity on affect (i.e., feelings of pleasure/displeasure) and perceived activation (i.e., feelings of perceived fatigue) among Black/African American PLWH who experience depressive symptoms. The secondary aim is to test the acute effect of RE on inflammation through measuring interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in this population.

2. The Paradox of High Achievement: African American Students' Experiences in Minority Recruitment Programs

By Makila Meyers, Ed.D. Candidate in Literacy Education, Department of Curriculum and Teaching

This research is about the intersection of equity and access. It problematizes progressive arguments against a segregated curriculum for high-achieving students by invoking a social justice argument in favor of leveling the playing field for traditionally marginalized students, specifically African Americans. This study looks at minority recruitment programs because while these programs seem to recruit a monolithic group of students, there are ranges of backgrounds and experiences represented. The programs of focus in my study all use conventional measures of success such as standardized test scores including the Secondary School Admissions Test (SSAT), essays, grades, teacher recommendations, and several rounds of interviews to admit middle school students of color. In addition to academic preparation, students participate in social and cultural events, and are mentored by program alumni. This qualitative case study employs document analysis and participant interviews to explore the Discourses on success and achievement produced by minority recruitment programs and the students that participate in them. This study looks at the narratives produced by (and through) program documents and interview African American students in order to examine where these narratives converge and where there is tension.

The Vice President’s Honorary Mention Awards for 2017-2018

3. Understanding Normative Disruption in Higher Education: A Case Study of Gender Inclusive Housing Policies

By Maria Anderson-Long, Ed.D. Candidate in Higher and Postsecondary Education, Department of Organization and Leadership

In the context of higher education, there is increasing national attention being placed on support services for transgender students. These students, while often included with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) students, face separate and unique issues related to their gender identity that services geared towards LGB students do not fully encompass. Often, policies that aim to provide transgender students with greater support and inclusion might also disrupt institutionalized norms predicated on the gender binary. In the last decade, colleges and universities across the country have begun to create more inclusive housing policies, many of which require evaluation of how the use of gendered facilities and language must shift in order to accommodate and include transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) students. It is therefore possible to examine the creation of Gender Inclusive Housing (GIH) policies as a means of better understanding how institutions of higher education might respond to such instances of normative disruption. Further, I aim to examine how the responses to such disruption might vary based on institutional characteristics, and therefore create variance in GIH policies across colleges and universities.

Women Reproductive Health and Hygiene at Women Teacher Training Colleges in Rural Rajasthan, India: Case of a Pilot Campus

By Swati Makhija, M.A. Candidate in Science Education, Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology  

The proposed exploratory study will investigate the implementation of interventions addressing women's reproductive health and hygiene, at a pilot women teacher training college in rural Rajasthan, India, and at other comparable colleges in the area. The primary concern and research focus is to investigate the availability and current-status of medical health-care facilities for menstrual hygiene and pregnancy of women at these campuses. The study will summarize and critically appraise available evidence of any actually implemented Menstruation Hygiene Management (MHM) and Pregnancy Management (PM) interventions, versus on-paper implementations. This study is not aimed at biomedical research involving human subjects. It is purely an exploratory initiative that aims at investigating current processes, systems, training, facilities, current knowledge, and infrastructure reflecting the present condition of MHM and PM. These two are very critical aspects for any women training/education institution. This study aims to establish this formally as a part of a broader research led by the researcher that aims to create a scalable framework for women teacher training colleges in rural settings. The broader research aims to create groundbreaking change in women teacher education by anchoring on various women empowerment areas, including MHM and PM interventions.

THE VICE PRESIDENT’S STUDENT RESEARCH IN DIVERSITY

GRANT AWARDS for 2016-2017

The Committee for Community and Diversity is Pleased to Announce the 2016 – 2017 Recipients of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

This grant award provides support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building.  Diversity, in the context of this award, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture, language, gender, sexual orientation, age, race-ethnicity, health status, and disabilities, among others.

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovation demonstrated in the proposals submitted.  Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, three proposals were selected as this year’s SRD Grant recipients, each receiving an award for $3,000.

Many thanks to the SRD Grant Selection Committee: 

Jay Heubert, Yvonne Destin, Isaac Freeman, Jolene Lane, Samantha Lu, Janice Robinson, Dr. Srikala Naraian, and Chelsey Saunders.  Thank you also to Danisha C. Baro, Graduate Assistant in the Vice President’s Office for Diversity and Community Affairs, for her administration of the details of the grants. 

Grant award recipients

Amelia Herbert, Ph.D. Student, Program in Anthropology and Education

Proposal Title: Changing Subjects in the Transition from Urban Schools to Selective Universities

Faculty Sponsor: Hervé Varenne, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Coordinator of Programs in Anthropology, Chair, International and Transcultural Studies

Proposal Description:

            Recent global waves of student protest over issues ranging from fees to curricular reform have reinvigorated discussions of access and inclusion in higher education (Fairbanks 2015). Organizing under social media banners like #BlackonCampus (US), #Whyismycurriculumwhite (Britain), #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall (South Africa), student activists are demanding the transformation of both the university as a space and the types of knowledge it produces.  In the United States and South Africa, both of which have experienced demographic shifts in postsecondary student populations against a historical backdrop of racialized and socioeconomic exclusion, growing movements are pushing questions of university access beyond mere admission to belonging (Mampilly 2015).  Some of the key voices in these efforts are those of students from backgrounds that have historically been racially or socioeconomically marginalized in the context of elite, selective universities.  These students cross geographic and symbolic borders from homes in urban enclaves to arrive on college campuses, sometimes in the same city.  This research asks: what are the ways in which the transition from urban secondary schools to selective universities transforms the political subjectivities of working class youth from racially marginalized backgrounds? This question emerges from nine months of pilot study with university students in the US and South Africa and relates to broader concerns of how educational attainment affects the ways people see and situate themselves in relation to power, privilege, and authority, especially in contexts of marked disparity in access to resources. The study will be conducted with participants in Cape Town, South Africa at a Langa township and two selective, historically white universities; and in the New York City area at a selective, predominantly white institution and a high school in Newark, New Jersey. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews will be the core methods of data collection, but survey and focus group methods will also be incorporated. Anthropological investigation of the cultural dimensions of university life and of the quotidian experiences of students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in the academy are scant.  Anthropology of education has the potential to contribute unique insights to questions of university access and inclusion because its methods entail a struggle to make sense of the experience of participants, rather than simply accept cultural assumptions of normative outcomes (Shumar and Mir 2011:452).

Jennifer Kim,Ph.D. Student, Program in Social-Organizational Psychology

Proposal Title: Perceptions of Racial Microaggressions in the Workplace

Faculty Sponsor: Caryn Block, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology and Education, Organization and Leadership

Proposal Description:

Workplace discrimination has become subtler over the past several years. These subtle forms of discrimination can be examined through the lens of microaggressions. Microaggressions in the workplace have only recently been examined for African Americans. However, research has not yet examined microaggressions directed toward Asians in the workplace. The present study, therefore, seeks to examine microaggressions in the workplace directed toward Asians. Specifically, this study will examine whether there are differences in perceptions of the severity of microaggressions and the impact of the microaggressions on the target between White and Asian participants.

Regina Kim,Ph.D. Student, Program in Social-Organizational Psychology

Proposal Title: Nonnative Accent and Conflict Management: The Effects of Stigma Consciousness on Regulatory Focus, Conflict Behaviors, and Outcomes

Faculty Sponsor:  Loriann Roberson, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Education, Organization and Leadership

Proposal Description:

As the workplace in the United States becomes increasingly global, organizations are employing more persons whose native language is not English.  It is important to understand the impact of nonnative accents during interpersonal interactions because accents are as salient as ethnicity, age, gender, and skin color and are a potential source of discrimination and misunderstanding in organizations.  As conflicts are inevitable and pervasive in organizational life, the proposed research explores the experiences of nonnative speakers when they interact with native speakers in conflict situations.  The study examines the effect of nonnative speakers’ stigma consciousness on their regulatory focus (preventive versus promotive), conflict behaviors and outcomes. Moreover, it explores self-efficacy and perceptions of goal interdependence (cooperative versus competitive) as potential moderators that affect the relationship between stigma consciousness and regulatory focus.  The current study contributes to the field of workforce diversity and conflict management by examining the relationships among accent stigma consciousness, regulatory focus, conflict behaviors, and conflict outcomes at work.  The results of this research will also have important implications for managers and practitioners who work with nonnative speakers in organizational settings. 

The Committee for Community and Diversity is Pleased to Announce the 2015 – 2016 Recipient of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

This grant award provides support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity, in the context of this award, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture, language, gender, sexual orientation, age, race-ethnicity, health status, and disabilities, among others.

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovation demonstrated in the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, one proposal was selected as this year’s SRD Grant recipient, receiving an award for $3,000.

Many thanks to the SRD Grant Selection Committee:
Dr. Jay Heubert, Jolene Lane, Angel Pagan, Janice Robinson, Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, and Dr. Erica Walker. Thank you also to Ashley Maxie-Moreman, Graduate Assistant in the Vice President’s Office for Diversity and Community Affairs, for her administration of the details of the grants.

Grant award recipient

Asha Gipson, Ph.D. Student, Program in Social Organizational Psychology
Proposal Title: The Interactive Effects of Race, Gender, and Impression Management Tactics on Performance Ratings and Promotion Decisions

Proposal Description:
Despite the demonstrated upsides of diversity such as increased creativity, greater productivity, lower turnover, elevated employee morale, and improved public image, the diversification of executive leadership ranks has been a relatively slow process (Greer & Virick, 2008; Ely & Thomas, 2001). Although great strides have been made to attract and recruit women and minorities, a glass ceiling still exists that hinders individuals with subordinate identities from being promoted beyond lower-or middle-management positions. Impression management may be one way that qualified candidates can influence promotion decisions in a positive way. Given that demographic trends indicate that the United States workforce is becoming more diverse, it is important to understand the interactive impact of race and gender on various work-related outcomes such as promotions and other rewards. This study aims to identify effective impression management strategies for overcoming the barriers that limit the progression of women and minorities into upper management.

THE VICE PRESIDENT’S STUDENT RESEARCH IN DIVERSITY
GRANT AWARDS for 2014-2015

The Committee for Community and Diversity is Pleased to Announce the 2014 - 2015 Recipients of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

These grant awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity, in the context of this award, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture, language, gender, sexual orientation, age, race-ethnicity, health status, and disabilities, among others.

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovation demonstrated in the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, two applicants were selected as Grant recipients, each receiving an award for $3,000 and two other applicants received Honorable Mention Awards for $1,000.

Many thanks to the SRD Grant Selection Committee:
Dr. Randall Allsup, Dr. Kevin Dougherty, Isaac Freeman, Jolene Lane, Samantha Lu, and Janice Robinson. Thank you also to Ashley Maxie-Moreman, Graduate Assistant in the Vice President’s Office for Diversity and Community Affairs, for her administration of the details of the grants.

Grant Award Recipients

Aston McCullough, Ed.D. student, Applied Physiology
Proposal Title: Randomized Controlled Pilot Study on the Effectiveness of a Physical Activity Intervention, SKIP! (Small Kids in Physical Activity), in 2-3 Year-Old Diverse Low-Income Children

Proposal Description:
Obesity in early childhood has reached alarming rates, with a national prevalence of 8.4% among children ages 2 to 5. It is known that nearly 15% of low-income children younger than 5 years old are obese, and a chart review conducted in 2010 found that 50% of overweight children first became overweight by the age of 24 months. Given this critical age period, researchers have identified a need for additional studies that investigate physical activity behaviors in toddlers. This study seeks to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a structured physical activity intervention (SKIP!) on physical activity (PA) levels in a diverse population of low-income 24-36 month olds and their parents/caregivers in an urban Early Head Start program. This investigation begins with the hypothesis that a weekly, structured 30-minute physical activity intervention (SKIP!) that takes place within Early Head Start classrooms will increase PA in toddlers.

Leslie A. Williams, Ed.D. student, Higher and Post-Secondary Education
Proposal Title: Beyond College Enrollment: Exploring the Relationship Between Pre-Collegiate Access Program Participation and Undergraduate Experiences and Outcomes

Proposal Description:
Pre-collegiate access programs (PCAPs) have been one popular policy and programmatic response aimed at addressing the disparity in college enrollment between white, higher socioeconomic status (SES) students, and racial and ethnic minority and lower-socioeconomic status students. Research has demonstrated that PCAPs, along with policies such as affirmative action and financial aid, have helped reduce this gap and have increased the diversity of students on American college campuses. Still, considerable disparities in enrollment remain and even wider inequalities exist between these two groups in college persistence and degree attainment. This study seeks to explore the relationship between pre-collegiate access program participation, and the experiences, persistence and degree attainment of the diverse students that PCAPs serve. Specifically, it aims to capture the perceptions of PCAP alumni who subsequently enrolled in and progressed through college regarding whether and how their program influenced their undergraduate experiences positively or negatively.

Honorable Mention Recipients

Patrick Keegan, Ph.D. candidate, Program in Social Studies
Proposal Title: The Development of a Civic Identity Among Transnational Immigrant Youth

Proposal Description:
International migration has reached record levels, with significant implications for the role of schools in preparing immigrant youth for engaged democratic citizenship. Unequal access to civic learning opportunities among different ethnoracial groups, and between suburban and urban students, suggests that schools may be failing to achieve this democratic purpose. However, little is known about how these civic learning disparities may effect immigrant youth. Moreover, the research on civic education has not adequately considered how immigrant youth, particularly those who maintain a transnational orientation, construct a civic identity. In order to better understand how immigrant youth civic identity is rooted in a sense of belonging to a civic community, this ethnographic study poses the following research questions: (1) How do immigrant youth attending de facto segregated schools serving a majority Latino student population describe their civic identity? And, (2) How does transnationalism influence immigrant youth civic identity?

Melissa Rodriguez, M.A. candidate, Clinical Psychology
Proposal Title: Lung Cancer Stigma Among Racially & Ethnically Diverse Patients Diagnosed with Lung Cancer

Proposal Description:
The purpose of this research is to better understand lung cancer stigma among racially/ethnically diverse patients diagnosed with lung cancer. The project involves collecting and analyzing data on internalized and perceived stigma and experiences of discrimination among lung cancer patients. This will allow for more individual consideration of racially diverse communities and may direct future research on lung cancer.

THE VICE PRESIDENT’S STUDENT RESEARCH IN DIVERSITY
GRANT AWARDS for 2013-2014

The Committee for Community and Diversity is Pleased to Announce the 2013 - 2014 Recipients of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

These grant awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity, in the context of this award, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture, language, gender, sexual orientation, age, race-ethnicity, health status, and disabilities, among others.

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovation demonstrated in the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, two applicants were selected as Grant recipients, each receiving an award for $3,000 and one other applicant received an Honorable Mention Award for $1,500.

Many thanks to the SRD Grant Selection Committee: Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Yvonne Destin, Samantha Lu, Dr. John Saxman, Jolene Lane, and Janice Robinson. Thank you also to Jade Alexandria Johnson, Graduate Assistant in the Vice President’s Office for Diversity and Community Affairs, for her administration of the details of the grants.

Grant Award Recipients

Geraldine V. Basler, Ph.D. candidate, Nursing Education
Proposal Title: Factors Associated with Falls and Near Falls in Community-Dwelling, Elderly Blacks

Proposal Description:
Falls among the elderly pose a problem on the societal and the individual level. Elderly black individuals are 3 times more likely to die within 3 years of an osteoporotic fracture than are elderly white individuals. Among elderly white women, falls are well studied and documented. Because of changing population demographics, it is necessary to change our methods of assessing those who are at risk for falls and near falls. Currently, elderly blacks and those experiencing near falls are not identified and therefore miss out on preventive interventions. This project is a correlational study of elderly African Americans/blacks aged 65 and above who frequent a clinic in Mount Sinai Medical Center, located in Harlem, NYC. The findings garnered from this study will be used to engage African American communities in more population-based studies that will help change the standards of assessment and thus improve minority health.

Travis J. Bristol, Ph.D. candidate, Education Policy & Social Analysis
Proposal Title: Men of the Classroom: An Exploration of how the Organizational Conditions, Characteristics, and Dynamics in Schools Affect the Recruitment, Experiences, and Retention of Black Male Teachers.

Proposal Description:
In response to Secretary Duncan’s teacher recruitment campaign, “Black men to the Blackboard,” and the high rate of Black male teacher turnover, this study explores the in school experiences of this subgroup. Previous research looks at why Black men enter the profession, how these teachers view and enact their work, and trends around turnover. As an extension to the existing body of work, this phenomenological study will use semi-structured interviews and participant observations of Black male teachers’ experiences within four elementary and four secondary schools in one urban school district. At each grade level, two schools with one Black male teacher and two schools with several Black male teachers will be selected for participation. This dissertation creates a new body of literature that explores how organizational conditions, characteristics, and dynamics in schools affect the recruitment, experiences, and retention of Black Male Teachers.

Honorable Mention Recipient

Miriam Baigorri, Ph.D. candidate, Speech-Language Pathology
Proposal Title: Early and Late Spanish-English Bilingual Adults’ Perception of American English Vowels in Noise

Proposal Description:
Increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are entering the US and are learning American English as a second language. Many may experience difficulty in understanding American English. This may, to a large extent, derive from inaccurate perception of vowels in the language. The relationship between native language and second language vowel inventories causes some vowels to be more difficult to perceive accurately than others (Best & Tyler, 2007). The proposed study will examine the patterns with which early and late Spanish-English bilingual adults assimilate American English vowels to their native vowel inventory and the accuracy with which they discriminate the vowels. Results may provide a better understanding of the effects of age of second language acquisition on American English vowel perception by Spanish-English bilinguals.

GRANT AWARDS for 2012-2013

The Committee for Community and Diversity is Pleased to Announce the 2012 - 2013 Recipients of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

These grant awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity, in the context of this award program, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, health status, and disabilities, among others.

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovativeness of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, two applicants were selected as Grant recipients each receiving an award for $3,000 and one other applicant received an Honorable Mention Award for $1,500.

Thank you very much to the SRD Grant Selection Committee: Professor Monisha Bajaj, Yvonne Destin, Krista Dunbar, Professor Jill Hill, Jolene Lane, and Janice Robinson. Thank you also to Randolph Scott-McLaughlin II, Graduate Assistant in the Vice President’s Office for Diversity and Community Affairs, for his administration of the details of the grants.

GRANT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Laura Vega, Ed.D. candidate, International Education Development, Peace Education Concentration

Proposal Title: Circulos de Prendizaje: Challenges and Possibilities of Flexible Educational Models for Marginalized Populations in Columbia

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Assistant Professor of Education, International and Transcultural Studies

Department: International Education Development

The purpose of this study is to explore how the Círculos de Aprendizaje Program responds to marginalized students’ needs in Colombia. The Círculos de Aprendizaje Program is an adaptation of Escuela Nueva, a successful and well known program in Colombia and overseas. Círculos has been designed to reach marginalized populations but has had only one formal evaluation in 2005; questions about the performance of the program in different socio-cultural contexts remain unanswered. The study will conduct a primarily qualitative vertical case study (Vavrus & Bartlett, 2006) over a 12-month period, in which the macro level will focus on the policy level, the meso level on the program's structure, and the micro level on the classroom/students' experience. The study will include 5 regions in Colombia in order to explore different socio-cultural contexts.

Claudio Ferre, Ph.D. Candidate, Kinesiology

Proposal Title: Feasibility of a Home‐Based Intensive Therapy for Young Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Andrew Gordon, Professor of Movement Sciences, Biobehavioral Sciences

Department: Biobehavioral Sciences

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a collective term for a group of developmental disorders of movement and posture that cause activity limitations and can be attributed to non-progressive disturbances in the developing infant and fetal brain. Hemiplegia is among the most common forms, accounting for 30-40% of new cases of CP, and is characterized by motor impairments predominantly affecting one side of the body. Children with hemiplegic CP experience weakness, sensory loss, deficits in the control of grasping, and difficulty coordinating and executing movements involving the two hands. Impairments in hand function lead to difficulties in performing important functional activities (i.e. dressing and eating) and result in reductions of school participation and performance. Strong associations have been observed between socioeconomic status (SES) and the prevalence of CP. A disproportionate number of children from low SES are at increased risk for CP and therefore require access to effective therapeutic programs to improve the prospect of long-term neurologic outcome. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of a low-cost, bimanual training intervention that can be administered at home, by a caregiver, for children with hemiplegic CP between the ages of 1.5 to 4 years of age. An intensive home-based intervention would be an economically and logistically feasible program that would permit intervention at young ages when the developing nervous system exhibits considerable ability to recuperate hand-function (i.e., plasticity).

HONORABLE MENTION AWARD

Huma Kidwai, Ed.D. Candidate, International Education Development

Proposal Title: The Policy and Practice of Madrassa Education Reform in India

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Assistant Professor of Education, International and Transcultural Studies

Department: International Education Development

Madrassas are Islamic institutions of learning, traditionally offering education to Muslims, with religion as its mainstay. Within the context of madrassa education reform, this research explores factors that affect (a) engagement of the state with the non-state providers (in this case madrassas) of education, and (b) appropriation of the state-suggested madrassa education reform policy by various agents associated with the functioning of a madrassa. They will be using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis.

GRANT AWARDS for 2012-2013

The Committee for Community and Diversity is Pleased to Announce the 2012 - 2013 Recipients of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

These grant awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity, in the context of this award program, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, health status, and disabilities, among others.

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovativeness of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, two applicants were selected as Grant recipients each receiving an award for $3,000 and one other applicant received an Honorable Mention Award for $1,500.

Thank you very much to the SRD Grant Selection Committee: Professor Monisha Bajaj, Yvonne Destin, Krista Dunbar, Professor Jill Hill, Jolene Lane, and Janice Robinson. Thank you also to Randolph Scott-McLaughlin II, Graduate Assistant in the Vice President’s Office for Diversity and Community Affairs, for his administration of the details of the grants.

GRANT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Laura Vega, Ed.D. candidate, International Education Development, Peace Education Concentration

Proposal Title: Circulos de Prendizaje: Challenges and Possibilities of Flexible Educational Models for Marginalized Populations in Columbia

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Assistant Professor of Education, International and Transcultural Studies

Department: International Education Development

The purpose of this study is to explore how the Círculos de Aprendizaje Program responds to marginalized students’ needs in Colombia. The Círculos de Aprendizaje Program is an adaptation of Escuela Nueva, a successful and well known program in Colombia and overseas. Círculos has been designed to reach marginalized populations but has had only one formal evaluation in 2005; questions about the performance of the program in different socio-cultural contexts remain unanswered. The study will conduct a primarily qualitative vertical case study (Vavrus & Bartlett, 2006) over a 12-month period, in which the macro level will focus on the policy level, the meso level on the program's structure, and the micro level on the classroom/students' experience. The study will include 5 regions in Colombia in order to explore different socio-cultural contexts.

Claudio Ferre, Ph.D. Candidate, Kinesiology

Proposal Title: Feasibility of a Home‐Based Intensive Therapy for Young Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Andrew Gordon, Professor of Movement Sciences, Biobehavioral Sciences

Department: Biobehavioral Sciences

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a collective term for a group of developmental disorders of movement and posture that cause activity limitations and can be attributed to non-progressive disturbances in the developing infant and fetal brain. Hemiplegia is among the most common forms, accounting for 30-40% of new cases of CP, and is characterized by motor impairments predominantly affecting one side of the body. Children with hemiplegic CP experience weakness, sensory loss, deficits in the control of grasping, and difficulty coordinating and executing movements involving the two hands. Impairments in hand function lead to difficulties in performing important functional activities (i.e. dressing and eating) and result in reductions of school participation and performance. Strong associations have been observed between socioeconomic status (SES) and the prevalence of CP. A disproportionate number of children from low SES are at increased risk for CP and therefore require access to effective therapeutic programs to improve the prospect of long-term neurologic outcome. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of a low-cost, bimanual training intervention that can be administered at home, by a caregiver, for children with hemiplegic CP between the ages of 1.5 to 4 years of age. An intensive home-based intervention would be an economically and logistically feasible program that would permit intervention at young ages when the developing nervous system exhibits considerable ability to recuperate hand-function (i.e., plasticity).

HONORABLE MENTION AWARD

Huma Kidwai, Ed.D. Candidate, International Education Development

Proposal Title: The Policy and Practice of Madrassa Education Reform in India

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Assistant Professor of Education, International and Transcultural Studies

Department: International Education Development

Madrassas are Islamic institutions of learning, traditionally offering education to Muslims, with religion as its mainstay. Within the context of madrassa education reform, this research explores factors that affect (a) engagement of the state with the non-state providers (in this case madrassas) of education, and (b) appropriation of the state-suggested madrassa education reform policy by various agents associated with the functioning of a madrassa. They will be using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis.

The Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity

2010 - 2011 Awards

The Committee for Community and Diversity is pleased to announce the 2010-2011 recipients of the Vice President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity. 

The awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity, in the context of this award program, is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, and disabilities, among others. 

The SRD Grant Subcommittee of the CCD was extremely impressed with the important questions and relevant topics proposed as well as the high-quality and innovativeness of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of students at Teachers College. Ultimately, two applicants were selected as grant recipients each receiving a $3,000 award and one other applicant received an Honorable Mention Award for $1,500.

Grant Recipients

Student Name: Paula Garcia, Ph.D. candidate, Speech and Language Pathology Program

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Karen Froud, Associate Professor of Speech & Language Pathology

Department: Biobehavioral Sciences

Proposal Title: Perception of English Vowels by Spanish-English Adult Bilinguals: An EEG Study. 

The Spanish-speaking population is the fastest growing language in the United States. Full participation in social and cultural circles, however, remains difficult for many Latino/a immigrants, because the sounds system of English is sufficiently different from that of Spanish to constitute a barrier to the acquisition of native-like English language production skills. This study addresses this issue by examining whether providing perceptual training to late Spanish-English bilinguals can lead to a reorganization of English speech sounds at the level of the brain. The study entails using auditory perceptual training to late Spanish-English bilinguals, and will examine their behavioral and neurophysiologic responses to the sounds of English before, during and after training.

Student Name: Annie I. Lin, Ph.D. candidate, Counseling Psychology Program

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Derald Wing Sue, Professor of Psychology and Education 

Department: Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Proposal Title: Initial Development of the Asian American Racial Microaggressions Scale 

This study focuses on constructing a scale that will measure the Asian American experience of racial microaggressions, a modern day definition of prejudice and discrimination. Only one qualitative study to date has been conducted on the Asian American experience of microaggression and no measure adequately captures the Asian American experience of racial microaggressions. To develop a quantitative measure on Asian American racial microaggressions, a four step process is proposed: a pilot study, exploratory factor analysis, validity analysis, and a test-retest reliability analysis. Approximately 300 self-identified Asian Americans will be asked to participate in the study.

HONORABLE MENTION

Student Name: Katemari Rosa, Ph.D. candidate, Science Education

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Felicia Moore Mensah, Assistant Professor of Science Education

Department: Mathematics, Science & Technology

Proposal Title: Gender, Ethnicity, and Scientific Identity: Understanding How Black Women Build Their Identities as Scientists

This study aims to analyze the relationships between race, gender, and those with careers in the sciences, specifically for women of African descent and the choices that led them to pursue careers in Physics. The research will explore how one major and perhaps unique, theoretical contribution to the field of science education has not given full attention to Black women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Overall, the study will seek to understand how these Black women physicists built their identities as scientists; how they negotiated their multiple identities, desires, and structures in order to become Black women scientists. It is expected to promote a better understanding about the construction of scientific identity in minority groups, contributing to the field of science education.

Thank you again to all of the applicants for their exceptional work and rigorous efforts. We sincerely look forward to the scholarship and proposals next year will bring.

The Committee for Community and Diversity is pleased to announce the 2007-2008 recipients of the President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

The awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity in the context of this award program is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving, for example, culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, disabilities.

The process was extremely competitive, as there were 10 proposals. The Grant Review Committee was uniformly impressed with the high-quality, innovativeness, important questions and relevant topics of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of TC students.

Ultimately, two applicants were selected as grant recipients with a $3,000 award and two other applicants received a $1,000 honorable mention award.

GRANT RECIPIENTS

Student Name: Sadia R. Chaudhury, M.S.

Faculty Sponsor: Lena Verdeli, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology

Department: Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Proposal Title: Attitudes towards the Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression among South Asian Muslim Americans

In this exploratory study, a mixed methods approach will be used to study the attitudes towards diagnosis and treatment of major depression in South Asian Muslim Americans, in order to assist mental health professionals better understand the mental health needs and concerns in this growing yet understudied community. In particular, the roles of acculturation, the process by which a person experiences changes in their cultural values and behaviors as they come into firsthand, continuous contact with a dominant host culture (Graves, 1967), and enculturation, the retention of native culture by immigrants while living in a dominant host culture (Cortes, Rogler & Malgady, 1994), on shaping these attitudes will be thoroughly explored. It is hoped that the study’s findings will help the Principal Investigator of this study, who herself is a South Asian Muslim American mental health professional, to develop effectivepsychoeducational tools for members of this underserved community.

Student Name: Julie Schell

Faculty Sponsor: Anna Neumann, Professor of Higher Education

Department: Organization and Leadership

Proposal Title: Evolutionary Teaching: Exploring Pedagogical Change in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education at Major Research Universities

One of the most significant diversity problems within US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is the persistent underrepresentation of women, minorities, and the disabled (CEOSE, 2004; COSEPUP, 2007). There is ample debate as to why women, minorities, and the disabled are not a significant part of the STEM demographic. That said, this study focuses upon one theory in particular: that one of the top reasons women and minorities drop out of the STEM fields and thus do not pursue careers in STEM, is ineffective and non-inclusive teaching by STEM faculty members (see Handelsman, 2006; Seymour & Hewitt, 1997). This research is an attempt to address issues of diversity that transcends boundaries and cuts across multiple groups is more important than ever. The dissertation aims to do just that by focusing on a section of higher education where diversity issues affecting women, underrepresented minorities, the disabled, and LGBT individuals are more intractable than in any other academic area education.

Honorable Mention

Student Name: Silvia Mazzula

Faculty Sponsor: Robert T. Carter, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Education

Department: Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Proposal Title: Bicultural Competence: The Role of Acculturation, Collective Self-Esteem and Racial Identity

This study examines whether behavioral acculturation, racial identity and collective self-esteem capture the construct of bicultural competence and its relationship to psychological well-being and distress among 520 Latino(a) adults. A structural equation model (SEM) analysis will be performed to confirm the presence of bicultural competence and establish if bicultural competence results in psychological well-being.

Student Name: Justin Jones, M.A.

Faculty Sponsor: Lisa Miller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology and Education

Department: Counseling and Clinical Psychology

Proposal Title: The Gay Fatherhood Project

This study will examine how a child impacts the commitment to the romantic relationship for self-identified coupled gay men who are raising a child or children, how these men both view their role in the family and how they navigate the day-to-day responsibilities of childcare and housework, and the emotional impact of fatherhood on this population. A sample of at least 65 participants will be asked to complete questionnaires with regard to demographics, commitment in their relationship, degree of endorsement of traditional masculine ideology, sharing of responsibilities related to childcare and household tasks, and level of endorsement of spirituality. The results will be compared to the current understanding of fathers raising children in heterosexual relationships.

The Committee for Community and Diversity is pleased to announce the 2007-2008 recipients of the President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

The awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity in the context of this award program is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving, for example, culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, disabilities.

The process was extremely competitive, as there were 13 proposals. The Grant Review Committee was uniformly impressed with the high-quality, innovativeness, important questions and relevant topics of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of TC students.

Ultimately, two applicants were selected as grant recipients with a $3,000 award: Benjamin Ezekiel Liberman, doctoral student and Grace Enriquez, doctoral student.

GRANT RECIPIENTS

Student Name: Benjam-n E. Liberman

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Caryn J. Block, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education

Department: Organizations and Leadership

Proposal Title: Diversity Training Preconceptions: The effects of trainer race and trainer gender on perceptions of trainer effectiveness

This study seeks to investigate the effects of a diversity trainer's race and gender on perceptions of the trainer's effectiveness and credibility. This research is designed to expand knowledge about how the particular demographic characteristics of gender and race interact together to have an effect on pertaining reactions of potential trainees towards the trainer. Participants will review two information sources (a job description and a candidate background form) and evaluate one of four diversity trainer candidates while under the assumption that they will later be participating in a diversity training session offered by the candidate. Data will be statistically analyzed.

Student Name: Grace Enriquez

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Stephanie Jones, Assistant Professor of Education

Department: Curriculum & Teaching

Research Project Title: Urban Adolescents' Reading of School-Sanctioned Texts across Intersecting Raced, Classed, and Gendered Identities

This research intends to shift the spotlight to consider students' negotiation of the multiple discourses about literacy that influence their reading in schools. The chief purpose of this study is to investigate how adolescent students read school-sanctioned texts. That is, how do youth navigate the discourses of schooled literacy and their unique sociocultural views of literacy to read the literature offered and assigned in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms? To explore this question, a qualitative case study of five to six middle school students with contrasting intersections of raced, classed, and gendered identities who attend an urban public middle school will be conducted. Data will be collected through participant observations, interviews, video and audio recording, photo-elicitation, and artifact collection of the texts used in the classroom as well as the student-produced documents related to those texts. Overall, this research will shed light on the diverse and complex ways adolescents read school-sanctioned texts.

Grant Review Committee

Janice S. Robinson, Chair-CCD, Dr. Renee Cherow-O'Leary, Dr. Richard Keller, Dr. Thomas Rock, Barbara Purnell

The Committee for Community and Diversity is pleased to announce the 2004-2005 recipients of the President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

The awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity in the context of this award program is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving, for example, culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, disabilities.

The process was extremely competitive, as there were 15 proposals. The Grant Review Committee was uniformly impressed with the high-quality, innovativeness, important questions and relevant topics of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of TC students.

Ultimately, two applicants were selected as grant recipients with a $3,000 award: Janet Shriberg, doctoral student and Isabel Martinez, doctoral student. One student was selected for an honorable mention award of $1,000: Marie Keem, doctoral student.

GRANT RECIPIENTS

Name: Janet Shriberg

Title: Emergency Education as Diversity Education: Social Justice and Teacher Education in Post-War Liberia

Faculty Sponsor: Frances Vavrus, Associate Professor of Education, Department of International and Transcultural Studies, Associate Director, Center for African Education

This study examines teacher well-being among Liberian "emergency educators" drawn from diverse demographic backgrounds and teacher experience in post-war Liberia. The study seeks to uncover local experiences, attitudes, and coping strategies of Liberian teachers from diverse regions, backgrounds, and experiences in Liberia thereby enhancing policy making in the area of emergency education. In so doing, this study contributes to research on diversity in three principle ways: 1) it introduces emergency education as a distinct field of study; 2) it recognizes the unique contribution teachers make as first responders in conflict-affected areas and grants due attention to their psychosocial welfare; and 3) it reaches out to teachers working in remote regions whose needs and input are often overlooked.

Teachers can play a leading role in efforts to help children associated with fighting forces, our most vulnerable citizens. With the protection and psychosocial needs of children in mind, teachers in emergency education programs are often front line responders-'"they are trained to communicate critical lifesaving messages to children that can protect them from threats of recruitment into armed forces, sexual or economic exploitation, and increased risks of contracting HIV/AIDS or other life threatening diseases. As such, teachers in war-torn regions comprise a unique and often overlooked group of providers who offer care, mentorship and psychosocial attention to their students, often with little or no institutional support. Liberia has only recently emerged from a brutal fifteen year civil war. Years of heavy fighting disrupted all aspects of political and social systems and the education sector was virtually decimated. With the end the of war in 2003, international funding has poured into Liberia for "emergency education" programs designed to rebuild and restore education programs, both in camps for internally displaced persons and elsewhere in the country. As part of these efforts, teacher training is being implemented rapidly and widely in all fifteen Liberian counties. Adult survivors of war from diverse regional, ethnic, linguistic, gender, age and teaching backgrounds are being trained quickly to fill urgently needed teaching positions. Using the everyday experiences of war-affected Liberian teachers as a site for examining the often insidious effects of conflict and violence, Janet plans to study teacher well-being in the (post) - conflict context, particularly in relation to coping and resiliency to various forms of social suffering. The research pays close attention to experiences in how policies and procedures developed by local and global social institutions affects (in)justices in teachers' daily lives.

Name: Isabel Martinez

Title: Transnational Dropouts: The Paradox of Mexican Teen Immigrants and School Enrollment

Faculty Sponsor: Aaron Pallas, Professor of Sociology and Education, Department of Human Development

This study will examine decision-making processes surrounding the "dropping-in" of school-age Mexican teen immigrants to United States schools while others opt to remain outside of formal school settings. While traditional explanations have focused solely on their material conditions or economic needs, this study proposes that other forces interact with their decision-making processes, including different contextual norms located in Mexico and the United States, including those concerning the life course, family, school policies and practices, etc. Anticipated results include the illumination of these forces, as well as the role of social capital in decision making processes.

Name: Marie Keem

Title: Identification and Adaption At and Through College

Faculty Sponsor: Hope Jensen Leichter, Elbenwood Professor of Education, Department of International and Transcultural Studies

This research will examine two American narratives regarding college attendance. It will examine 10 students who are the first in their families to attend college and 10 students whose parents did attend college. All of the participants in both groups will be of varying racial and ethnic heritages. One narrative considers college as an accepted stage of life or a rite of passage and says the student will have the "time of his life" at college. This includes learning about him- or herself, trying new things, discovering new interests and opinions, learning to be independent, and generally taking wing as an adult. Another narrative in relation to college attendance concerns upward social mobility through education. This narrative is about hard work and persistence leading to success. For those students who are living according to the first narrative their pursuits after college will represent continuity with the lives that other members of their families have lived, while for the students living the second narrative their paths will represent a break from the working lives of their parents and perhaps of their siblings as well.

The two higher education narratives both put pressure on the students who live them, and this pressure is intensified by attendance at an elite, selective college where the academic demands are challenging and where students' family backgrounds literally span the entire range of possible backgrounds in the United States. The research participants will be Columbia University undergraduate students currently enrolled in college, the focus will not be on if students can succeed, but on the ways that students do succeed.

Grant Review Committee

Janice S. Robinson, Chair-CCD, Madhabi Chatterji, Kevin Dougherty, Barbara Purnell, Stephania Vu

The Committee for Community and Diversity is pleased to announce the recipients of The President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

The awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity in the context of this award program is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving, for example, culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, disabilities.

The process was extremely competitive, as there were 21 proposals. The Grant Review Committee was uniformly impressed with the high-quality, innovativeness, important questions and relevant topics of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of TC students. Special thanks to Professors Celia Genishi and John Broughton for serving as the faculty advisors in the selection process.

Ultimately, two were selected as grant recipients with a $3,000 award: Audrey Bryan and Diane Caracciolo. Three were selected for honorable mention awards of $1,000: Anvita Madan-Bahel, Laura Valdiviezo, and Judy Yu.

Grant Recipients

Audrey Bryan
The Teaching of Intolerance: Interrogating the Construction of National and European Identity in Two Secondary Schools in Ireland and its Impact on Racialized Minorities.

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Aaron M. Pallas, Professor of Sociology and Education

An examination of the role of schooling in the production of (Irish) national and (European) supranational identity and its implications for racialized minorities in Ireland. Through a multi-site ethnographic case study of two secondary schools located in Dublin, the study seeks to explore how the multiple play of national, supranational racial-ethnic and other markers of identity interact in complex and contradictory ways. This project interrogates the extent to which racism, ethnocentrism, and eurocentrism are inscribed in purportedly neutral and tolerant nationalist, European and multiculturalist curricula, and in the schooling practices of two co-educational secondary schools in Dublin which differ according to their level of racial-ethnic diversity and the social class composition of the student body. By identifying contradictions, tensions and other "weak links" in the chain of the production of racism, this study will contribute to the development of truly inclusive and anti-racist schooling dynamics, policies, and practices that are sensitive to the reality of students' daily lives, and to the local and broader social contexts within schools and youth are embedded.

Diane Caracciolo
By Their Very Presence: A Collaborative Inquiry With Artists and Educators from Long Island's Shinnecock Nation

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Graeme Sullivan, Associate Professor of Art Education

This research will create a rationale for a teacher education/ professional development model that forges alliances among Long Island public school educators, teacher preparation programs, and the local Native community. In engaging Native and Non-Native partners in a critique of current curricular materials with an eye towards reform, this project will also explore new research paradigms arising from indigenous scholarship, particularly through collaborative inquiry that includes silenced voices found outside of traditional academic settings. Such collaborations, grounded as they are on respect for diverse perspectives, offers a replicable model for necessary curricular reform, one that not only impacts the ways in which Long Island teachers and children learn about the history, culture, and contemporary lives of the first peoples of their island community, but also the ways in which teacher preparation programs across the nation can critically address issues of inclusion and diversity-through collaboration with the often excluded, misrepresented voices within their communities.

Honorable Mention

Anvita Madan-Bahel
Development and Evaluation of a Sexual Health Program for South Asian Youth

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Christine J. Yeh, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education

This study seeks to develop and evaluate a sexual health program for South Asian female youth. The investigation's purpose is to evaluate whether a culturally appropriate program is effective in promoting positive sexual health, changing attitudes, and beliefs towards sex, sexuality, and sexual violence, and in the increasing awareness of the barriers towards seeking help and services available. The program will meet weekly for 9 weeks at a South Asian youth organization and will include 12-16 participants. It will use film clips from popular Indian cinema (Bollywood) to generate discussion around topics. This technique will be used to create a more culturally sensitive environment for the participants.

Laura Valdiviezo
Interculturality: The Construction of Ethnicity, Culture, and Diversity in Peruvian Bilingual Education Programs

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Lesley Bartlett, Assistant Professor of Education

The research aims to understand how indigenous rural teachers make sense of the bilingual intercultural educational policy through their teaching practices in the reality of their classrooms. Thus, the goal is to study these teachers' local perspectives hoping to shed light on an educational policy explicitly designed to demarginalize indigenous populations, but that, nonetheless, has missed at the core of its design the views and will of indigenous people.

Judy Yu
Where is Asian American Studies in K-12 Education

Faculty Sponsor: A. Lin Goodwin, Associate Professor

The goal of this qualitative and participatory research is designed to explore the personal and collaborative experiences of six Chinese immigrant middle school students in a Chinese American history curriculum in New York City. This case study illuminates Chinese American children's experiences in a program that will interrogate and deconstruct traditional American history and social science education that has historically excluded perspectives of minority groups from its curriculum. The research will also examine the diversity of Asian American children's educational experiences and needs by investigating their production of material artifacts, oral history, and personal narratives. Finally, from this study school officials and teachers may use student's material artifacts and personal narratives to inform them on various curricula designs, models, and practices that are relevant to all students' lives.

Grant Review Committee

Janice S. Robinson, Chair-CCD
Kim Boulanger
John Broughton
Lisa Miller
Sofia Pertuz
Barbara Purnell
Maria Torres-Guzman
Marianne Tramelli

The Committee for Community and Diversity is pleased to announce the recipients of The President's Grant for Student Research in Diversity.

The awards provide support for outstanding student research projects related to diversity in research, teaching, learning, or community building. Diversity in the context of this award program is broadly defined and includes the exploration of multiple perspectives involving, for example, culture(s), language(s), gender, sexual orientation, race-ethnicity, disabilities.

The process was extremely competitive, as there were more than double the proposals submitted from the previous year. The Grant Review Committee was uniformly impressed with the high-quality, innovativeness, important questions and relevant topics of the proposals submitted. Spanning a broad spectrum of diversity, the proposals truly attest to the varied and meaningful scholarship on the part of TC students. Special thanks to Professors Celia Genishi and John Broughton for serving as the faculty advisors in the selection process.

Ultimately, two were selected as grant recipients with a $3,000 award: Hui Soo Chae and John David Connor. Three were selected for honorable mention awards of $1,000: Kryssi Staikidis, Sarah A. Strauss and Terri S. Wilson.

Grant Recipients

Hui Soo Chae
Faculty Sponsor: Michelle G. Knight

Using Critical Asian Theory to Deconstruct Master Narratives of Korean American Students in Secondary School and Empower Korean American Youth toward Social Action/Justice

The research project examines the social and education experiences of five Korean American, working-class/poor, secondary school students. The youth perspectives will provide new ways of interpreting and understanding the relationships between Korean American students' multiple identities, their various social worlds, and their educational experiences. Simultaneously, these narratives will enable educators to rethink dominant assumptions about Asian American youth and start addressing the educational needs of working-class/poor Korean American students. Finally, in-depth studies of working-class/poor Korean American students' lives will provide additional understandings of how students at the "margins" resist the debilitating effects of schooling on their identities and school achievement.

John David Connor
Faculty Sponsor: Kim Reid

Labeled "Learning Disabled": Life In and Out of School for Black and/or Latino(a) Working Class Urban Youth

The study's purpose is to learn how working class Black and Latino(a) urban youth labeled as having learning dis/Abilities (LD) describe the ways they come to understand their positionality in the discourse of LD through their lived experience. By viewing LD as a social construction that often results in restrictive implications for Black and /or Latino(a) urban working-class students (compared to, for example, White, middle-class, suburban students), the researcher seeks to highlight the complexities of life at the intersections. By unearthing and foregrounding traditionally subjugated voices that are noticeably absent in professional literature, this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the phenomena of living with the label LD, particularly for urban Black and/or Latino(a) working class youth.

Honorable Mention

Kryssi Staikidis
Faculty Sponsor: Graeme Sullivan

Looking Toward Tzutuhil Ways of Knowing - Painting, Pedagogy and Mentorship:
A Collaboration Between Artists

This ethnographic participant-observation study will describe and discuss the perspective of a North-American painter regarding the influence of a mentorship learning experience with two Tzutuhil Mayan painters. It will also examine the methods of artistic studio practice and pedagogy among Tzutuhil painters whose work takes place in a non-formal learning context in which artwork is made in the home and surrounding community.

Sarah A. Strauss
Faculty Sponsor: Aaron Pallas

Same-Sex Sexual Attraction, Suicidality, and the School Environment:
Extending Hirschi's Theory of Social Control

The researcher hypothesizes that GLB youth suicidality is related to the environments in which they live. Specifically, the researcher proposes that GLB youth suicidality can be understood by using a model utilized to explain delinquency. The dominant theories of delinquency are, however, incomplete. By analyzing data from the 1994-1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health through the lens of an expanded conception of social control theory (Hirschi, 1969) that includes the social context, this study seeks to explore the process that results in high rates of GLB youth suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. The results of this research will have implications for educators' efforts to address the needs of GLB youth in American high schools and will seek to improve its ability to explain delinquent behavior in our society.

Terri S. Wilson

Faculty Sponsor: David Hansen

The Jane Addams School for Democracy:
A Case Study of How Teachers and Immigrant Parents Conceptualize their Work to Build School-Community Partnerships

This research project investigates a particular school-community partnership between the Jane Addams School for Democracy, a grassroots popular education initiative involving immigrant families, and the public schools within its surrounding community. In particular, the researcher examines how teachers and parents employ a family of concepts (school, community, teacher, learner, involvement) to meet similar and collaborative aims. This study investigates the language used by parents and teachers to describe shared community-building work, the ways this language differs (and doesn't) across groups and cultures, and how both groups assign different meanings to the same concepts.

CCD Grant Review Committee

Christy Bagwell
Professor John Broughton
Katherine Cuevas
Yvonne Destin
Professor Celia Genishi
Richard Keller
Mark Noizumi
Sophia Pertuz
Barbara Purnell
Janice S. Robinson
Michael T. Spratt
Marianne Tramelli