TRIO Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Eastern Washington University

Sociology

EWU McNair Scholar Alexis Guizar-Diaz Awarded Teaching Assistantship at PSU

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Alexis Guizar Diaz Fellowship Award 2021

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Alexis Lisandro Guizar-Diaz. Alexis has been awarded a Teaching Assistantship at Portland State University with full funding for three years. He was accepted to the Sociology PhD program at Portland Statue University and plans to attend there in the fall of 2022.

 

Alexis graduated this spring with a major in Sociology and a minor in Philosophy. His key research interests are political economy, rural & agrarian communities, and Latina/o/x populations. He is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Co-Chairman of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán. Last year he received a Orlinda H. (Rogel) Luiten Scholarship. He was also a recipient of a 2020 Eastern Washington University Summer Research Internship through the McNair Scholars Program. For this Alexis conducted research in Washington’s Columbia Basin under the mentorship of Dr. Edwin Elias from the EWU Department of Race and Culture Studies, culminating in his paper Indentured Servitude in the 21st Century? A Case Study on Agricultural Labor Employment in the Columbia Basin. He has continued to do research throughout the 2020-2021 school year on Designing Positive Workplace Interventions for Washington Farmworker: Listening to Farmworkers Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Click here to read more about Alexis and his research.

 

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Alexis and we know he'll do amazing things at whichever graduate program he decides to attend!

Meet Social Justice in Research Panelist – EWU McNair Alumna Dr. Yvonne Sherwood

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Dr. Yvonne Sherwood Social Justice Panel 2021

We are honored to have EWU McNair Alumna Dr. Yvonne Sherwood, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, joining us for our "Social Justice in Research" Plenary Session on June 2, at 9 am (register for free here). Dr. Sherwood will join 3 other EWU McNair alumni in this panel preceding the EWU Online Symposium, a collaboration between McNair and CSTEM. In addition to her role as an Assistant Professor, Dr. Sherwood is an incoming committee member of the Canadian Sociological Association Decolonization Subcommittee and a member of UTM's Vice President & Principal's Indigenous Initiative working group. She earned her PhD in Sociology with a designated emphasis in feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Sherwood graduated from EWU in 2011 with a double major in Sociology and Women and Gender Studies, with minors in American Indian Studies and Chicanx Studies, which she notes as important studies that continue to inform her research. Below is an interview with Dr. Sherwood about what she's doing now and some of her thoughts on social justice and research.

Our Interview with Dr. Yvonne Sherwood:

What work are you doing now?

My days are filled with writing and research. In sociology, I teach Indigenous Peoples: Legal Orders and Law and Indigenous Rights, Resistance, and Resurgence. My research focuses on Indigenous Feminisms, Settler Colonialism, Sovereignty, and Anti-Colonial Movements."

What does “Social Justice in Research” mean to you?

Starts with the fundamental recognition that all knowledge production is political, and therefore no science is "objective" and "pure."  From there, "justice" is grounded in and through our relations and responsibilities to our relatives - both human and more-than-human."

How did your undergraduate research experience prepare you for the next steps you have taken?

Though my work continues to change and develop with my understanding of the evolving socio-political context and research, I think a great deal of my work remains tethered to questions that I began asking before I was ever an official student in a university. These are questions like, Why is the environment (land, air, and water) so degraded in our communities? Why do we experience so much violence in our homes and neighborhoods? Why are "we" (Indigenous Peoples) statistically more likely to experience "x, y, and z" in our lives? What can I do about it? As a feminist and sociologist, I've learned these questions are fundamentally about power. My undergraduate research helped me to learn that power shapes the questions we ask, the resources put forward to address particular questions, and who gets to then answer those questions. I have continued to keep this in mind in both my own scholarship and mentoring."

What advice would you give to an undergraduate researcher?

Read: Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide by Torie Weiston-Serdan. Find strength in knowing you (and your community) are not the deficit despite that much of the dominant narrative places us (marginalized and racialized communities) as needing to be "saved" by schooling and mentorship. You are our strength. Trust yourself and trust your network."

What advice would you give to an undergraduate faculty research mentor?

Read: Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide by Torie Weiston-Serdan. This is a practical guide on how to best support young scholars and join the next generation of scientists rallying for change."

Click here to register for the free "Social Justice in Research" panel on June 2nd at 9 am!

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee Accepted by Sixth Graduate Program

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Theresa Lee Graduate School Acceptances 2021 DEN

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee! Theresa has been accepted by the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies in the their Masters of Public Policy program. This includes a prestigious Faculty Recognition Scholarship which were only awarded to a select few Masters students. Theresa has already been accepted by five other programs: the Sociology PhD Program at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the Criminology, Law, and Justice Masters Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Criminology and Criminal Justice PhD Program at the University of South Carolina, the Sociology PhD program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and the Sociology PhD at Bowling Greene State University with full funding. Theresa researches incarceration, recidivism and community reentry with a particular interest in unforeseen consequences of incarceration. Through her two EWU McNair Summer Research Internships (2019, 2020) she worked with her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton to complete her research: Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community. She went on to present a poster of her research at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) conference with the support of her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton in the fall of 2019 as well as at the EWU Virtual Symposium in 2020.

 

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Theresa and we know she'll do amazing things at whichever graduate program she decides to attend! Click here to read more about Theresa or her research.

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee Accepted by University of Wisconsin PhD Program

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Theresa Lee Graduate School Acceptances 2021 WI

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee! Theresa has been accepted by the Sociology PhD Program at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, a top-tier Research 1 institution. In addition, she was awarded a McNair Graduate Entrance Fellowship. This is Theresa's fifth acceptance! She has also been accepted by the Criminology, Law, and Justice Masters Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Criminology and Criminal Justice PhD Program at the University of South Carolina, the Sociology PhD program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and the Sociology PhD at Bowling Greene State University with full funding. Theresa researches incarceration, recidivism and community reentry with a particular interest in unforeseen consequences of incarceration. Through her two EWU McNair Summer Research Internships (2019, 2020) she worked with her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton to complete her research: Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community. She went on to present a poster of her research at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) conference with the support of her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton in the fall of 2019 as well as at the EWU Virtual Symposium in 2020.

 

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Theresa and we know she'll do amazing things at whichever graduate program she decides to attend! Click here to read more about Theresa or her research.

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee Accepted by University of Illinois Masters Program

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Theresa Lee Graduate School Acceptances 2021 UIC

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee! Theresa has been accepted by the Criminology, Law, and Justice Masters Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This is Theresa's fourth acceptance! She has also been accepted by the Criminology and Criminal Justice PhD Program at the University of South Carolina, the Sociology PhD program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and the Sociology PhD at Bowling Greene State University with full funding. Theresa researches incarceration, recidivism and community reentry with a particular interest in unforeseen consequences of incarceration. Through her two EWU McNair Summer Research Internships (2019, 2020) she worked with her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton to complete her research: Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community. She went on to present a poster of her research at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) conference with the support of her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton in the fall of 2019 as well as at the EWU Virtual Symposium in 2020.

 

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Theresa and we know she'll do amazing things at whichever graduate program she decides to attend! Click here to read more about Theresa or her research.

EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee Accepted by Criminology and Criminal Justice PhD Program

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Theresa Lee Graduate School Acceptances 2021 SC

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Theresa Lee! Theresa has been accepted by the Criminology and Criminal Justice PhD Program at the University of South Carolina. This is Theresa's third acceptance. She has also been accepted by the Sociology PhD program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and the Sociology PhD at Bowling Greene State University with full funding. Theresa researches incarceration, recidivism and community reentry with a particular interest in unforeseen consequences of incarceration. Through her two EWU McNair Summer Research Internships (2019, 2020) she worked with her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton to complete her research: Prisoner Reentry: College Perceptions of Reentry Barriers in a Northwest Community. She went on to present a poster of her research at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) conference with the support of her mentor Dr. Lindsey Upton in the fall of 2019 as well as at the EWU Virtual Symposium in 2020.

 

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Theresa and we know she'll do amazing things at whichever graduate program she decides to attend! Click here to read more about Theresa or her research.