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

05/07/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

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 Alumna Angélica García-Macías Accorded Ford Fellowship Honorable Mention

04/13/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Angelica Garcia Macias Ford Foundation HM

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Angélica García-Macías! The Ford Foundation found Angélica's application to their pre-doctoral fellowship particularly strong and wanted her to recieve special recognition on their Honorable Mention List. This is commendable, for while Angélica was not one of the 75 recipients of the fellowship, her application stood out near the top amongst 2,228! Angélica graduated in 2020 with a major in Political Science with an emphasis in Pre-Law and minors in Spanish and Chicano Studies. In 2020 she was acknowledged for her strong academic record and demonstration of outstanding leadership qualities with the Frances B. Huston Award. She was accepted by four graduate programs and began the Political Science PhD program at the University of California, Irvine in Fall 2020 with full funding.

Angélica's research focuses on Latinx community involvement in politics and solutions to increase Latinx political participation. For her 2018 EWU McNair Summer Research Internship, she studied housing discrimination in the Latinx community with the mentorship of Dr. Martín Meráz García. Then in 2019, she was awarded a summer research internship at MIT. There, under the mentorship of Dr. Charles Stewart III, she researched the electoral behavior of the Latiné community.

EWU McNair is so proud of Angélica's continued accomplishments and we're excited to see what she does next!

Thinking about Graduate School?

09/22/2020 by Garcia, Christina Leave a Comment

Hello Eags! Have you thought about attending graduate school?

EWU TRIO McNair Program is seeking for first-generation, low-income students who would like to do a summer research internship guided by a Faculty Mentor, apply for graduate school and attend right after college! If you like to know more, please visit our Website: https://inside.ewu.edu/mcnair/ or send an email: to Dra. Christina Torres Garcia: cgarcia1@ewu.edu

Apply Now!

EWU McNair Scholar Lily Ann Long Awarded Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award

05/26/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

EWU McNair Scholar Lily Ann Long receives Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award.

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Lily Ann Long! Lily Ann has been selected to receive the Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award for the College of Social Sciences, Psychology. This award is presented to exceptional students who have shown a commitment to their education by demonstrating outstanding academic achievement with a minimum of a 3.75 GPA in their previous four quarters and through leadership and service to the community. Lily Ann has interned at First Call for Help Spokane as a crisis advocate where she answered crisis calls as well as organizing and implementing training for new volunteers. From December 2019 through June 2020 Lily Ann has continued her crisis advocacy through Crisis Text Line United States. She has also volunteered as an EWU Student Mentor for Cheney Middle School, a crisis advocate at the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery, and a warming shelter volunteer at the Seattle Dinner Church. She holds an Activist in Residence Training Certificate as well as a Certificate in Suicide Prevention.

Beyond her exceptional community involvement, Lily Ann is a brilliant, hard working scholar. She is a senior at EWU majoring in Psychology with a minor in Applied Developmental Psychology. Throughout her time at Eastern, Lily Ann has received the Len Stern Endowed Research Award, a College Bound Scholarship, and an EWU McNair Summer Research Internship. She has been on the EWU Dean's List from Fall 2015 through graduation, and the Excellent Student Leader Award from the Department of Political Science and International Affairs. She is also a member of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.

Lily Ann has done extensive research while at Eastern. Her research interests include marginalization, stigmatization, attachment disorders, and suicide prevention. She is a research assistant in both Dr. Martin's Social Psychology Lab and Dr. Kolts' Clinical Pscyhology Research Lab. As a part of Dr. Theresa Martin's Psychology 313 Research Methods course, Lily Ann designed and completed a quantitative study of the impact of the EWU Psychology curriculum on students' stigmatization of mental health disorders. Through independent study with Dr. Kolts she is exploring the co-occurrence of complex trauma and childhood gender dysphoria and how it relates to adult gender identity. In addition, she collected, synthesized, and presented research on prospective donors for EWU Advancement Services.

As a McNair Scholar, Lily Ann has committed to attaining a Ph.D. Beyond all of her above research, to further prepare for her Ph.D., she completed an EWU McNair Summer Research Internship under the mentorship of Dr. Aryn Zeihnert where she began a research project on shame as a function of academic distress in populations of first-generation, low-income, and minority students. She also worked as a Teaching Assistant for Dr. Zeihnert from the spring of 2019 through Winter 2020. Finaaly, Lily Ann presented the research she worked on with Dr. Martin, "Ghosting as a Dissolution Tactic in Romantic Relationships," at the EWU Symposium in 2019. To read more about Lily Ann and her research check out her webpage on the McNair site.

Lily Ann has been accepted into Point Park University's PsyD Program and plans to attend in the fall of 2020. EWU McNair is so proud of Lily Ann and all of her hard work. We know she will have a continued powerful impact on the field of psychology and beyond!

EWU McNair Scholar Abdulrazik Mohamed Awarded Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award

05/20/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Abdulrazik Mohamed! Abdu has been selected to receive the Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award for the College of Social Sciences, International Affairs. This award is presented to exceptional students who have shown a commitment to their education by demonstrating outstanding academic achievement with a minimum of a 3.75 GPA in their previous four quarters and through leadership and service to the community. Abdu is the founder and president of the International Affairs Community club at EWU. He is the Chapter Vice President for the National Society of Leadership and Success where he helps support new members and train them on leadership skills. Outside of school, Abdu works with refugee youth who do not have families or parents in the U.S. For the last three years he has helped teach them independent living skills they need to navigate the US such as homework, cooking, transportation, and job searching. In addition, he's volunteered for World Relief, Habitat for Humanity, and for the Mobile Food Bank.

Beyond his exceptional community involvement, Abdu is a brilliant, hard working scholar. He is a senior at EWU majoring in International Affairs. Throughout his time at Eastern, Abdu has received the Clarence and Elizabeth Wynia Scholarship, the Robert and Randi Neilson Scholarship, two EWU McNair Summer Research Internships, and the Excellent Student Leader Award from the Department of Political Science and International Affairs. He has also been invited to lecture in several classes on his research on Darfur, refugee resettlement, and life in refugee camps.

As a McNair Scholar, Abdu has committed to attaining a Ph.D. To prepare for this, he completed two summers of research internships at EWU under the mentorship of Dr. Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted. Abdu's research focuses on the conflict in Darfur and perceptions of that conflict. He has presented his research at multiple conferences including the 8th Annual International Symposium on Women and Genocide in the 21st Century: The case for Darfur and the Black Doctoral Network Conference, where he received an honorable mention for his poster presentation. To read more about Abdu and his research check out his webpage on the McNair site.

Abdu has been accepted into the Masters in Global Governance, Politics, and Security at American University, the Masters in Peace and Justice Studies at San Diego University, the Masters of International Affairs program at Penn State University, and the International Relations PhD program at Florida International University with full funding. Penn State awarded Abdu a Director Scholarship providing significant funding for two years. Moreover, Abdu was selected for a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, this provides funds to help cover institutional costs and a subsistence allowance, which Abdu can take to any university! Abdu plans to attend Florida International University in the fall of 2020.

McNair is so proud of Abdu and all of his hard work. We know he will have a continued powerful impact on academia and on the global community as he pursues a graduate education and beyond!

EWU McNair Scholar Madelyn Brown Awarded Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award

05/07/2020 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Madelyn Brown! Madelyn has been selected to receive the Dean Jeffers W. Chertok Honored Student Award for the College of Social Sciences, History. This award is presented to exceptional students who have shown a commitment to their education by demonstrating outstanding academic achievement with a minimum of a 3.75 GPA in their previous four quarters and through leadership and service to the community. Madelyn is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society, the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and the Native American Student Association at EWU. She also created an exhibit for the Joel E. Ferris Research Archives at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane. In high school Madelyn volunteered at her local library as a member of their Teen Advisory Board, participated in clothing and food drives, and volunteered with Northwest Harvest and the Seattle Homeless Coalition.

Beyond her exceptional community involvement, Madelyn is an amazing scholar. She is a senior at EWU pursuing a major in History with an emphasis on American Indian Studies. In 2018 Madelyn was awarded the Gingolyx Village Government scholarship for academic excellence. As a McNair Scholar, Madelyn has committed to attaining her Ph.D. To prepare for this, she completed a summer research internship at EWU under the mentorship of Dr. Christina Torres García and PhD candidate SimHayKin S. Jack, an alumni of the EWU McNair Scholars Program. Madelyn's research focuses on Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and it's historical influence on ecological care techniques utilized by Northwest tribal communities. She has published two articles in the Spokane Historical, a web and mobile platform for telling stories of Spokane and Eastern Washington and a project of the Public History program at Eastern Washington University. To read more about Madelyn and her research check out her webpage on the McNair site.

Madelyn has been accepted into 7 Masters programs: the MA program in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies at Trent University, the Masters of History program at George Mason University, the American Indian Studies Masters program at Arizona State University, the Masters of History program at Western University in Canada, the Masters of History program at Washington State University, the Masters of History program at the University of Oregon, and the Masters of History program at Claremont Graduate University! She was offer funding at 4 of these universities, and full funding in most cases. Madelyn plans to attend the University of Oregon in the fall of 2020.

In response to receiving this award, Madelyn said, "I would like to thank the History department and the EWU McNair Scholars program for their encouragement, particularly Dr. Ann Le Bar, Dr. Christina Torres García, Dr. Nydia Martinez, and Dr. Bill Youngs." McNair is so proud of Madelyn and all of her hard work. We know she will have a continued powerful impact on academia and in her communities as she pursues a graduate education and beyond!