EWU logo

    • Apply
    • Academics
    • Athletics
    • Calendar
    • Community
    • About
    • InsideEWU
    • Canvas
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

TRIO Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program

Eastern Washington University

  • Home
  • About McNair
    • About TRiO and Ronald E. McNcnair
    • Meet Our Scholars
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Map
  • Annual Overview
    • Annual Overview 2021
    • Annual Overview 2020
  • McNair Research
  • Faculty Mentors
    • Our McNair Research Faculty Mentors
    • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
    • Professors: Help Students Prepare For Life After Graduation
  • Prospective Students
    • Applying to EWU McNair
    • EWU McNair Scholars: Student Resources
    • McNair Graduate Assistantships
    • 2021 Social Justice in Research Panel
  • Spring Gathering

Dr. Yvonne Sherwood

Join us for the EWU McNair Alumni Social Justice in Research Panel

05/28/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Social Justice in Research with EWU McNair Alumni. Join us to hear these panelists June 2nd, 9 am.

McNair is a federally funded TRIO program intended to diversify academia by providing support to low income and first-generation students and/or students racially underrepresented in higher education on their path towards attaining a PhD. To date 41 EWU McNair alumni have gone on to earn their PhD and many are currently in graduate school getting closer to that goal. Our scholars are doing incredible work in their communities, both in school and once they've earned their degree. They are also making powerful change in academia. One piece of this is rethinking and implementing research practices that are more liberatory and whose aim is to create a more just world.

 

We are honored to have EWU McNair Alumni Dr. Laura Zamudio-Orozco, Dr. Frank C. King Jr., Dr. Yvonne Sherwood, and Dr. S. Omar Jobe join us for a panel on "Social Justice in Research" facilitated by EWU McNair Directora Dra. Christina Torres Garcia. This year EWU McNair and CSTEM collaborated to host a research symposium to ensure undergraduate students had the opportunity to present their research. This panel will be the plenary session kicking off the symposium at 9 am on June 2nd.

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

 

The panelists have a wide range of research, including Afrocentric philosophy, Indigenous Feminism, Mathematics education, and medical devices. We were fortunate enough to talk with panelists in advance of the session where they shared some of their insights on the topic. EWU McNair Alumna Dr. Zamudio-Orozco, who earned her PhD in Mathematics Education and is now an Assistant Professor and the McNair Program Director at Heritage University, says, "I see research as a tool to work with our multiple communities to highlight social injustices and issues that we are facing and also to highlight the strength and knowledge in our communities."

 

Dr. Jobe, Senior Manager in Medical Science Liaison at Edwards Lifesciences, relates what social justice looks like in his field of medical research. "Far too often, gross inequities mean that some groups succumb to disease and death disproportionately, while others’ advantages protect them, due to disparities in health care provision, political persecution, social strife, racial discrimination, and a plethora of other factors.  My company makes medical devices for structural heart diseases and social justice in that sense means I have to do everything in my power to make sure our research and clinical trials represent the make up of the country and our devices are accessible and affordable to all."

 

In addition, panelists were asked about how to be a good mentor and how to take the most advantage of research as a student. Dr. King, Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a Program Coordinator for Ethnic Studies, advises "Remember that it is the student's project. We have to find a way to help the student find their voice. We can challenge them. We can maybe even say how difficult or impossible the topic will be. But we have to let them find their way."

 

Dr. Sherwood, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, shares this insight for students involved in research: "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."

 

To hear more from these outstanding and insightful panelists, join us for the panel and click on their name above to read the full pre-panel interview with each candidate. You can register for free to attend this amazing discussion.

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

Filed Under: 2019-2020 PhDs, 2020-21 Presentations, All Majors, Alumni, Alumni Spotlight, EWU McNair PhD's, News, Research, Scholars Tagged With: Dr. Frank C. King Jr., Dr. Laura Zamudio-Orozco, Dr. S Omar Jobe, Dr. Yvonne Sherwood, EWU Alum, EWU McNair Program, EWU McNair Scholar, Research, Social Justice

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!

Filed Under: Alumni, Alumni Spotlight, American Indian Studies, Chicano Studies, EWU McNair PhD's, News, Research, Scholars, Sociology, Women's and Gender Studies Tagged With: Dr. Yvonne Sherwood, EWU Alum, EWU McNair Program, EWU McNair Scholar, Research, Social Justice

  • McNair
  • Apply
  • Mentors
Eastern Washington University
509.359.6200 • Contact Information
EWU expands opportunities for personal transformation through excellence in learning.
  • About EWU
  • Accessibility
  • Campus Map
  • Visit EWU
  • Diversity
  • InsideEWU
  • EWU Libraries
  • Jobs
  • Campus Locations
  • Canvas
  • Leadership
  • EWU Foundation
  • Privacy Policy
  • Rules Docket

© 2022 Eastern Washington University