Congratulations to new McNair Scholar Terreca DeFehr! Terreca was selected by the McNair Scholars’ selection committee on the basis of her passion for research, commitment to attaining a PhD, and overall potential for success in graduate school.
The federally-funded TRIO Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at EWU selects motivated and talented juniors and seniors who are first-generation and low-income college students, and/or from groups underrepresented at the doctoral level to introduce them to academic research and provide them with effective strategies for getting into and graduating from PhD programs.
Terreca will graduate from Eastern Washington University in 2024, with a major in Psychology and a minor in Industrial and Organizational psychology. She is a first-generation college student. Her summer 2023 research will analyze an existing data set, “Work-Family And Family-Work Conflict As A Function Of Role Commitment And Core Self-Evaluation” with Dr. Jill Seiver as her mentor. Her experience in navigating and reunifying with her family in the Child Welfare system Dependency court system has led her to work as a parent with lived expertise. She has been instrumental in the movement in Washington since 2007. Her leadership has opened doors for parents as professionals for system change. In 2020, she honed in on her organizational leadership by simultaneously restructuring a parent lead program she coordinates and a statewide committee she facilitates. Her abilities for change management led to the development, implementation, recruitment, and sustaining increased involvement of parents and community partners, training, workgroups, and successful outcomes in hopes to create a more just and equitable system for families.
Building on her current work with parents with lived Child Welfare experience, Terreca’s interest in Industrial-Organizational psychology and Organization leadership can provide valuable insights into effective management and leadership practices within the organization. Pursuing a Ph.D. will allow her to deepen her understanding of these fields and conduct research that can contribute to improving outcomes for parents and families involved in the Child Welfare system and lived experts coming into the field as professionals.
