Application

Course Overview: A general description of your course topic, including how and why you have chosen to participate in this independent study project.

In my course, I will explore an advocacy and empowerment mentorship framework and write a practitioner piece on how it can guide mentors who work with undergraduate researchers. This collaboration includes Sophie Pierszalowski and Allison Perez on the Undergraduate Research Program Staff at the University of Washington — both of whom I work with as an Undergraduate Research Leader — and Jeff Kenney and Scott Vignos in the Office of Institutional Diversity Staff at Oregon State University.

 

Jeff and Scott developed the framework, which outlines how mentors can balance components of advocacy (institutional intervention, community care, education, and cultural change) and empowerment (self-advocacy, self-care, education, and personal growth). However, they have yet to publish this framework nor enact it in the context of promoting high-quality research mentorship. Given my interest in these topics, Sophie introduced me to the idea of writing a publication together, and I was ecstatic to join.

 

My mentorship experiences inspired me to participate in this project. As I engaged in peer mentoring or worked with faculty mentors in clinical psychology and neuroscience research, I became increasingly appreciative of how mentorships help both parties grow. However, I have also learned how challenging it is for mentors to balance advocacy and empowerment and for students to understand what that balance looks like. This is especially the case in the research setting, where the quality of a mentoring relationship can impact the career trajectory of a budding scientist. I hope to address these gaps by applying my communication skills and incorporating my perspective as an undergraduate researcher through this publication.

 

Although we are still in the ideation stage, some topics we plan to cover are particularly interesting to me. One topic is how cognitive development can complicate how mentors and students show up in the advocacy and empowerment framework. For example, a student who thinks highly of authority and has a simplistic perspective on the world may compel their mentor into heavy advocacy, even though it may be better for them also to be empowered. Another topic focuses on how psychosocial development can shape people's needs in mentoring relationships. Considering my background in neuroscience, I am fascinated by how development can influence peoples’ negotiation of advocacy and empowerment and look forward to investigating this further.

 

Beyond acquiring more knowledge about such topics, my project will be an incredible professional opportunity for me. This will be my first publication as an undergraduate student, and I feel grateful to be able to explore the intersection of writing, mentorship, and research. This will also open doors to other opportunities, such as presenting at conferences and developing mentor training workshops, which will bring me closer to my dream career in research, science communication, and teaching.

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Learning Objectives: What do you hope to achieve through this project? What questions will you consider? What resources will you use?

Through this project, I hope to 1) critically analyze literature, 2) identify how topics such as cognitive development and cultural awareness complicate mentoring relationships, 3) gain experience writing for a practitioner audience and undergoing the peer review process, 4) strengthen my communication skills in design, oral, and written formats, and 5) incorporate aspects of the advocacy and empowerment framework into my mentoring relationships.

Along the way, I will consider the following questions: What are the similarities and differences between advocacy and empowerment? What happens if a mentor leans too heavily on advocacy or empowerment? How does cognitive and psychosocial development impact an individual's preferences and needs in a mentoring relationship? What challenges come with research mentoring relationships, and how can we address them? How can mentors and students use the framework to attend class, gender, and social dynamics?

To achieve my learning objectives and answer my questions, I will select suitable journals for our manuscript, conduct a literature search, engage in collaborative writing and editing, design creative and informative figures, and participate in team meetings. Since Sophie has published practitioner pieces, she will be a great resource as I navigate the peer review and publication process. The UW Libraries and Zotero, a reference management software that helps organize and cite research articles, will also be useful for my literature search.

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Assignments: Include expectations and due dates.

Sophie and I will maintain a shared folder, where I will submit all my assignments by 11:59 PM every Friday. Reading assignments and literature searches have the added requirement of writing bullet-point summaries for each article. Writing each section of the manuscript will be a collaborative process with Sophie and Allison, with Jeff and Scott contributing as needed. Any edits that I make to our manuscript will be tracked with the suggesting mode on Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

Week 1 (9/28-10/2)
Find suitable journals and submission requirements (format, word length, etc.), generate a pros and cons list for each, and discuss selection with Allison and Sophie

Week 2 (10/3-10/9)
Complete reading assignments and review articles that are in a similar format to ours

Week 3 (10/10-10/16)
Conduct literature search and write "Navigating barriers in research mentorship"

Week 4 (10/17-10/23)
Conduct literature search and write "Introduction to the advocacy and empowerment framework"

Week 5 (10/24-10/30)
Conduct literature search, write "Translating the framework into the context of undergraduate research mentoring," and edit previous sections

Week 6 (10/31-11/6)
Conduct literature search, write "Cautions for mentors," and edit previous sections

Week 7 (11/7-11/13)
Conduct literature search, write "The student perspective," and edit previous sections

Week 8 (11/14-11/20)
Conduct literature search, write "Conclusion," and edit previous sections

Week 9 (11/21-11/27)
Edit manuscript, design figures for "Translating the framework into the context of undergraduate research mentoring," and write abstract

Week 10 (11/28-12/4)
Edit manuscript, design figures for "The student perspective," and write abstract

Week 11 (12/5-12/11)
Complete final revisions and write cover letter to journal editor

Finals Week (12/12-12/16)
Submit manuscript to journal and my final reflection (written summary of my work and what I learned from this experience)

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Weekly Schedule: Include reading assignments, activities, progress toward overall objectives, instructor meetings, contact points, etc.

Sophie and I will have a brief check-in meeting every week and an extended check-in during Week 5 to assess my progress towards my objectives. We plan to invite Allison as needed and collaborate mostly asynchronously with Jeff and Scott. We will also communicate over email and shared documents throughout the week.

The reading assignments for Week 2 include the following references, which guided Jeff and Scott's development of their advocacy and empowerment framework.
- Boysen, G. (2012). Teacher and student perceptions of microaggressions in college classrooms. College Teaching, 60(3), 122-129. 
- Kawakami, K., Dunn, E., Karmali, F., & Dovidio, J. (2009). Mispredicting affective and behavioral responses to racism. Science, 323(5911), 276. 
- McCabe, J. (2009). Racial and gender microaggressions on a predominantly-white campus: Experiences of Black, Latina/o and white undergraduates. Race, Gender & Class, 16(1-2), 133-151.
- Nadal, K., Wong, Griffi, Davidoff, Sriken (2014). The adverse impact of racial macroaggressions on college students' self-esteem. Journal of College Student Development, 55(5), 461-474.
- Rose, S. M. (1990). Advocacy/empowerment: An approach to clinical practice for social work. J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare, 17, 41.
- Rose, S. M. (2000). Reflections on empowerment-based practice. Social work, 45(5), 403-412.
- Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 
- Yosso, T., Smith, W., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. (2009). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659-691
- Miller, R. A., Guida, T., Smith, S., Ferguson, S. K., & Medina, E. (2018). A balancing act: Whose interests do bias response teams serve? The Review of Higher Education, 42(1), 313-337.
- Miller, R. A., Guida, T., Smith, S., Ferguson, S. K., & Medina, E. (2018). Free speech tensions: Responding to bias on college and university campuses. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 55(1), 27-39.

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Grading: Outline how the course will be graded, rubrics for assignments or final projects, etc.

Assignments will be divided into the following categories. Sophie will grade my assignments for completion and effort, and record all grades and feedback in a shared spreadsheet. 

10% Journal search
10% Literature search
10% Figure design
40% Writing/editing
30% Final reflection

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