There are broad, systemic inequalities that affect students’ learning outcomes and post-education success. I became of these in the summer before my senior year of my undergraduate degree, which has led me to understand how pervasive they are and take action to ameliorate them. That summer, I volunteered as a mentor for Gateway to Success program at Arcadia University. In this program, I worked closely with a group of students who needed extra help in the transition from high school to college to establish study skills. This group of students was ethnically, socioeconomically, and ability diverse. Through Gateway to Success, I realized the need for support in the educational development of all students, especially minorities, women, underserved communities, and students with disabilities. I learned that many students do not have the opportunity to read about science at the local bookstores or to learn about psychology in a classroom setting. In my classroom, I will use this knowledge to teach inclusively using Universal Design for Learning principles and creating a safe environment to take risk and learn.
At the University of Iowa, I co-founded a psychology outreach program for high school students called Gateway to Psyience for the purpose of introducing underserved students to psychology as a science. This program focuses on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), low-socioeconomic status, and disabled students. Interested students participate in one-on-one mentoring with graduate students who share their research interests, with the goal of creating and carrying out a research project to present at the Annual Science Fair at the close of the academic year. Additionally, highly-motivated high school students are given tours of psychology laboratories at the University of Iowa where they can learn more about psychological research and the psychology major. Thus, high school students have an opportunity to learn about psychology while graduate students have an opportunity to practice teaching accessibly and inclusively to all students. This initiative is currently being approved by the local high schools for implementation.
When the pandemic first began, I realized how great the disparity in wellness and retention in graduate programs is between students from underrepresented groups and students from the majority. To bridge the gap, I co-founded a diversity initiative called Bridging the Gap in Psyience which seeks to create a community of underrepresented students to increase their mental and physical wellness as well as retention in the graduate program. This initiative focuses on fostering social connections among graduate students in psychology-related departments at the University of Iowa in order to improve the social integration of these students into their academic environment, as this social integration has been shown to lead to high success and better outcomes in graduate programs. As the current President, I maintain the social media forum to promote communication, as well as organize all events and meetings. I have organized thirteen events of different types, focusing on wellness and relaxation through yoga and meditation, professional development with invited speakers, social dinners and reflections, and trips to location BIPOC-related locations. I have also written three grants to the American Psychological Association and secured internal funding for event-related expenses while managing the budget. For my work with Gateway to Psyience and Bridging the Gap in Psyience, I was awarded a 2021-2022 Diversity Catalyst Award at the University of Iowa.
I further serve as a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee for my department, in which I assisted in making the graduate application process more equitable by organizing three virtual and one in-person visit for underrepresented students interested in attending graduate school. I also served as a panelist during these events to answer questions about graduate school and applications and as a volunteer to organize the events. I also collaborated with faculty on the committee to organize a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training for faculty and staff in order to spread awareness of the barriers underrepresented students face and teach techniques to ameliorate those barriers. Finally, as a committee member I have monitored the success of Kevin Binning’s belongingness intervention in the core psychology classes.
In my classroom, I will implement the belongingness intervention to improve underrepresented students’ achievement in my courses by showing students that they can succeed in the course even if they struggle initially, and that struggling is common amongst students. Moreover, I will show underrepresented students that they belong in the field of psychology by including authors from BIPOC backgrounds in the syllabus and highlighting their work when applicable for the course and for supplementary reading. I will also follow Universal Design for Learning principles to teach accessibly and inclusively to all of my students. In my laboratory, undergraduate students would be similarly included in the research process and shown that they belong in research through the belongingness intervention and attendance at regional and national conferences, where they can see psychological researchers of all backgrounds.