From the DSC 2022-2024 Graduate Co-Chairs

Could you share a sentence or two about yourself (year, area), your research or work outside of the DSC, your hobbies etc?

Z: I'm a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in the Social Psych area. I'm interested in studying how intersectional identities impact our lives, as well as how biases are created and maintained in larger systems (e.g., criminal-legal system). My current projects focus on (cognitive and legal) bias against sexual harassment victims, supporting formerly incarcerated parents, and prototypes of nonbinary individuals. I'm also obsessed with my pets so spending time with them is my favorite hobby!

Rachel: I’m a fifth-year(!!) in the social/personality area and my research broadly tries to understand why inequality is so persistent. My dissertation focuses on why attempts to integrate neighborhoods often go awry. I am kind of a serial hobbyist but lately in the summer I’ve been enjoying trying as many free outdoor yoga classes as I can, gardening on my balcony, and taking swim classes.

Could you share some of the DSC work you've been a part of that were memorable during the time you were serving as DSC co-chair?

Z: I first started working as a part of the Departmental CLimate Survey team in 2020. The year I joined, we worked to transition the survey from a data collection tool to a Call-To-Action. During the 2021 UW Faculty Retreat, we presented the main findings from the survey (some of the most insightful coming from the qualitative questions) and organized a workshop that focused on the two main takeaways from that year's data: to help strengthen the department's commitment to mental health support as well as create a framework for healthy communication between advisors and students. The workshop was a great success and solidified my interest in being a part of the department's service committees. I have been a continual part of them (the DSC, DAC, DAT, Grad Student Mentorship program) ever since and hope to bring my service experience wherever I go next! 

Rachel: I’ve been part of the Championing Inclusive Pedagogy team (formerly the syllabus team) ever since I started grad school and it’s been really eye-opening to see it evolve. I want to credit some of the folks who helped catalyze the team, Max Halvorson, Dannielle Whiley, Madison Feil, who recognized a need for our coursework to be improved. Initially we wanted to audit all of the grad-level course syllabi and see if the course readings were written by and written about diverse communities and not just promoting this narrow, elitist, White-centric canon. That syllabus audit evolved into creating a comprehensive syllabus rubric for both grad- and undergrad-level courses which looks at much more than the reading list. Apart from learning a lot about inclusive teaching practices (obviously), I learned a lot about how the department and how UW runs and honestly why it’s so hard to make change. That being said, I’m really proud of our team in spite of those challenges - we’ve reviewed over 35 syllabi and even got to share our work at the UW Teaching and Learning symposium last year.

Perhaps this could be helpful for the new co-chairs moving forward: please share any ideas that have come up in the recently months that you feel would be a promising new project or an improvement that the DSC can work toward.

Rachel: It’s scary because diversity in higher education is literally being socially and legally attacked right now. At the same time, the term “diversity” is already quite vague, flexible, and hackneyed. It feels like a bit of an impossible task but I hope we can clarify our commitment to diversity (Who exactly is underrepresented? And underrepresented in what exactly? Underrepresented in higher education? In psychology? In UW? In your lab?) and also stay steadfast in that commitment in the midst of a changing political landscape.

Would you like to share any exciting next steps in your own research or any upcoming projects that you are excited to work on? This can be a program milestone or any new interests or projects.

Z: I have been working with the King County Community Partnership Transition Solutions (KCCPTS) on adapting a parenting program for formerly incarcerated men and women. I helped run a series of semi-structured interviews with a subset of these parents, presented the findings to the organization, and am excited to continue moving forward with the adaptation of the program. It has been a great experience to work with a community organization, expand my expertise of qualitative work, and feel like my research is making an impact on the populations I study. I'm also exploring avenues by which I can integrate into my career teaching classes in prisons and detention facilities.

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