Research and Scholarly Work

By Dina Shafey Scott & Diana Guelespe

Scholars from around the country whose research focuses on the lived experiences of historically underrepresented minority (URM) groups gathered this past summer for the 2nd Annual Intersectional Qualitative Research Methods Institute (IQRMI), held at the University of Maryland (UMD). Organized by UMD’s Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity (CRGE), the week-long institute brought together an interdisciplinary group of scholars with one common interest— to research critical social problems using an intersectional approach. 

This year 20 scholars attended a series of daily interactions, seminars and post-institute activities focused on enhancing qualitative research and writing skills, developing critical intersectional perspectives for designing and interpreting research and developing navigational skills to successfully negotiate academic career paths. Scholars represented a variety of academic disciplines, and discussed the importance of integrating the arts and humanities into their research to address social justice issues.

“Understanding privilege requires that we see that all oppression has a starting point and is based in history,” said Nishaun T. Battle, assistant professor of sociology and criminal Justice at Virginia State University.

Battle has worked on understanding and promoting social justice for ‘at risk’ juveniles and spoke of her cross-disciplinary partnership with the humanities.

“I have worked and collaborated with women’s studies and history professors and draw from the work of Elsa Barkley Brown, history and women’s studies professor at Maryland,” said Battle.

Sponsored by the New Connections Program, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Maryland Population Research Center, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at UMD, the institute offers training that uniquely focuses on qualitative research methods that incorporate discussions at the intersections of race, gender, class, ethnicity and other dimensions of inequality, especially cultivated through the lens of URM scholars.

The institute took place as the country was grappling with the controversial deaths of 37-year old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge Louisiana and 32-year old Philando Castile in St. Paul Minnesota, both dying at the hands of law enforcement officers. It became a space to share thoughts and feelings, as often these faculty are the only people of color in their departments and for students to turn to in these times.

“Schools need to place more emphasis on humanities to help in healing,” said Laurie Nsiah Jefferson, senior lecturer at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

One attendee, Kunmi Sobowale, a resident at Yale School of Medicine at Yale University, reached out to the group after the institute to follow up and share how he was “helping patients to process emotions and fears”  surrounding the events, and “discussing the long lasting effects on their mental health.”

“I am trying to set up discussion(s) and make these topics a standard practice and part of medical training,” said Sobowale.

That act was one of many resulting from the work of the group. They continue to see the institute as a safe space where they were able to share their thoughts and feelings with the group and collaborate in publications.

“What an amazing group of brilliant and compassionate scholars,” said Ruth Enid Zambrana, director of CRGE, “struggling with social issues of grave concern, such as African American men and women in prisons, food insecurity among the poor and Latino immigrant groups, caregiving among other concerns. It was moving to observe them feel safe, secure in their belonging and trust to reach out for help.”

Together the attendees drafted a collective statement in response to the events to express their sadness in the loss of community and law enforcement officers, while noting historical and structural injustices still present in society. 

“We Lift Up Love and Reject the Burden of Hate: To build a more empathetic community, we must courageously listen and make an honest effort to face our fears and pain, and consciously commit to boldly take action for transformative change in this country. Without this change we will inevitably face continued violence and loss of the skills and talents of those we have lost.”

The next IQRMI will be held on June 4-9, 2017. For more information or to apply, please visit www.crge.umd.edu/IQRMI. The deadline for application is January 9, 2017. 

The Baltimore City Paper named "BMORE Than the Story "Best Community Curation" in its 2016 "Best of Baltimore" issue. Curated by students from associate Professor of design Audra Buck-Coleman’s course on design in society and students from the Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts, the “BMORE Than The Story” exhibition at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum addressed the one-sided media portrayal and the realities of the west Baltimore students’ lives. 

The Baltimore City Paper writes:

"Baltimore’s museums generally feature exhibitions organized by professional curators, but in the aftermath of the uprising following the murder of Freddie Gray, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum opened up its exhibit space to students from Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts. The students curated a response to the ugly media narrative about their lives that the press put out in April 2015. Working with UMD students, the result was “BMORE Than the Story,” which highlighted stories from students about their experiences with surveillance, police brutality, and civic deprivation. The show was a powerful challenge to the carceral logics of their schools and neighborhoods that resonated far beyond the museum walls."

Read the complete article at the Baltimore City Paper website.

Image via the Baltimore City Paper

WHAT: 

Future STEM Leaders is an event that will bring together national experts from academia, government and industry to discuss the future of graduate training in STEM fields (and beyond). The focus of this meeting, co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the University of Maryland, is on the changing demands of STEM research and careers, the most promising innovations in training that have emerged in leading programs around the country, and the challenges of scaling up these innovations to transform graduate education across institutions and disciplines.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS:
Future STEM Leaders will take place on Wednesday, May 4th, from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

• 9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Building the Perfect PhD: What is needed, and why?
• 10:30 a.m. - noon State-of-the-Science: Innovators and innovations in STEM graduate training
• Noon - 1:30 p.m. Lunch and showcase of initiatives and programs
• 1:30 - 3 p.m. What are we Waiting for: Removing barriers to change
• 3 - 4:30 p.m. Taking Action: Translating good ideas into policy and best practices
• For more details on sessions and speakers as well as information on directions and parking, please visit our website futurestemleaders.com.

FEATURED PANELISTS:

Greg Ball, Dean, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Maryland

Mark Connolly, Associate Research Scientist & Principal Investigator, Wisconsin Center for Education Research

Bonnie Thornton Dill, Dean, College of Arts & Humanities, University of Maryland

Dean Evasius, Senior Advisor for Science/Head of Multidisciplinary Activities, MPS, National Science Foundation

Jessica Faupel-Badger, Director, NIGMS Postdoctoral Research Associate (PRAT) Program, NIH

Norberto Grzywacz, Dean, Graduate School, Georgetown University

Rebecca Haacker, Director of Advanced Study Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Wolfgang Losert, Interim Associate Dean for Research, College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland

Aisha Morris, Program Director, RESESS Internship, UNAVCO

Thomas Rudin, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Dahlia Sokolov, Director, Subcommittee on Research & Technology, U.S. House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology

Richard Spinrad, Senior Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Richard Tankersley, Program Director, NSF Research Traineeship (NRT), National Science Foundation

Lois Trautvetter, Director, Higher Education Administration and Policy Program , Northwestern University

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS:

American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association of Medical Colleges
American Educational Research Association
American Mathematical Society
American Psychological Association
Association of American Universities
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Coalition for National Science Funding
Colorado State University
Computing Research Association
Council of Graduate Schools
Duke University
Elsevier
Georgetown University
George Washington University
Georgia Tech
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
U.S. House Science Committee
Iowa State University
Linguistic Society of America
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The National Academies
National Center for Atmospheric Research
National Institutes of Health
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Science Foundation
Northwestern University
The Ohio State University
Oregon State University
Penn State University
Society for Neuroscience
STEM Education Coalition
Syracuse University
Texas A&M University
UNAVCO
University Industry Demonstration Partnership
University of California, Berkeley
University of Connecticut
University of Georgia
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Oklahoma
University of Rochester
University of Southern Mississippi
University of Wisconsin
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Transportation
Virginia Tech

MEDIA:

Media coverage of the event and all sessions is welcome. Please email Colin Phillips, director of the Maryland Language Science Center at the University of Maryland, at colin@umd.edu.

Twitter:

●       Future STEM Leaders: #futureSTEM

●       Maryland Language Science Center: @UMD_LSC

●       National Science Foundation: @NSF

●       University of Maryland: @UofMaryland

ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" NSF fulfills its mission mainly through grants awarded to fund specific research proposals from individuals or small groups of investigators to support research centers, instruments, and facilities that allow scientists, engineers, and students to work at the outermost frontiers of knowledge.

NSF's goals--discovery, learning, research infrastructure and stewardship--provide an integrated strategy to advance the frontiers of knowledge and cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce. It aims to expand the scientific literacy of all citizens, build the nation's research capability through investments in advanced instrumentation and facilities, and support excellence in science and engineering research and education through a capable and responsive organization. NSF is "where discoveries begin."

ABOUT THE MARYLAND LANGUAGE SCIENCE CENTER:
Established in 2013, the University of Maryland’s Language Science Center (LSC) is the home of a university-wide initiative to advance language science. LSC aims to raise the profile of language as a critical research area, build connections between researchers, disciplines and institutions that support innovation in research and education, and to improve awareness and public understanding of language issues and the need for language-related policy decisions to be scientifically informed.

The Maryland Language Science Center connects expertise, ideas and creativity in fields ranging from social and biological sciences, computer science and engineering, to humanities, education, and clinical fields such as hearing science and speech pathology. Our research addresses broad questions connecting fundamental science to applications in education, technology, and health.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND:
The University of Maryland is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 37,000 students, 9,000 faculty and staff, and 250 academic programs. Its faculty includes three Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, 47 members of the national academies and scores of Fulbright scholars. The institution has a $1.8 billion operating budget, secures $500 million annually in external research funding and recently completed a $1 billion fundraising campaign. For more information about the University of Maryland, visit www.umd.edu.

Written by Taylor Swaak, The Diamondback

Photo Courtesy of The Diamondback

Bergis Jules and Ed Summers developed a vision to efficiently amass millions of tweets and make them more accessible to the public after the social media explosion that followed Michael Brown's death in August 2014.

"The images and the videos were so powerful," said Jules, university and political papers archivist at the University of California, Riverside. "That got me thinking that there's something going on here, and we need to try and capture this as best as we can."

A year and a half later, The University of Maryland's Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities — in collaboration with UC Riverside and Washington University in St. Louis — announced Jan. 20 a $517,000 two-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the "Documenting the Now: Supporting Scholarly Use and Preservation of Social Media Content" project.

Read more here

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A $225,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded to the College of Arts and Humanities at University of Maryland (UMD) and the Maryland Humanities Council will fund a series of public programs that are designed to explore the way citizens of Baltimore are thinking about the narratives that influence the life and identity of the city. Major partners will include the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Dresher Center for the Humanities, the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. 

The initiative, Baltimore Stories: Narratives and the Life of an American City (Baltimore Stories), seeks to establish a model that utilizes humanities scholarship— literature, history, philosophy, communication, art and cultural studies—to produce print and digital materials that help frame and contextualize narratives of race in American cities. The project will also shine a spotlight on the ongoing, collaborative work being done in Baltimore neighborhoods by universities and non-profit organizations. 

“During the uprising, Baltimore residents had lively conversations about the stories that shape our perceptions of each other,” said Sheri Parks, co-project director of the initiative and associate dean for research and interdisciplinary programming in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland. “We are elated to use this grant as a platform to continue these conversations.”

 The NEH announced yesterday $21.8 million in grants, including $3.6 million devoted to new “Humanities in the Public Square” grants that support community discussions on the relevance of the humanities to civic life.  

“We are honored to answer the call that NEH Chairman Adams issued earlier this year to use the humanities to ‘take up the grand challenges of our time,’” said Phoebe Stein, co-project director of the initiative and executive director of the Maryland Humanities Council. “The equity that needs to be created here in Baltimore, and across much of the nation, can begin with the humanities as they give us contexts for understanding and addressing this inequity and the narratives that undergird it. The humanities facilitate the conversations that can ultimately contribute to solutions.”

The idea for Baltimore Stories was born from UMD’s third annual Baltimore ThinkAThon, which was held April 30, 2015 in the midst of the Baltimore protests. Over 100 participants from the state’s major cultural institutions gathered to demonstrate the efficacy of humanities-based ideas and methods in the real world.  Many proposed projects centered on the way stories shaped the understanding of the protests, and narrative emerged as a central concern.

“Narrative or the collectives of stories we tell ourselves and each other is also a major focus of the humanities, so we hope to help citizens investigate and contextualize the past, present and future to uncover truths and move communities toward reconciliation,” said Parks.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
The University of Maryland is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 37,000 students, 9,000 faculty and staff, and 250 academic programs. Its faculty includes three Nobel laureates, two Pulitzer Prize winners, 49 members of the national academies and scores of Fulbright scholars. The institution has a $1.8 billion operating budget, secures $500 million annually in external research funding and recently completed a $1 billion fundraising campaign. For more information, visit www.umd.edu.

ABOUT THE MARYLAND HUMANITIES COUNCIL
The Maryland Humanities Council is a statewide, educational nonprofit organization that creates and supports educational experiences in the humanities that inspire all Marylanders to embrace lifelong learning, exchange ideas openly, and enrich their communities. For more information, visit www.mdhc.org. The Maryland Humanities Council is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the State of Maryland, and the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, creator of the Baker Artist Awards.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES  
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.