Training the Next Generation of Sociologists as Researchers, Mentors, and Engaged Community Members

• In Event: 30259 - Public Sociology and Engaged Scholarship Part I

Abstract

Training for the next generation of sociologists must prepare students to be engaged with stakeholders beyond the academy; to succeed as changemakers and knowledge brokers, students must be facile in community engagement praxis. This paper highlights an intervention across several social sciences classes to examine student experience related to Community-Initiated Student-Engaged Research (CISER) (Greenberg, London and McKay 2020). CISER enables students to take part in a course related to a research project supported through a class, which allows a larger group of students to gain research experience. For this intervention, the community collaboration used youth participatory action research (YPAR). CISER is an inclusive approach to promote undergraduates’ views of themselves as knowledge producers and changemakers through actionable research. We examine survey data for 100 undergraduates who participated in at least one CISER class. We examine their instructor and peer experiences, research skill acquisition, and intentions to continue to graduate school and/or with social justice commitments. We note the ways CISER impacts the academic and non-academic experiences of Latine/x and other minoritized undergraduate students at an R1 Hispanic Serving Institution. To serve students multidimensionally for academic and non-academic success, it is crucial for HSIs to engage in equity-based practices rooted in student strengths. In this application, faculty worked to impart institutional change via classroom curriculum to democratize research opportunities for students.

Authors

• Rebecca London, University of California-Santa Cruz

• Amy Marie Argenal, University of California-Santa Cruz

• Steve McKay, University of California-Santa Cruz

• Jessica Taft, University of California-Santa Cruz