In collaboration with David Lake (UCSD), Gregory Hall (formerly Morehouse), and Fatemeh Shafiei (Spelman), we launched the UCSD-Morehouse-Spelman Inaugural Summer Research Program in 2016. Starting in 2017, David Lake and I worked with Matthew Platt (Morehouse Political Science) and Fatemeh Shafiei (Spelman Political Science) to continue the initiative for Summers 2017, 2018, and 2019. This effort was made possible thanks to support from UCSD's Office of Graduate Studies, the Dean of Social Sciences, and the Political Science Department.
In June 2019, we were awarded a University of California Office of the President-HBCU Initiative award, ensuring that the program persists into Summer 2023. Each summer, six students from Spelman and Morehouse are paired up with political science faculty mentors to work as research assistants on an active research project. Additionally, these students are integrated into the UCSD STARS program, an eight-week summer research academy, as well as into the UCSD political science department, where they attend a Methods bootcamp, subfield workshops, and regular office hours with a graduate student advocate. Surf lessons and baseball games a plus. All students present their project at an end-of-summer conference during which they receive feedback from graduate students and faculty in our department. For a description and evaluation of the program, as well as lessons learned, see our paper in PS: Political Science & Politics. If you would like to support or find out more about this initiative, contact me: [email protected]. |