Eric Splan is a graduate assistant with the Center for the Study of Diversity. He is working with Dr. James Jones on the validation of the Diversity Competency Scale and its behavioral correlates. He is also interested in examining what factors influence perceived Campus Climate with the ultimate goal of improving the retention rate of under represented minority students at UD. In addition to his work at the Center, Eric is a graduate student in the Psychological & Brain Sciences department, where he is working with Dr. Chad Forbes and Dr. Sam Gaertner. His research focuses on the social-cognitive mechanisms underlying modern discrimination and the effect the experience of discrimination has on mental and physical well-being.
Min Lee was a graduate assistant with the Center for the Study of Diversity. She worked with Dr. James Jones on the development and validation of the Diversity Competency Scale, as well as the understanding the behavioral correlates of diversity competency. In addition to her work at the Center, Min received her doctorate in Psychological & Brain Sciences, where she examined how cultures (East Asian & Western cultural contexts) differ in the exchange of feedback in friendship interactions. Min is now a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College where she is continuing to explore diversity competency and attitudes toward diversity initiatives on campus with her senior theses students.
Dr. Maryam Hussain worked as a research analyst with the Center for the Study of Diversity. She earned her PhD in Educational Psychology with a focus in Learning & Development and Statistics & Measurement from the University of Houston (Houston, TX). Her research interests are in understanding the sociocultural challenges second-generation immigrant Americans face and how these challenges impact internalizing mental health disorders and academic success. Specifically, she is interested in how these challenges are navigated in higher education.
Dr. Rebecca Covarrubias is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Faculty Director of the Student Success Equity Research Center at UC Santa Cruz. She earned her PhD in social psychology at The University of Arizona before becoming a University Diversity Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow for the Center of the Study of Diversity and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. As a social and cultural psychologist, Dr. Covarrubias examines how institutional structures perpetuate educational inequality by privileging middle-class, White ways of being and thereby undermining outcomes for low-income, first-generation students of color (e.g., Latinx, Native). She then examines how to reverse these effects through culturally-informed approaches that draw attention to students’ cultural strengths. With her team of student researchers in the Culture and Achievement Collaborative, she works to translate their research into actionable practices that can shift the culture of institutions and can help students thrive.
Elizabeth Higginbotham (Ph.D. )is a professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware with joint appointments in Black American Studies and Women’s Studies. She has a long standing interest in diversity issues as they related to education and employment. Her publications include, Too Much to Ask: Black Women in the Era of Integration (University of North Carolina Press, 2001), and with Margaret Andersen, Race in Society: Then Changing Landscape(Wadsworth-Cengage, 2012) in its third edition. She is currently researching Black professionals who desegregate workplaces.
Sam Gaertner (PhD, The City University of New York: Graduate Center) is Professor of Psychology at the University of Delaware. His research interests involve intergroup relations with a focus on understanding and reducing prejudice, discrimination and racism. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. Currently, Professor Gaertner is co-editor (with Rupert Brown, Sussex University, UK), of Social Issues and Policy Review, a journal of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Professor Gaertner’s research has been supported by grants from the Office of Naval Research, the National Institutes of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation.
Patricia A. DeLeon is Trustees Distinguished Professor in Biological Sciences where her research focuses on reproductive genetics, specifically genes involved in sperm development and function (funded by the NIH and the NSF). With an interest in diversity in the STEM field, she mentors graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and undergraduates with senior theses. She served as a member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (1992-1996), NIH Study Sections, an NSF Review Panelist, and on the Executive Council of the American Society of Andrology (ASA) where she was recognized for her scientific contributions to Andrology in 2006. Recently, she completed a term as President of Women in Andrology and currently serves as a member of ASA Diversity Committee. Also at UD, she has chaired the Women’s Studies Faculty Research Awards Committee and WISE (Women in Science and Engineering). Nationally known for her efforts in mentoring women and minorities, she is a 2007 recipient of the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).
Margaret L. Andersen is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware where she also held joint appointments in Women’s Studies and Africana Studies and where she currently serves as Executive Director of the President’s Diversity Initiative. She is the author of several books, including Sociology: The Essentials (with Howard F. Taylor); On Land and On Sea: A Century of Women in the Rosenfeld Collection; Living Art: The Life of Paul R. Jones, African American Art Collector; Race and Ethnicity in Society: The Changing Landscape (with Elizabeth Higginbotham);Thinking about Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender; Race, Class and Gender (with Patricia Hill Collins), She is a recipient of the American Sociological Association’s Jessie Bernard Award and has received the Sociologists for Women in Society’s Feminist Lecturer Award. She is the former Vice President of the American Sociological Association, former president of the Eastern Sociological Society and a recipient of the University of Delaware’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
April Davison is a doctoral student in the Urban Affairs and Public Policy program in the School of Public Policy & Administration. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Williams College and subsequently completed her masters of public administration from the University of North Texas. April tries to incorporate social justice into her scholarship, as well as utilizing a local perspective to policy and administrative decisions. Her research areas include studying housing policy, residential mobility patterns, and how neighborhood conditions and succession impact vulnerable populations. Her previous research projects included analyzing housing for aging individuals in Delaware, studying how community development can be used to lessen health disparities, and employing asset based community development to neighborhood revitalization. Her interests in diversity from a policy lens include understanding what are some the opportunities and challenges faced by government in planning for/ and accommodating changing population and social ideals. She is excited to contribute to the Center for the Study of Diversity where her she can help generate and transmit scholarship that drives diversity in practice. Her current research projects for CSD include working on a storytelling project that seeks to understand how socially significant categories shape experiences of inclusion and student success at the University of Delaware. Additionally, April is working on a ‘mapping diversity’ initiative that seeks to understand what physical spaces on campus foster inclusion and/or inadvertent silos.
April serves as an officer for the University Of Delaware’s Black Graduate Student Association, an organization dedicated to improving the status of people of African descent in higher education. She is also a BAF fellow, an organization dedicated to promoting diversity in the hazard and disasters field.
