Establishing an “Intellectual Safe Space”

1. Establishing an “Intellectual Safe Space” A panel discussion on the formation and function of an interdisciplinary scholarly community for doctoral students Peter A. Bacevice  Lisa C. Guzman  Danielle K. Molina Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education University of Michigan Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Education March 30-31, 2007

2. Goals for Today’s Presentation • Share our story of creating a scholarly community to mediate graduate school challenges • Link these reflections to scholarship on the graduate experience and scholarly communities • Discuss the ways in which we all resonate with this topic • Share ideas on how developing scholarly communities might aid in your graduate experience • Generate ideas for future research Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

3. The Graduate School Experience Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

4. As a Graduate Student… What are some of the academic challenges that you have encountered or expect to encounter? What strategies have you used to mediate these challenges? Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

5. Three Graduate School Experiences • Danielle • Not so subtle cues: who’s “in” and who’s “out” • Faith in your abilities and a sense of belonging • Pete • How to ask or not to ask: THAT is the question • Academic grandstanding • Lisa • Testing boundaries but staying within the lines • Standing to the right on a moving walkway: watching fast-track students fly by • Finding a safe space between challenge and support Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

6. Challenges to Graduate School Success Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

7. Academic Challenges • Role-Models: mentoring affects research agendas and success • Purpose of research: meaningful/ developmental or to check another accomplishment off the list (publication, vita, satisfying others’ expectations) • Professional knowledge and skill: ‘feel’, ‘judgment’, knowing when to act, ability to frame problems, using new approaches Frost, 1989; Green & Bauer, 1995; Paglis, Green, & Bauer, 2006; Pearson, 1996 Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

8. Organizational Challenges • Socialization: gaining entry • Structure: social networks • Culture: language of the discipline • Integration: Commitment to department and goal of finishing • Identity: sense of belonging Baird, 1990; Cooke, Sims, & Peyrefitte, 1995; Corcoran & Clark, 1984; Fields, 1998; Golde, 2000; Lango, 1995 Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

9. Psychological Challenges • Confidence • Emotional Well-Being • Stress • Anxiety • Coping Hyun, Quinn, Madon, & Lustig, 2006; Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992; Munir & Jackson, 1997 Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

10. Add concerns faced specifically by underrepresented students… • Lack of mentors from underrepresented groups • Devaluing of scholarship on race-related topics • Being stereotyped or encountering prejudice • Unspoken assumptions about race and status • Exclusion from scholarly discourse Carter-Obayuwana, 1995; Cheatham & Phelps, 1995; Chism & Pruitt, 1995; Davidson & Foster-Johnson, 2001; Dowdy, Givens, Murillo, Shenoy, & Villenas, 2000; Fields, 1998; Gasman, Gerstl-Pepin, Anderson-Thompkins, Rasheed, & Hathaway, 2004; Lango, 1995; Steele, 1999; Willie, Grady, & Hope, 1991 Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

11. Mediating the Challenges of Graduate School Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

12. Blaze Your Own Trail However… • Scholarship is a social endeavor in which ideas grow out of social interaction rituals • Competitive quest for cultural capital • Community allows scholars to have the power of ideological influence Collins, 1998 Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

13. Find Others to Share the Journey Yet… • Students generally engage with departmental colleagues • Students who perceive themselves as marginalized look for niche groups Pallas, 2001; Pearson, 1996 Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

14. Problem with Homogeneous Social Spaces • Consensus, alone, does not advance knowledge. Too much agreement isn’t necessarily a good thing (Pfeffer, 1993) • “Actions that strengthen the community weaken the scholarship. And actions that strengthen the scholarship weaken the community” (Weick, 1983) Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

15. Designing Scholarly Communities that Mediate Graduate School Challenges Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

16. Develop Interdisciplinary Communities • Strength of weak ties (Grannovetter, 1973) • Gain from the knowledge of others who have different information than yourself • Sensemaking (Weick, 1995) • Ability to mediate evolving events by drawing upon diverse perspectives and expertise • “complicate yourself” Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

17. Create Intellectual “Safe” Spaces • Groups with weak ties are beneficial when trust is present (Levin & Cross, 2004) • Create environment where epistemological experimentation is safe and encouraged (Pallas, 2001) • Encourage a sense of belonging: positively related to persistence, participation, and engagement (Cooke, Sims, & Peyrefitte, 1995) Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

18. The Story Behind Creating Our Interdisciplinary Scholarly Community Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

19. The Coordinators • Team of 6 Doctoral Students • Doctoral Students in the Schools of Business, Information, and Education • All Members of Weick’s Social Psychology of Organizing Class • Each have participated as members of other homogeneous and interdisciplinary academic groups (e.g., summer institute, ICOS) Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

20. The Resources • Rackham’s value in interdisciplinary study • Pre-existing program to support the development of interdisciplinary work-groups • Financial Resources • Personal Commitment Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

21. Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops http://www.rackham.umich.edu/Events/interdis.html Ongoing program of interdisciplinary graduate student and faculty workshops. The groups to be supported should be: • Self-organized by the participants • Have an ongoing core membership, and • Meet regularly throughout the academic year Goals • Encourage exchange and collaboration among students and faculty who share intellectual interests -- but do not necessarily have an easily available forum in common, because they have different academic affiliations. • Help advanced doctoral students form working groups that support the development of research projects and dissertation-writing. Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

22. A&D Life: Creative Engagement of Contemporary Art and Life Science Advanced Media Studies African History Workshop Series American History Graduate Student Workshop American Politics The Black Humanities Collective Boundary Crossing and Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Europe and the Near East Caribbean Workshop Circulo Micaela Bastidas Classics and Architectural History Complexity in Industrial Ecology Workshop Complex Systems Advanced Academic Workshop Consumption Junction Conversations Across Social Disciplines (CASD) Development, Conservation, and Sustainable Livelihoods East Asian Gender Forum Experimental Approaches to Understanding Vertebrate Neurogenesis The Future of Performance Studies Interdisciplinary Group Seminar (IGS) International Macro Workshop Judaic Studies Reading Group K-16 Workshop Language & Rhetorical Studies Group Middle East and North Africa Scholars Workshop Michigan Student Symposium for Interdisciplinary Statistical Science 2007 Microfluidics for Biology Music of the Americas Study Group Networks Across Disciplines Pacific Island Studies Workshop SNRE Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Interdisciplinary Workshop and Seminar Series Sensemaking Interdisciplinary Workshop Socio-Technical Infrastructure for Electronic Transactions South Asian Reading Group (Kitabmandal) Spiritus Aevi-An Interdisciplinary Workshop for Medievalists Statistical Methods in Molecular Biology Statistical Learning and Data Mining Statistics/Biostatistics Student Seminar Series Trans/Formation of the Disciplines: Evaluating the Project of Anthropology and History Visual Archives: Narrative and History in Film and New Media Workshop for Integrating & Discussing Topics in Healthcare/WIDTH UM Graduate Interdisciplinary Groups Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

23. Sensemaking Interdisciplinary Forum (SIF) http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/organizations/sensemaking/index.htm • Objectives • Broaden the knowledge of graduate students and professors alike beyond the scope of their chosen disciplines.    • Generate high-quality professional connections that will cultivate vanguard interdisciplinary research projects.    • Engender high-quality personal connections that provide support to graduate school students and faculty members.   • Provide students with experience in presenting their research and opportunities to work on dissertation ideas as well.   • Website • Activities • Research Incubators • Firesides Talks • Annual Conference Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

24. Personal Reflections on the Creation and Impact of SIF • Danielle • Building a web of resources across different scholarly communities • Learning from both shared and divergent perspectives, paths, and experiences • Pete • Collaborating on projects that are personally meaningful • Discovering what type of scholar you want to be and the tradeoffs of pursuing different paths • Lisa • Freedom to explore and experiment with ideas • Developing a unique and authoritative voice Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

25. Your Thoughts on the Matter Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

26. Discussion • In what ways does this topic reflect, or not reflect, your experiences as graduate students? • What are your thoughts on scholarly communities and the ability of graduate students to develop “intellectual safe spaces”? • What do you find to be compelling questions for future research? Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)

27. Thank You! Bacevice, Guzman, & Molina (2007)