the impact of the ford fellowship program in the creation of latina/o academic generations carlos g....
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THE IMPACT OF THE FORD FELLOWSHIPPROGRAM IN THE CREATION OF LATINA/OACADEMIC GENERATIONS
Carlos G. Vélez-Ibáñez, Director STS
Elsie M. Szecsy, Research Director
Courtney Peña, Graduate Student
Crossing Borders Bailandoby Andrea Peresquia
Celebrating our Similarities, Embracing our Differences7th Annual National Conference of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education,
Inc. March 8-10, 2012, Costa Mesa, CA
A Bit of History
• Light Bulb in Puerto Rico
• Initial Conversations and Nonesuch
• Previous Work
• Gathering Data and Sources: Trials and Tribulations
QUANTITATIVE IMPRESSIONS Making the Questionnaire
Limitations and Boundaries
Headaches and Contradictions
Table 1. Respondent Characteristics
Count Percentage
Convenience Sample
• Fellows identified 719
• Email addresses found 371 51.6% of 719
• Surveys successfully sent 334 90.0% of 371
• Responses received 153 45.8% response rate
Respondent Gender
• Male 94 61.4%
• Female 58 37.9%
Respondent Fellowship Type
• Pre-dissertation 86 56.2%
• Dissertation 74 48.4%
• Post-doc 48 31.4%
Table 2. Investigative Methods Used
Analytic Approach
Quantitative Qualitative
Part ILikert-scale xComments x
Part IILikert-scale xComments x
Part III
Open-ended x
Part IVBio-social data xComments x
Academic Importance
• Enter doctoral study• Complete dissertation• Complete doctoral study• Academic or professional appointment• Tenure• Scholarly productivity
Figure 1. Ability to Enter Doctoral Program (n=152)
.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.031.4
1.32.6
5.9
33.3
24.8
Pe
rce
nt
Figure 2. Ability to Complete Dissertation (n=153)
.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
5.92.0
7.2
16.3
54.2
14.4Perc
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Figure 3. Ability to Complete Doctoral Program. (n=153)
Not im
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nt
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e im
porta
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impo
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N.A.
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60.0
70.0
9.2
.73.3
11.1
60.1
15.0
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nt
Figure 4. Ability to be appointed in the academy or other professional capacity. (n=152)
.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
5.9
10.513.1
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12.4Perc
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Figure 5. Ability to be awarded tenure (n=152)
Not im
porta
nt
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e im
porta
nce
Mod
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impo
rtant
Impo
rtant
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N.A.
.0
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30.0
14.4 15.0
10.5 11.1
26.1
22.2
Per
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t
Scholarly Importance
• Theoretical approaches and Methods or techniques• Innovative knowledge or findings• Advancing in field or specialty
Figure 6. Scholarly Productivity (n=151)
Not im
porta
nt
Littl
e im
porta
nce
Mod
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ely
impo
rtant
Impo
rtant
Very
impo
rtant
N.A.
.0
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20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
8.510.5
13.1
20.3
37.3
9.2
Per
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Figure 7. Theoretical approaches developed (n=151); Methods or techniques developed (n=152)
Not im
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impo
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impo
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.0
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14.4
7.8
15.717.6
24.8
19.0
13.7
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17.6 17.6
23.5
18.3
Theoretical approaches Methods or techniques
Per
cen
tag
e
Figure 8. Innovative knowledge or findings (n=152)
Not im
porta
nt
Littl
e im
porta
nce
Mod
erat
ely
impo
rtant
Impo
rtant
Very
impo
rtant
N.A.
.0
5.0
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15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
10.57.2
15.719.0
30.7
16.3
Per
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Figure 9. Advancing field or specialty (n=152)
Not im
porta
nt
Littl
e im
porta
nce
Mod
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impo
rtant
Impo
rtant
Very
impo
rtant
N.A.
.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
6.5 5.2
15.7
21.6
35.9
14.4
Per
cen
t
Executive Leadership Roles
Count Percentage
Provost 2 1.3%
President 3 2.0%
Vice President or Vice Provost 6 3.9%
CAO or CEO 4 2.6%
Academic Leadership Roles
Count Percentage
Director 91 59.5%
Chair 61 39.9%
Dean 23 15.0%
Committee Chair 7 4.6%
Coordinator 4 2.6%
Curriculum Developer or Supervisor 2 1.3%
Associate or Assistant Dean or Director 9 5.9%
Faculty Member 3 2.0%
Professional & Research Roles
Count Percentage
Professional Organization Leader 4 2.6%
Principal Investigator 4 2.6%
Editor 2 1.3%
Advisor or Consultant 3 2.0%
Law Firm PartnerMember, Puerto Rican Academy of Arts and SciencesAnnual Undergraduate Research Symposium HostProject Director
4 2.6%
QUALITATIVE IMPRESSIONS Y COLORIN COLORADO
Predominant Themes
Cyclical Chains of Success
Contributions
Conclusions
Next Steps
Large Policy Objectives
Figure 10. Visualization of Predominant Theme in Respondent Comments
Design Source: IBM Many Eyes data visualization tool
http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/visualizations/program-value-to-participants-cvi-
Figure 11. Illustration of Cyclical Chain, as Articulated by Respondents
Self-efficacy
Persistence
Innovation
Mentoring others
Academic training
Career development
Productivity
Financial independence
Contributions
• In the arts and humanities
• In the social sciences
• In the natural sciences
My parents were so grateful, they bought a Ford automobile the next time that they needed a car…something I later told them was not necessary.
My success as a performing musician and as a scholar is valued by my students and colleagues… I am considered the “dean” of academic Chicana/o theatre… …allowed me to produce a doctoral thesis in the area of Mexican American religious history, an area that until then had been unexplored by U.S. historians. I improved Latino representation in the field of Latin American history in the United States. My line of research…was pioneering in the field of Latinos and media…
I have also designed some of the leading Latino survey research studies of the 1970s and 1980s. I have contributed to my fields of study in the areas of informal economy, immigration and in general, women on the socioeconomic margins of society. My work has been cited as making a contribution to race construction theory and social movement theory. My work is… central to … Chicana history, Tejan@ history, political history, and civil rights.
I was appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Medal of Sciences Committee in 2011. I have worked on National Science Foundation funded projects to adapt and adopt the Systemic Chemistry Initiatives that have impacted thousands of students in General Chemistry throughout the West since 1998. I developed techniques for the search of the Higgs particle some of which are currently being used at CERN in the search for this elusive particle. I was one of the first to study the cell biology of major histocompatibility class I molecules. I developed techniques to simulate surface tension and honed my skills in developing a parallel unstructured version of KIVA-3V which is a code used to simulate internal combustion engines. My drug development efforts are… yielding a new, important line of immuno-therapeutics against cancer, hepatits B, tuberculosis, diabetes, and arthritis.
Fellows’ accomplishments, in their own words…
Design Source: IBM Many Eyes data visualization tool
http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/visualizations/career-accomplishments
Conclusions
• The Ford Fellowship program was and remains crucial to the development of
• Cohorts of scholars, academics, and professionals.
• Innovative approaches in multiple fields, including science, humanities, the social sciences, and the professions.
• Leaders to assume major executive positions in the academy and in private enterprises. The roles of director, deans, and chairs in the academy were filled by many fellows and it is probably the case that these had important impacts on their respective units.
• Those that were granted multiple years of the fellowship from the pre-dissertation, dissertation, and post doctoral benefited immensely.
Next steps…
• Follow-up study.• Increase the size of the sample.• Develop a more elaborate demographic framework to guide further
research.• Develop questions that provide focus and invite elaboration by
respondents on matters related to theory, methodology, innovation, leadership, and other pertinent topics to their fields and occupations.
• Conduct a document analysis of participants’ Curriculum Vitae or résumés.
Large Policy Objectives
• Convene a summit• Through AAHHE and the School of Transborder Studies
and with the support of key foundations• Objectives
• Design a multi-generational program to replicate and enhance the Ford Fellows Program for Hispanic PhD completions.
• Invite Foundations and key federal agencies to discuss a plan for generating new venues for funding a Hispanic Future Scholars Program, with a focus on workforce development for careers in the academy and the professions.
• Assess the current senior administrative levels within the academy for needs in succession planning, spanning a twenty-five year period of time..
Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez, [email protected] Szecsy, [email protected]
Courtney Peña, [email protected]
This presentation and the full paper are available for download from http://sts-rd.asu.edu