Guiding Voice: Dr. Anne H. Charity Hudley, GSE Professor of Education
Facilitators: Emily Schell, GSE Teaching Fellow, and Fourth Year DAPS Doctoral Student; Eric Abrams, GSE Chief Inclusion Officer; Josh Weiss, GSE Director of Digital Learning Solutions
Presentation slides: TA Toolkit Session #1 Slides (SUNet protected)

Recording of the session:  

Key quotes: 

One of the things that we know can be really impactful in an environment like Stanford is making students really feel the inclusion, through the heart of the university, understanding why Stanford is centered around research [and how they can get involved]. (11:36)

My big thing is that research is not for everybody, and that’s cool. But at least people will know about research and know the impact and why it’s important and how to get started, if they want to do it. (14:41)

Based on that intellectual connection and individual knowledge of students, TAs are in an amazing position to [engage their students] with a level of specificity and knowledge about the student and the situation that makes that heart of inclusion real. (18:17)

Integrating student research and having course-based undergraduate research experiences are important for equity because these different pathways we have in terms of finding your way to undergrad research are pretty haphazard. (27:16)

Take-aways:

High-impact practices

• TAs play a role in conveying high-impact practices as well as their role and inclusion
• Importance of undergraduate research as part of a student’s experience, whether or not students intend to go into academia
• Practicing a high-impact practice model on both the undergraduate and graduate levels

Inclusion and building community

• Making prospective employers aware of the benefits of hiring a graduate that has mentored an undergraduate researcher
• Developing active learning and collaboration to make students feel more included on campus
• Meeting students’ diverse needs by engaging with different dimensions of learning

Research strategies

• Integrating student research and work to create course-based undergraduate research experiences
• Looking at mentorship models, specifically the varied and passive forms of invitations (e.g, lab meetings) to engage in research or make some level of commitment
• Thinking about work that is innovative and unique, but also where responsibility for creating the research does not fall on a student as a new undergraduate or graduate student

Establishing relationships

• Faculty representation far under-paces the representation of undergraduates; graduate students are positioned to be an interim between faculty and students
• Thinking about the relationships among students, TAs, and faculty (particularly faculty of color) in considering a new academy
• Considering strategic ways to invite undergraduate and graduate students into research
• Dedicating energy to help students understand the benefits of attending a research university from an inclusion lens