Ep. 36 – What is IQRMI-ADS and how does it support underrepresented minority scholars?

[00:00:00] Intro: You’re listening to LatinXperts, a podcast of Latino Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. LatinXperts features the voices of faculty, staff, and students, as well as friends and alumni of the Department of Mexican, American and Latino. Latino studies, the Latino Research Institute and the Center for Mexican American Studies.

[00:00:32] Intro: Join us for this episode of LatinXperts.

[00:00:44] Dr. Morales-Campos: Hello, my name is Dr. Morales Campos. I’m the Area Director for Training Programs at the Latino Research Institute, and today we’re gonna be talking about the Intersectional Qualitative Research Methods Institute for Advanced Doctoral students. That is a mouthful, so we’re gonna be calling it the Institute for short during this podcast.

[00:01:08] Dr. Morales-Campos: The Institute is a training institute that focuses on qualitative research methods and incorporates discussions regarding the intersections of race, gender, class, ethnicity, and other dimensions of inequality. In addition to facilitating these important conversations, this institute provides practical lessons in professional development to intersectional scholars in their pursuit of successful research careers.

[00:01:37] Dr. Morales-Campos: Since 2018, the Latino Research Institute at the University of Texas at Austin has partnered with the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity at the University of Maryland College Park to provide this training opportunity to advance doctoral students.

[00:01:55] Dr. Morales-Campos: So today I have the honor of being joined by Dr. Bernadine Waller. She is an alum of the Institute who participated in the institute virtually in 2020 when the world was on lockdown, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Waller, can you give our listeners a high level summary of who you are and what you do?

[00:02:18] Dr. Waller: It is a sheer pleasure to work with you this morning, and to join you on today’s podcast, Dr.

[00:02:24] Dr. Waller: Morales- Campos. I am an NIMHT 32 post-doctoral Research fellow at Columbia University Irving Medical Center with the dual appointment at New York State Psychiatric Institute. I’m currently studying intervention and implementation science.

[00:02:43] Dr. Morales-Campos: Awesome. Thank you so much for being with us today and sharing your story with us.

[00:02:48] Dr. Morales-Campos: I’d first like to ask you what benefits did you receive from participating in the institute?

[00:02:56] Dr. Waller: First of all, the benefits of participating in the institute were completely profound for me in particular. My dissertation research, what I was really aiming to do was to develop theories that helped to identify, help-seeking among African-American women survivors of intimate partner violence. And first and foremost, something like this had never been done.

[00:03:19] Dr. Waller: I realized that black women have the poorest outcomes of all of ethnicities of women who are experiencing intimate partner violence. And literally the reason why none of the interventions had really been working is because we had no theories on which to hinge the interventions. Mm-hmm.

[00:03:38] Dr. Waller: And so I learned a ton from you in particular, Dr. Morales-Campos and the coding seminar and the analysis seminar that was structured into the program that was really optional for us. But I was so hungry for the knowledge because I knew that I was working with a population of women who, that if we did not do something soon, they were gonna continue to die.

[00:04:04] Dr. Waller: There were very few researchers who were really focused on the area of research that I was focused in on. I really wanted to get to a place where I was developing and. Implementing interventions, which is where I am now. But in order to do that and to do it in a way that is intentional and meaningful for this population, I had to learn theoretical development.

[00:04:25] Dr. Waller: And so I learned the skills to employ constructivist grounded theory methodology in order to do it. And so I am so super indebted to you and your skills and your knowledge and your expertise for helping me to do that, but you know what? You would think, okay, Bernadine, that is all you’re thankful for?

[00:04:47] Dr. Waller: There were so many more benefits to the program. There were friends who I still keep in contact with and we’re still passing off information and encouraging one another, both on social media as well as on email. There were connections that were made that we were able to encourage one another and challenge one another.

[00:05:05] Dr. Waller: Prep one another for post-doctoral fellowships. Tell each other about jobs that were coming down the pipeline that we knew about. There were simple things like preparing us for job talks and job interviews, and that was something that wasn’t done in my home institution. And so, Literally everything that you offered us, I was hungry for and still to this day, completely grateful for all that you all have invested in us, so thank you. And a million thank yous.

[00:05:36] Dr. Morales-Campos: Well, thank you so much. That was a great information for future participants who are interested in being in the program, letting them know like what are the benefits that you and others receive. Is there anything in particular that you would wanna mention Like as a, motivating point for them to sign up and participate in the institute?

[00:05:55] Dr. Waller: You know what? It literally shifted the way I saw research. I still remember the session that we learned from a scholar from the University of New Mexico who taught us about positionality. And so even the way that I collect data, the way that I see myself, As part of the research yet that still on that liminal position as an outsider, it completely shifted the way I saw myself as a scholar and the necessity of the work that I’m producing.

[00:06:31] Dr. Waller: If you are considering whether or not you should apply for this program are not, I would encourage people to absolutely, positively apply. For me it was a game changer and I don’t know where I would be had I not applied and had I not participated and had I not been selected, literally, I still remember, I still keep in contact with Dr. Parra- Cardona.

[00:06:54] Dr. Morales-Campos: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:55] Dr. Waller: And he is constantly encouraging me. I mean, Bernadine like, literally, your participants need your scholarship. I still remember his story where he shared with us. I immigrated here from Mexico and I literally, didn’t really know what it meant to get funding from the federal government.

[00:07:14] Dr. Waller: NIH funding. And he has remained funded since he started getting funded. And so for, that, for me, has been an inspiration that it doesn’t matter whether or not you are socially connected or whether or not your family, are scholars because I don’t come from a family of scholars.

[00:07:32] Dr. Waller: And so for me to have access to the knowledge, to the skills, to the information, to be able to pay it forward, in the work that I do and provide the skills and information and translate that information even to my research assistants in my lab has been literally like, When I say game changing, it’s been game changing and transformative.

[00:07:57] Dr. Waller: So people, if you are considering whether or not this is the program or not, I would say you owe it to yourself. You owe it to your scholarship, you owe it to your development to do it.

[00:08:08] Dr. Morales-Campos: Awesome. And I’m glad you brought up the faculty, how they were inspirational to you in helping you in your career path. I wanted to ask you, since you all work in small groups and you get to know each other intimately since y’all stay on campus with each other, did any of the colleagues in your cohort or in your working group inspire you while you were at the institute?

[00:08:30] Dr. Waller: You know what was so funny? It was very interesting because at the time, and I still remember Aris.

[00:08:38] Dr. Waller: Aris, I forget Aris’s last name. Aris Clemons. That’s Aris’s last name. Aris . Clemons was a complete gem. She was the one who would kind of stir up the group, right? Mm-hmm. And whip us up and get us excited. And it’s because of her that we formulated small writing groups. Even after the sessions were over for the day, we would write together.

[00:09:02] Dr. Waller: And even after the institute ended, we still had writing groups together. And we held each other accountable when it came to finishing our dissertation.

[00:09:12] Dr. Morales-Campos: Oh, that’s awesome.

[00:09:13] Dr. Waller: Yeah. Yeah. So when I say it’s been nothing short of transformative and a game changer for me all around, it’s been transformative. And we still keep tabs with each other.

[00:09:24] Dr. Waller: Right? Mm-hmm. So Aris is In Texas right now. She’s coming to New York in another couple of weeks, and guess who’s gonna be right there in the audience cheering her on? Me.

[00:09:33] Dr. Morales-Campos: Oh, that’s awesome.

[00:09:34] Dr. Waller: So, mm-hmm. You know the connections that we made, there was a scholar that I actually knew from another program at Kansas, and she connected me with the student who’s now currently one of my research assistants.

[00:09:48] Dr. Morales-Campos: Oh, that’s great.

[00:09:48] Dr. Waller: Yeah. So it’s been amazing and lovely just to see how we have made connections with each other, how those connections have deepened and we continue to support one another, and how we are also nurturing the next generation of scholars as a result of the knowledge, skills, tools, and information that we indeed were able to glean and to hone as a result of participating in the institute.

[00:10:15] Dr. Morales-Campos: No, that’s great just seeing how the network, how it’s grown. Mm-hmm. Like from just that little interaction. Mm-hmm. It’s grown and touched other people. That’s awesome. My next question is, if you could list like three things of why doctoral students should attend the institute, what would those three things be?

[00:10:33] Dr. Waller: Wow, that’s a hard question for me. And the only reason why it’s a hard question for me, Dr. Morales Campos, is because I can think of more than three, but I will limit it to three. I would say that in academia, you’re no better than your network.

[00:10:50] Dr. Waller: You can produce great scholarship. You can be awesome and amazing, but if no one knows who you are and people are not able to vouch for the veracity of your scholarship, people are not able to vouch for who you are as a person, then you’re not gonna go too far. And so just being able to connect with people like you and all of the scholars who invest their time was amazing for me as an early career scholar, as a doctoral student, to be able to make those connections.

[00:11:26] Dr. Waller: And they actually know me when I go to a conference, they know me, right? I’m not running up and saying, hello, Dr. Morales-Campos and you don’t know who I am. You’re like, oh, Bernardine, how are you doing? Right? Mm-hmm. And so there’s the networking piece of it.

[00:11:46] Dr. Waller: There is the skill building, which is huge. You are never gonna get everything that you need from your doctoral program. Never. Like there is always something you can learn. It is designed to provide you with a foundation. And so I would say that I received an awesome foundation from my doctoral program, but I would not be able to have reached and accomplished the things I have accomplished to date had it not been for my participating in the institute.

[00:12:16] Dr. Waller: And so literally, the theories that I was able to develop as a result of participating in this institute literally are gonna help to save women’s lives. So in another couple of weeks, I don’t know that I shared this with you yet, Dr. Morales-Campos, I was invited to participate in a national summit that have the top leaders in different areas of violence prevention and intervention work.

[00:12:46] Dr. Morales-Campos: Oh, that’s great.

[00:12:47] Dr. Waller: And I will be there with, congressman Hakeem Jeffries with Mark Morial from the National Urban League. I will be there with Dr. Carol Mason, who is the former head of the DOJ for Office of Violence Against Women’s Research.

[00:13:05] Dr. Waller: So I am there with major heavy hitters. Mm-hmm. And I am there and participating because I did develop the first theories that help us to understand, help-seeking among black women who are experiencing intimate partner violence, victimization. It’s never been done before. These theories have, are already, there were scholars who’ve contacted me back in October, like five, six months ago who said to me, oh my goodness, this is amazing.

[00:13:31] Dr. Waller: I know you developed this for black women in the United States, but this has utility for black women here in the UK. And so I would not be able to make this expansive outreach to totally shift the domestic violence service provision system had I not done this right? Mm-hmm. And so it’s the skill building that you’re gonna get there.

[00:13:53] Dr. Waller: The other thing you’re gonna get is preparing you for career development and preparing you for that job market. I still remember the mock interviews that we had in preparation for how we should prepare ourselves for job talks. I remember finishing that afternoon session and practicing and practicing, and so even when.

[00:14:19] Dr. Waller: I would practice with friends and family members who had no clue about the doctoral process. I knew what I needed to do and I was able to practice with them. And so had I not had those skills, I wouldn’t have been prepared to even interview at Columbia to get the current post-doctoral research position that I have.

[00:14:42] Dr. Waller: It’s been amazing. So I would say if I had to narrow it down to three, those would be the three.

[00:14:48] Dr. Morales-Campos: No, those are very impressive. And I know all the hard work you’ve done and you’re like so proud of all that you’ve been able to accomplish and to be able to help black women in the world. It’s very, very amazing.

[00:15:01] Dr. Morales-Campos: My last question to close this out, I wanted to ask you, what unique challenges do intersectional scholars face today? You’re already out there in the job world and we you have to do research and training to advance your careers. What challenges have you seen and how do you think the Institute has helped you in dealing with those challenges?

[00:15:23] Dr. Waller: Wow, that’s a another wonderful yet very loaded question, and I’m so glad you’re asking. There are a lot of unwritten rules for scholars with intersectional identities, and it is so important for you to quickly understand the culture of the organization in which you are nested. And there is a sense of awareness that I came away from the institute with having as it related to who I am, how I’m presenting myself as a scholar, how I’m presenting myself as a person, right?

[00:16:01] Dr. Waller: Because before people get to know the scholar, people have got to know me and people have got to trust me. And I think there’s a book that one of my mentors handed me. Right before I graduated, it’s called Written in Unwritten Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure, and it’s edited by Patricia Matthew.

[00:16:24] Dr. Waller: And right when I finished , what was trending was a hashtag called Black in the Ivory. And it talked about, What scholars who are black in academia, what they oftentimes experience in phase. A lot of what I saw trending on tr on Twitter with that hashtag black in the ivory. The faculty members in the institute gave us insights on what it meant to be black, what it meant to be Latinx, what it meant to be latine, what it meant to be a member of the LGBTQ plus population, what it meant to own that identity.

[00:17:10] Dr. Waller: And step into the academic setting boldly unashamedly, yet with humility and vulnerability, and I appreciate having that grounding and knowing that that was possible to do in an academic setting. And you all also taught us the importance of us quickly finding and learning mentors. Mm-hmm. And so when I arrived at Columbia, I immediately did a, you know, look to find out who are the black scholars, who are the senior scholars here in this environment.

[00:17:53] Dr. Waller: And I was able to somehow persuade one of the senior black scholars to mentor me. Mm-hmm. As a result of his mentorship. I have one black scholar who’s mentoring me and a Latino scholar who’s mentoring me. And between the two of them, they have done an awesome job with scaffolding me, helping me understand and identify the blind spots.

[00:18:16] Dr. Waller: Cause every scholar has them, but I would not have been able and known the importance of doing that. Had I not participated in the institute, because you all made sure that you underscored that at every single session in one way, shape, or form. The value that we bring to institutions as well as almost what I would call the double edged sword, right?

[00:18:39] Dr. Waller: Mm-hmm. And so there’s a value, but what does that mean? How does that translate as to how I move? Because people are not used to seeing me and people like me who traverse in the environment. So how do I do that in a way that. Does not cause fear and alarm and or in a way that allows me to continue to accomplish what needs to be accomplished for the population that I’m serving.

[00:19:06] Dr. Morales-Campos: Awesome. Awesome. I know just listening to you, I know the core faculty would be so proud just to hear you talk, because I know one of their main goals and why they always come back each year is because they have the dedication to the students and to be that support system for underrepresented minority scholars out there.

[00:19:25] Dr. Morales-Campos: Cuz we know it’s sometimes hard for you and your institutions cuz sometimes you’re the only ones and we wanna make sure that you feel supported and that your research is valuable and that you’re here to benefit the world with the lens that you bring. So thank you for sharing that.

[00:19:43] Dr. Waller: You’re so welcome. And again, I am forever indebted to the Institute, so anytime you need me for anything, I’m there. As long as my schedule allows Dr. Morales-Campos, anything I could ever do to pay it forward, it would be my pleasure to do so.

[00:19:59] Dr. Morales-Campos: Aw. Thank you. We appreciate it. Well, with that, I had the pleasure of speaking with you, Dr. Waller today. Thank you for allowing me to interview you and just showcase your experience and your wonderful trajectory that you’ve had. I know your success story will truly inspire other and underrepresented minority scholars to following your footsteps, and we’ll hopefully have more apply for the program now that they’ve heard firsthand from you what a great experience you had.

[00:20:28] Dr. Waller: It was amazing. So yes, yes, yes. Please apply, apply, apply.

[00:20:34] Dr. Morales-Campos: Thank you.

[00:20:37] Outro: Hi y’all.. This is Ashley Nava-Monteros, the communications associate at Latino Studies. Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. Make sure to check out the Latino Studies Instagram page. Follow us at Latino studies, ut to keep the conversation going.