FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                 Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

August 18, 2021                                                                           (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced grant funding from The National Science Foundation (NSF# 2100343) to explore the role of master’s education in preparing, upskilling, and reskilling the STEM workforce. The project will expand our understanding of how master’s education across all fields prepares the STEM workforce, examining the extent to which skills, expertise, and competencies instilled through master’s education align with rapidly evolving jobs and industries of the future.

Understanding Roles of Masters Education in Entry Into, and Upskilling and Reskilling for, the STEM Workforce, will contribute to the development of a data infrastructure for future research on master’s education while providing more nuanced insights into labor market outcomes of master’s degrees by various fields of study, gender, race/ethnicity, and career stages. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reveal that many of the fastest-growing fields will require master’s degrees, but little information exists about professional pathways. This research will shed light on how master’s education may facilitate transitions to STEM careers for non-STEM undergraduate majors.

“This project has the potential to bolster institutional capacities to gather comprehensive outcomes data on master’s education at the program level. This is critically important for graduate programs seeking to better align their curricula with core competencies and to make career outcomes more transparent to prospective students,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. Ortega noted that the project will also address the role of master’s programs in creating a more diverse STEM workforce. “By illuminating the role of master’s education in entering and advancing in STEM careers--- not to mention building bridges to STEM doctoral education— the project has the potential to inform efforts to broaden the participation of women and persons of color in advanced scientific and engineering occupations.”

The value of this project is echoed by members of the CGS Employer Roundtable. “As a leading government contractor, Peraton’s ability to support national security missions of consequence relies on employing a diverse group of people who have the deep technical knowledge demanded in the space, cyber, defense, homeland security, and citizen services markets,” said Chris Valentino, chief strategy officer, Peraton. “I support this new CGS project because it will help us better understand the role of master's education in preparing students for careers in critical STEM fields.”

Over the three-year project, a census of all master’s degree recipients will be conducted through an exit survey at ten CGS institutions, serving as a complement to the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The ten universities will be chosen through an RFP process that will assess applications based on the number of master’s programs offered and degrees conferred. The RFP will be issued in fall 2021.

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Ariana Garcia, a CGS summer intern, is originally from a big city in New Mexico, but she was raised in a small, college town in Washington State. Her dad moved the family to Pullman for the protected environment and better opportunities. As Garcia says, “It was definitely a safe town, which was great, but I could count the people of color on one hand. That experience brought a whole other set of issues, including an identity crisis, as I tried to find my place. So, when I went to college, I wanted to meet other people of color, more people who looked like me.” Garcia chose to do that at Washington State University, in her hometown, but she found her real home in WSU’s McNair program.

The WSU McNair director, Raymond Herrera, encouraged Garcia to consider the program. He knew she would be a great fit, and they both knew that with aspirations to become a counselor, Garcia would need to go to graduate school to be able to practice. Learning to be a researcher is a key part of McNair, and while Garcia knew that it would be great preparation for her advanced study, it wasn’t something she had much interest in at the time. As Garcia says, “I thought to myself, I don't want to do research, but I do want to go to grad school. So, I'll do this program and the research, but just to help me get to grad school.”

Then Garcia joined a research project that looked at how media was related to sexual violence in relationships, and how media informed adolescent college students and their perception of relationships. She got involved in the project and started presenting her findings at undergraduate research conferences. She fell in love with it, but she still wanted a career that would allow her to help people.

So, Garcia applied to master’s programs in counseling and chose to attend Colorado State University, where she earned her master’s degree in counseling. “I liked it, but it wasn't fueling me. The only time I felt very passionate about what I was doing was when I was doing research. I always joke that McNair bamboozled me into liking research and set me on a whole different trajectory,” says Garcia. She started working in realms where she could use her counseling skills, but not as a therapist, and ended up in student affairs. She worked with scholarship groups for First Generation college students and undocumented students and enjoyed it, but she missed research. “I noticed the CSU students were having similar challenges as the WSU students. I realized these are such large systemic issues, and that's what compelled me to pursue my PhD.”

Now, Garcia is a doctoral student in higher education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, focusing on equity in graduate education. Each year, she also mentors five undergraduate students who are interested in graduate school. She enjoys working with the students and helping them navigate the hidden curriculum of graduate education. She credits her mentor, Dr. Herrera, for setting an example of good mentorship. He still calls her the first week of classes to check in and see how she’s doing. Garcia believes that having a good advisor and mentor improves your entire experience. She hopes to continue that work as a faculty member after she finishes her doctorate.

Garcia says her best advice for prospective graduate students is to talk to as many people as possible and to connect with people who are in roles similar to your interests. But, she says, “The number one thing is to look for funding opportunities. Most people have never heard the word assistantship before. When I was beginning my master’s at Colorado State, I met with a professor, who ended up being my advisor, and asked about available assistantships. She said that she was actually looking for someone, and then she hired me. I was the only person in my cohort who had an assistantship and everyone wanted to know how I got it, and all I did was ask. I credit that to McNair, because they prepared me. They told me to ask.”

Other-focused is how CGS summer intern Ahjah Johnson describes the guiding principle of her life. She has big career goals, but at the heart of everything is her desire to help people. As a freshman at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, she was working to get into the nursing program, but by her sophomore year, she was struggling to meet the requirements. She looked at the courses she had and compared them to other options and discovered that public health was a good fit with her academic interests and would still allow her to focus on helping other people. So, she pivoted and says, “Everything worked out perfectly. It aligns with who I am as a person and my values. It felt a little bit like fate.”

Johnson was part of the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program (NUFP) at the University of Arkansas. The initiative’s mission is to increase the number of historically disenfranchised and underrepresented professionals in student affairs and/or higher education. She describes the experience as intense, but credits her mentor Jameel Braddock with helping her navigate the program. Johnson says she was over committed in extracurricular activities, and “he called me in and was like, ‘this physiology grade isn't going to come up unless you let something go.’ He may have been the only person on campus who I felt really had my best interest in mind. We still keep in touch.”

After graduating with her B.A. in public health and an eight week internship at Washington University in St. Louis, Johnson pivoted again. This time to The Ohio State University for their master’s in student affairs program. After her time in the undergraduate fellows program, she decided that she wanted a career in student affairs, and that meant going to graduate school. To Johnson the connection between public health and student affairs is obvious: they’re both other-focused fields.

Johnson is currently in the student affairs higher education doctoral program at Miami University of Ohio, where she’s studying various structures of support and curriculum design. Ahjah’s research widely focuses on the identity development of Black women in higher education and beyond, as well as their intersecting oppressions of adultism and adultification.  When she finishes her PhD, Johnson says she’s open to a lot of opportunities, but her long-term goal is to be tenured faculty and someday, dean of a graduate school. She served as a graduate student representative on Miami University’s search committee and found it to be an eye-opening experience, but her biggest takeaway was that there needs to be more people who look like her: in the applicant pool, in the room where the decisions are made, and in higher education more broadly.

In addition to her doctoral work, Johnson is focused on giving back to her university community. She’s a writing consultant on campus, helping undergraduate and graduate students improve their writing, something she says she never thought possible given her dyslexia. Johnson is also the incoming president of the Graduate Students of Color Association at Miami University.

When asked about advice for prospective graduate students, Johnson replied, “Whatever obstacle you think you have, you can overcome them. I didn't find out I had dyslexia or ADHD until I was working full time, right before I started my PhD program. I jumped over a lot of obstacles, a lot of bad grades and a lot of terrible exams, and only recently understood why it was so hard for me. So, anything is possible. Don't count yourself out, count yourself in.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                 Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

August 12, 2021                                                                           (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced awards designed to catalyze innovation in the preparation of humanities PhDs for diverse careers. Through a competitive sub-award process, a committee selected ten U.S. doctoral-granting institutions to join The Humanities Coalition, which will develop and assess initiatives for better supporting humanities PhD students transitioning from graduate programs into the workforce.

Universities will be working in one of two areas: grant-writing and resource development, and building professional networks. One set of universities will prepare current humanities doctoral students to identify and cultivate funders of research, scholarship, and programs and to develop successful proposals for financial support. This area of focus, which will support Howard University; Loyola University; Purdue University; Southern Mississippi University; University of California, Irvine; and University of Texas at El Paso, is designed to prepare doctoral students for careers in areas such as university sponsored programming, non-profit leadership, and corporate relations. 

A parallel group of awardees—City University of New York, University of Arizona, Wayne State University, and Michigan State University— will develop programs to help current humanities doctoral students build professional networks and relationships. Activities will include building programs that connect current doctoral students with PhD alumni in a broad range of careers, developing opportunities for doctoral students to build networks that inform and advance their career goals, and piloting modules that help humanities PhD students develop their professional networks. 

This latest project is an expansion of prior work that included developing and supporting a network of 75 U.S. doctoral institutions as they collect data from STEM and Humanities PhD students and alumni about their professional aspirations, career pathways, and career preparation. In general, data from the project yield a positive picture of humanities doctoral education. Most alumni reported that they are engaged in meaningful work and believe their doctoral work prepared them for their current job responsibilities. However, data also indicate that humanities PhDs who were employed in business, non-profit, or government, particularly those in the early stages of their careers, feel less prepared than their peers working at universities.

“Building on the extraordinary work of the PhD Career Pathways project, The Humanities Coalition will develop, expand, and scale up a suite of programs and practices in key areas of need. We’ve been conducting research in career diversity for nearly a decade, and this work will take the next logical step from better understanding aspirations to preparing for successful careers,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “We know that humanities PhDs have many possible career paths in front of them. We need to make sure they know their options, how to access them, and that they’ve developed the skillsets necessary for success.”

The Humanities Coalition includes grantees as well as universities that submitted competitive proposals to participate. The full list of participating organizations, includes: Arizona State University; CUNY Graduate Center; Howard University; Indiana University Bloomington; Loyola University Chicago; Michigan State University; Purdue University; Texas A&M University; The University of Southern Mississippi; The University of Texas at El Paso; University of Arizona; University of Arkansas; University of California, Irvine; University of Missouri; University of Rochester; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Wayne State University.

The current project builds upon three earlier phases of CGS research: a feasibility study supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; a survey development phase supported by the Mellon, Sloan, and National Science Foundations (NSF #1534620); a survey implementation phase supported by the Mellon Foundation and NSF (#1661272); and an examination of factors likely to impact retention and persistence in STEM careers, particularly for underrepresented students, supported by NSF (#2000750).

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Diamond Cunningham describes her undergraduate experience at the University of South Florida as trial and error. She knew what she wanted to do, but she wasn’t sure how to get there. She’s always been interested in biology and the sciences, but she was also interested in the intersection between science and policy. Cunningham decided to double major in biology and political science but didn’t yet see a connection. During office hours with one of her professors, she finally understood how her two interests would fit together: the field of public health.

Cunningham spent her remaining time at USF learning more about the field and developing her professional networks. She thought about graduate school but decided to take a gap year. “My professors and family members really discouraged me from doing this. They were concerned that the break would deter me from ever going back, but I knew it was the best decision for me especially since I was not financially prepared to start another academic program,” said Cunningham. She spent the year working full time at a nonprofit clinic and part time as a pharmacy tech. She wanted to remain in health and have an opportunity to work directly with people.

In addition to working two jobs, Cunningham spent time applying to master’s of public health programs. The Rutgers School of Public health was the best fit primarily because of their Urban Public Health concentration. Cunningham wanted to understand overall health status and disparities in urban populations and how diverse urban factors and environments influence health status. “I chose to go to grad school for a lot of different reasons. Working at the nonprofit clinic during my gap year, I shadowed and learned from coworkers who had a lot more experience and could efficiently execute interventions for the populations we worked with. I realized that in order to make a real contribution to the field, I needed more experience, training, and credentials. I wanted to learn more and ensure I had a strong foundation, so that I could be a better resource for the communities I planned to serve” she said.

Cunningham says her master’s program really pushed her further into the field and gave her the professional support and mentorship she needed to grow. Her academic advisor, Dr. Devin English, remains one of the biggest role models. She says English helped her manage the competing priorities of graduate school and that meeting with him regularly helped her feel more comfortable and confident.

Cunningham urges prospective graduate students to do what works for them, not anyone else. She believes it’s important that students sit down and be realistic about their goals and expectations and to be open to possibilities. She also says it’s important to be visible, “go to those office hours and professional development opportunities, read the department and college newsletters for scholarship announcements, stay involved.”

Diamond is in her last few days of her CGS summer internship and will begin her doctoral program in public health this fall at Tulane University, and she’s excited for the opportunity to work in Dr. David Chae’s Society, Health, and Racial Equity (SHARE) lab studying social equity and epidemiology. When asked whether she still thinks the break between undergraduate and graduate school was the right decision, Cunningham said, “The gap year changed my life. I would not be where I am now if it had not been for the experiences I had working during that time. It was absolutely the right decision.”

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Philip Hieter is an award-winning biochemist currently working at the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. By using yeast as a model to understand the causes of genome structure and sequence changes underlying tumorigenesis, Hieter has identified genetic vulnerabilities in tumor cells “that could be exploited for therapeutic benefit in the treatment of cancer.” In addition to being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the National Academy of Sciences, Hieter won the 2018 George W. Beadle Award from the Genetics Society of America for his work facilitating collaboration and community among life sciences.  

Before his accomplished scientific career, Hieter was a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University and winner of the 1981 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. We sat down with Dr. Hieter to learn more about his work and any advice he has for students who want to make the most out of their time in graduate school. 

What are you currently working on?

Genome instability distinguishes cancer cells from normal cells and as such can be exploited as a genetic vulnerability to develop therapies that selectively kill cells exhibiting genome instability. Over the past 35 years, my lab has been studying the molecular components required for chromosome transmission in yeast, with the over-arching goal of relating our work in yeast to human cancer. We are currently fascinated by the finding that inhibitors of the cancer drug target, PARP1, cause cytotoxicity in BRCA1 mutated cancer cells, not because of the loss of PARP enzyme activity per se, but rather from the trapping of the PARP protein on DNA that causes a toxic lesion. We have recently developed a yeast-based screening system that exploits point mutations that more accurately mimic the activity of chemical inhibitors that trap their protein target on DNA. We believe this approach will increase the chance that drug targets will translate into effective therapies, and opens a new avenue for target screening that will identify novel therapeutic targets that would be missed by current approaches.

How did your graduate training shape your current career?

My thesis advisor, Phil Leder, was an inspirational, creative scientist and mentor to me, who truly shaped my approach to research, and opened the doors that I was fortunate to have available to me as my career developed as an independent scientist. The Leder laboratory had incorporated all the cutting-edge recombinant DNA technologies of the time (in the late 70’s; bacteriophage lambda DNA library construction, restriction enzymes and plasmid vectors, DNA sequencing), and had them working very efficiently. This suite of technologies enabled us to tackle previously unapproachable problems in antibody gene structure and function. My experience as a graduate student in the Leder laboratory impressed upon me the critical importance of technology development and its implementation in driving research productivity.  As a result, technology development has been a major theme in my independent laboratory and a key to the success of my students and postdocs over the years. 

What was the most valuable piece of advice that you received in graduate school?

Towards the end of my graduate research work, Phil Leder told me to take time, to explore, talk with people, and try to figure out who I wanted to work with during a postdoctoral fellowship.  Phil Leder’s advice was to pick an exciting research area that was taking off, and that complemented my expertise and knowledge, so that I could “connect the dots” in a unique way for whatever next step I would be taking longer term.  After much consideration and consultation with colleagues, this led me to Ron Davis’s lab at Stanford, moving from the study of mammalian antibody genes using recombinant DNA technology as a graduate student, to the study of yeast chromosome biology using yeast genetics (including the newly developed methods for DNA transformation and gene replacement in yeast) as a postdoc. The intersection between these diverse approaches turned out to be highly productive, and had a positive impact on my career in the long term.

If you could provide one piece of advice to a current graduate student in your field, what would it be?

Pick an important problem, surround yourself with good colleagues (mentor, lab mates, academic environment, collaborators), and go deep. If possible, include a “horizontal” component to your research in which you develop technology that is broadly applicable to the research community. The “vertical” component will be the application of technology to an important problem to go deep into the biological mechanisms.  During your academic journey, be grateful for having the privilege to pursue a research problem as a member of the international community of scientists, and definitely make time for yourself to have fun outside the lab.  Work hard, play hard, and remember - sleeping is highly over-rated!

To learn more about Philip Hieter's work, visit his faculty page on the University of British Columbia website. 

Ava Fergerson, a recent master’s degree recipient in psychological sciences at Western Kentucky University (WKU), spent four years working with Dr. Amy Brausch in WKU’s Risk Behaviors & Suicide Prevention Lab. Fergerson wants to better understand suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young adults who are sexual assault survivors. Her interest in the work began as an undergraduate at WKU when she began volunteering at Hope Harbor, a sexual trauma recovery center, in 2016. “I was really motivated by Gender and Women’s Studies educators to get involved in service as a way to benefit the community,” she said.

Fergerson’s graduate work used research psychology to benefit sexual assault survivors. Her master’s thesis, An Application of the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide in College-Age Survivors of Sexual Assault, considered the “applicability of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS) to suicide risk in survivors of sexual victimization.” IPTS is used to both better understand suicidal behaviors and to identify those at risk and is based on the theory that a suicidal person must overcome their own fear of death through a combination of “thwarted belongingness” and “perceived burdensomeness.” One of Fergerson’s findings is that perceived burdensomeness was a predictive factor for suicide ideation but thwarted belongingness was not for sexual assault survivors.

Her exceptional work has not only received attention from her peers, but also spurred her to deeper study. While at WKU, Fergerson received numerous honors, including the Catherine Coogan-Ward Feminist Action Award from the WKU Gender and Women's Studies program, Outstanding Graduate Student in the Department of Psychological Sciences, and the John D. Minton Graduate Student Award. She’s currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Southern Mississippi in clinical psychology. To learn more about Ava’s work, visit the Western Kentucky University website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Bryan Lemon, Communications and Marketing Staff, WKU

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg | (202) 461-3888/ khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools applauds the bipartisan reintroduction of the Expanding Access to Graduate Education Act, introduced by Representatives Annie McLane Kuster (D-NH-02), Fred Upton (R-MI-06), Kim Schrier (D-WA-08), and Tim Burchett (R-TN-02). The legislation would provide graduate students, who received Pell Grant support as undergraduates, the ability to apply remaining semesters of Pell support towards a graduate degree, if they remain income eligible. CGS has championed this proposal to modernize the Pell program, thereby improving access and diversity within graduate education and strengthening the workforce.

Currently, the Pell Grant program is only available to undergraduate students, and eligible individuals can receive up to 12 semesters’ worth of grant awards. However, a growing number of graduate students are former Pell recipients. According to the Department of Education, in Academic Year 2015-2016, nearly 46 percent of first-year graduate and professional students received some level of Pell support. While a greater number of students from lower socio-economic means pursuing graduate degrees is an encouraging indicator, over one-third of them did not use all 12 semesters of their grants. This bill would expand support for Pell recipients by encouraging timely completion of their undergraduate degrees and preserving an option for financial assistance through their graduate studies.

“The reintroduction of this legislation highlights a commitment to maximize the Pell Grant program and ensure that individuals with exceptional financial need can pursue higher levels of in-demand education,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of financial support is a top concern for prospective graduate students, particularly from underserved backgrounds, so it is paramount that our nation’s investments include expanding access to more students from these communities.”

“The high cost of graduate school is a barrier for many qualified and highly capable students from furthering their education and pursuing careers requiring an advanced degree,” said Rep. Kuster. "The Expanding Access to Graduate Education Act will help level the playing field for post-graduate opportunities, reduce student debt, and ensure workers have the skills they need to help fill the jobs of the future — a win-win for students and our economy."

“It just makes sense to let Pell Grants carry over to graduate school,” Rep. Burchett said. “This is a sensible way we can encourage folks to pursue their education whenever possible.”

“The Pell grant provides considerable financial support to our student body. At the University of New Hampshire over 1,000 of our undergraduate students graduated with remaining Pell eligibility. Of those students, 112 have returned for graduate study. Extending Pell eligibility to graduate students would be enormously significant for those students who could be using Pell rather than taking on additional student debt,” said Dr. Cari Moorhead, dean of the Graduate School at the University of New Hampshire.

“A well-trained workforce is essential for economic growth, and employers are demonstrating increased need for workers with graduate degrees. The Expanding Access to Graduate Education Act would provide increased access to graduate education for Americans wishing to pursue advanced degrees, said Dr. Dixie Thompson, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “If passed, this Act would advance our commitment to workforce development and to greater access to graduate education regardless of a person’s socio-economic status.”

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Sanchita Balachandran’s work embodies the way an interdisciplinary approach to complex research questions can complicate and enrich our understanding of even the most enduring subjects. In her role as associate director of the Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum, she’s an art conservationist and a researcher. As a senior lecturer in JHU’s Department of Near Eastern Studies, she’s a teacher and a mentor. And, as a doctoral student in preservation studies at the University of Delaware, she’s part humanist and part scientist.

Balachandran’s research shows the ways that contemporary biases have limited our understanding of the past. While she studies ancient ceramics, particularly Athenian ceramics from the 6^th to 4^th centuries BCE, she’s thinking more broadly about the people that made these artifacts and why their labor has been largely left out of classical narratives.  Balachandran wants us to think about the identities of the artisans who crafted the ceramics and how their labor was essential to ancient economies. Beyond that, she wants her work to help scholars interrogate their own biases about who mattered and celebrate the diversity of ancient societies. “Thinking about the diversity of these ancient makers and their lived experiences offer us ways to think about the dignity of work, the importance of this kind of ‘essential labor,’ the need to respond to valid critiques of Classics in general at a time when it has been rightly called out for enabling white supremacy by not emphasizing the diversity of the ancient past,” she noted.

To do this work, Balachandran uses a technique called reflectance transformation imaging that can reveal details found under the ceramics’ paint. It is a technique that fits her research’s narrative aspirations. Just as reflectance transformation aims to uncover secrets buried under paint, so too does Balachandran’s work seek to recover the voices of the marginalized artisans – immigrants, women, and enslaved peoples. Since these marginalized groups were often of little interest to elites of their time, their voices are faint in the historical record. By using reflectance transformation, Balachandran hopes to amplify these marginalized voices by calling attention to the incredible skill and care that went into their labor.

“I want to find ways to make sure that this research speaks to the most human of questions: Do I matter? What is my place in the world? Will anyone remember me?” said Balachandran. In addition to her doctoral work and role at the JHU’s Archaeological Museum, Balachandran is also the founder and director of the non-profit organization, Untold Stories, “that pursues an art conservation profession that represents and preserves a fuller spectrum of human cultural heritage.” To learn more about Sanchita’s work, visit the University of Delaware website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: James T. VanRensselaer, courtesy of Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum

Dr. Avon Hart-Johnson began her career as a project manager for an IT company, but she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. The years she spent volunteering and mentoring abused women and high-risk children led her to pursue her M.S. in forensic psychology and later a PhD in human services at Walden University. Her work focused on how women manage the effects of having an incarcerated partner. Through her research, Dr. Hart-Johnson constructed a theory of symbolic imprisonment, grief, and coping (SIG-C) to consider all the ways in which those women with incarcerated partners feel loss – on psychological, social, symbolic, and physical levels.

Hart-Johnson’s research provided a foundation that she used to support families impacted by incarceration. She is president and co-founder of DC Project Connect, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to provide crisis intervention and information resources to families affected by incarceration. “It’s rare to find an African American whose life has not been touched by mass incarceration” says Dr. Hart-Johnson. “It’s also sad that it’s become so commonplace within our communities that we just don’t talk about it.” In addition, Hart-Johnson serves as the vice president of the International Coalition of Children with Incarcerated Parents organization and as chairperson for the Advocacy in Action Coalition for the International Prisoner Family Conference. In 2018, she received the Walden University Outstanding Alumni Award for her work.

“I believe the strongest leadership role we can play as advocates and executives of nonprofits is to understand the needs of our community by listening to the voices of individuals who are most impacted,” said Dr. Hart Johnson. To learn more about Dr. Hart-Johnson’s work, visit the Walden University website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Walden University