FAMU scholars earn spots at UC Santa Barbara Research-Policy Institute

TALLAHASSEE — Florida A&M University students may be a step closer to resolving some of the most difficult issues confronting educators.

Four students were accepted into the 2015 University of California Santa Barbara–FAMU Summer Institute in Educational Research and Policy. Tameisha Hinton, Thierry Pierre, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and Courtney Wright participated in the program that ended last month.

The Institute utilizes a highly competitive selection process that evaluates the research plans developed by the students and their mentors. These plans are geared to the academic and professional student interests.

These Rattlers are focused on impacting areas that have proven problematic to the progress of educational development. Some of the areas include community psychology, counseling, equity in education, multicultural counseling processes, the effects of racism and classism on teaching and learning, programs for urban school curriculums to decrease the achievement gap between low socio-economic students.

The University of California is interested in improving its African American participation in graduate study programs, which hovers a less than three percent. This initiative seeks to improve that representation, particularly in Ph.D. programs, by investing in relationships and efforts between UC Santa Barbara faculty and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.