Description:

Partner Institutions: University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Collaborating Institutions: University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina, University of New Mexico, and the New School for Social Research

Co-Principal Investigators: Marta Sánchez (University of North Carolina, Wilmington)

The new Research Institute for Scholars of Equity (RISE) at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is designed to provide upper-level undergraduate students and recent graduates with experiences in conducting mixed-methods education research while preparing participants for doctoral study. RISE is a partnership between two universities in North Carolina: NCCU, and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. The training program will include faculty mentors and students from these two universities, in addition to a limited number of students and faculty mentors from collaborating institutions. Over the course of the five-year grant, RISE will offer up to 60 students one-year fellowships.

The interdisciplinary training program's theme focuses on the ongoing inequities in education found in American schooling, especially for preK-20 African American and Latino/a students. As part of the year-long RISE training program, fellows will receive training in education research, conduct research with peers and faculty mentors, and receive assistance in applying to doctoral programs.

One core feature of the fellowship is the eight-week summer research institute in which fellows will be introduced to critical race theory (as well as mixed-methods research techniques) as a means of studying issues such as teacher quality, education policy, and race and social justice in education. In addition to coursework, fellows will conduct several short research projects and begin conducting research related to the RISE theme as part of research interest groups (RIGs) under the supervision of their faculty mentors. Fellows will continue to conduct research through their RIGs during the academic year.

For participation in the training program, each fellow will receive a stipend, housing and a meal plan for the summer research institute, and complementary access to an online GRE preparation program. RISE will also provide a small allowance to cover travel costs to and from the summer training institute.

Project Website: https://www.nccu.edu/soe/rise

Increasing Diversity in the Education Sciences

A primary purpose of all Pathways training programs is to help increase diversity in the Education Sciences. RISE represents a partnership between two colleges within the University of North Carolina System that provide graduate training in education—one of which is a historically black university. Each year RISE will recruit several fellows from each of these two campuses, plus additional fellows from other collaborating institutions across the country. Participating faculty represent a variety of disciplines including education, economics, African American studies, urban policy and sociology.