Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research

Shayla Brown — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 19:24:51 +0000

Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research Shayla Brown Tue, 12/06/2022 - 14:24

Photo by Getty Images

The Communicating Health Equity and Healing Justice Research Lab (CEHJ) came to life on George Mason University’s campus in October 2021.

“It started out an all-Black women endeavor, but now it has expanded to Black and Brown men as well as alternative gender identity individuals,” said Akila Ka Ma’at, the director of the lab and core faculty member with Women and Gender Studies Program and the Communication Department.

The lab allows students to engage in the production of research projects and contribute to data collection efforts through an immersive experiential learning and training experience. Its members focus on the mental and reproductive health of Black women as well as identify factors related to internalized racism.

Ashley Dawson, who joined the lab as an undergraduate student, is getting her master’s in public health with a concentration in health promotion. She hopes to become a public health consultant as well as a program developer so she can provide health intervention for underserved communities.

“Currently, we’re working on the impact of the “Strong Black Woman” stigma on the birth outcomes in Black women,” said Dawson. “This allows us to address the intersectionality and social determinants that are either negatively or positively impacting prenatal health.”

Sahana Natarajan, who recently graduated from Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, is currently working as Mason affiliate faculty in collaboration with the CEHJ research lab.

“Health communication was something I had never really done before. Despite that, Dr. Ma’at believed in my potential and went to great lengths to mentor me,” said Natarajan. “I’m still in the process of learning how to lead. I’m starting to lead my own projects.”

Natarajan is currently working on a pilot testing a survey to access racial stress and related factors among prenatal Black Women.

“This lab is really about team collaboration. Along with that, addressing health disparities. If that’s something that’s important to you, I think the lab will really benefit you in terms of increasing your abilities and your impact in the world,” she said.

Mason sociology student J Orisha is also a part of CEHJ and working on this project. “I think it’s important that there be more spaces like this for students. [My research interests have] honestly been changing the more involved I get on campus and meet more professors, but it’s centrally around African American/Black studies and anti-racist, decolonized research,” said Orisha.

“It’s an open environment where you mess up, great, you learn and keep moving. I never experienced that in the other schools,” Orisha said. “They’re actually trying to listen to their students. They really do care, and I really, really appreciate it.”

Ma’at hopes to collaborate with more disciplines and more community stakeholders. She wants the lab’s research to extend into the African diaspora and include immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

The CEHJ Research Lab meets on Tuesdays from 2-3 p.m. and Thursdays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Robeson Room 240A in the Johnson Center.

Topics

African and African American Studies

Women and Gender Studies

ARIE

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Research

Communication Department

Mason Lighting the Way: Austin A. Deray

Colleen Rich — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 16:16:05 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Austin A. Deray Colleen Rich Thu, 08/19/2021 - 12:16

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

More than 130 faculty, staff and students are working on George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force, which is taking a hard look at the current state of diversity and inclusivity efforts at the university and making recommendations for the future.

These individuals come from across our campuses and bring their different skill sets and expertise to this work. In this series, we will spotlight members of the task force and find out what drives them.

Austin A. Deray
Doctoral Student, Cultural Studies
Committees: Student Voice and University Policies and Practices

Austin A. Deray

As a graduate student with intersectional racial and ethnic identities, George Mason University doctoral student Austin A. Deray said he believes it is his responsibility to champion the voices of his communities.

His work on the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force directly aligns with those personal and professional goals.

“As my dissertation is on the lived experiences of racial and ethnic identity students attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs), I feel my work on the Student Voice committee, being a voice for my communities, and the University Policies and Procedures committee, advocating and helping change university policies to be more inclusive and equitable, is aligned with my current and future work in higher ed,” said the Savannah, Georgia, native.

Austin began his PhD work in Mason’s Cultural Studies Program in 2016, and he is interested in how regionalism and institutionalism codify collegiate masculinity, the socio-historical creation of the collegiate man, and the space fraternal organizations hold both on campuses and in the collective understanding of collegiate men. He expects to complete his PhD in Cultural Studies by Spring 2022.

For the past five years, Deray has worked the Office of Graduate Student Life, a part of Mason’s University Life.

“I like to joke that I am the longest-lasting GA in University Life as I am working on my PhD and most leave after their two years are up,” said Deray. “I've stayed because I love the work we do, am blessed to have the mentorship of Dr. Julie Choe Kim, director of Graduate Student Life, and have the support and advocacy of the Dean of Students Juliet Blank-Godlove.”

Currently Deray advises the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA) and works with other graduate student organizations on campus.

“This job has also given me the opportunity to continue advocating for and working with graduate students of color,” he said.

Deray said he is proud of how the University Policies and Practices Committee has set an example for creating equitable experiences for students, faculty, and staff.

“I feel validated by the faculty and staff who I have worked with on the committee for creating the space for my voice and experiences and letting me be a driving voice in the room,” he said.

When asked what future impact he envisions ARIE will have on Mason, Deray sees “an R1 institution that has moved away from an ivory tower model.” He hopes the university will focus more efforts on inclusivity and equity for graduate and professional students.

During his time at Mason, Deray has been involved with an impressive list of student organizations.

In addition to advising GAPSA, he serves as a faculty advisor of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, is the past chair and current admissions committee member of Student Organizing Committee for Cultural Studies, is a non-voting Graduate Student Life GA representative of Graduate Council, and faculty advisor to the Afghan Student Association.

He is also the Diversity and Inclusion Commissioner and Delta North Provence President of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which seeks to establish a chapter at Mason this year.

In his free time, Deray is “an avid reader, traveler, foodie, and open to discuss any argument uttered in earshot.”

Topics

Students

President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

University Life

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research

Topics

Mason Lighting the Way: Austin A. Deray

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

Austin A. DerayDoctoral Student, Cultural StudiesCommittees: Student Voice and University Policies and Practices

Topics

Austin A. Deray
Doctoral Student, Cultural Studies
Committees: Student Voice and University Policies and Practices