our project

Graduate student mental health is alarming, with evidence that suggests an increasing anxiety and depression worldwide (Forrester, 2021; Woolston, 2019). Moreover, hostile academic environments, negatively affect the psychosocial development, emotional well-being, and mental health of faculty members at research universities (Vázquez, 2019). Unfortunately, the extent to which these environments affect the mental health of underrepresented communities in graduate school is still unknown. 

International experts call for collaboration to change academic culture and create infrastructure to engage and treat graduate student mental health. This was the driving force of our community-based project Healing the Academy: Addressing Mental Health Disparities Among Underrepresented Graduate  and Students. This project was conducted during March, 2021  and February, 2022.

Funding    

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54MD013368. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Following is a list of all the Steering Council Members who contributed to the development of this report. The information provided below includes council member names, school/department of association, and their social identities/positionalities.     

Graduate students: 

•  Amanda Scott-Williams, UCR/School of Education; Mother, Native American (Seminole), First-gen graduate student  
• Gabriela Ortiz, UCR/Anthropology; Chicana, First-gen college student  
• Madeline Vera-Colon, UCR/Environmental Toxicology; First-gen,  Mexican-American, First-gen student, female, low SES, mvera006@ucr.edu, https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeline-vera-col%C3%B3n-22b597b7/  
• Nelly Cruz, UCR College of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences; First-gen student, Mixtec/Mexican American, female  
• Amanda Hale; UCR/CNAS   
• Jaqueline Dighero    

Faculty and Staff members: 

• Connie Marmolejo, Ph.D., UCR The Well; First-gen college student, Latinx, connie.marmolejo@ucr.edu, https://www.linkedin.com/in/connie-marmolejo-drph-mph-34897a92/  
• Hillary Jenks, Ph.D., UCR/Graduate Division; White woman PhD & intersectional feminist  
• Cynthia Villarreal, Ph.D., School of Education, cynthiav@ucr.edu, Twitter- @CynDVillarreal; IG @BorderConsciousness    

Research team:  

• Principal Investigator: Evelyn Vázquez, Ph.D., Dept. of Social Medicine, Population and Public Health (SMPPH); First-gen college student; Latinx; woman of color; English as a foreing language learner,   evelyn.moralesvazquez@medsch.ucr.edu, Twitter- @DrEvelynVazquez
• Primary Mentor: Ann Cheney, Ph.D., Dept. SMPPH; female, rural background  
• Mentor: Michalis Faloutsos, Ph.D., Computer Science; First-generation immigrant 
• Graduate Student Researcher: Manasi Rajadhyaksha, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Psychology; international student, first-gen graduate student, female   Student Assistant: Vinz Angelo Madrigal, Undergraduate Student, Computer Sciences