¾«Æ·SMÔÚÏßӰƬ

Jenny Washabaugh (PhD student) has been chosen to receive the Figueroa Family Fellowship from the CU Grad School. This $1,500 scholarship is awarded in recognition of your commitment to the achievement of a diverse student body and your work in improving the state of our world and its people. In offering this award, we are expressing our admiration for the impact you have made and will continue to make in the community – both at CU and beyond.

Because this is a topic of major interest to the department, and because she deserves our particular praise, we are including the summary of her contributions from her Plan of Study below.

DIVERSITY CONTRIBUTIONS BY
FIGUEROA FAMILY FELLOWSHIP AWARDEE
Jenny Washabaugh

I am the biological anthropology graduate student representative for the Anthropology Department’s Climate Committee. We are working to create a more inclusive space and foster an atmosphere of community and collegiality by planning and engaging the department in workshops and activities. In February 2018, I attended the workshop ‘Inclusive Classroom: Identifying & Addressing Microaggressions in Real-Time’. This workshop aimed to improve student efforts towards creating inclusive learning and work environments and provided insight for future workshops that the Climate Committee plans to hold.

In October 2017, I helped establish the Biological Anthropology Graduate Students (BAGS) organization in collaboration with Dr. Robin Bernstein and fellow graduate student Daniel Naumenko. BAGS aims to promote academic success; foster the formation of lasting relationships with fellow students, professors, and mentors; and provide experiences outside the classroom that are fundamental to developing the skills necessary to become flourishing professionals. We continue to work on professionalization and community building within the biological anthropology subdiscipline.

Finally, I am working in collaboration with a fellow Anthropology graduate student to launch a scientific blog with a broad target audience. We plan to translate any research findings published on the blog from English to the language(s) of the region where the work was conducted. In this way, research findings will be communicated to those in which the work may be most relevant and beneficial.

Broader CU Community
Between 2016-2017, I served as member of the Community Coordination Committee for 500 Women in Science. Through this position, I worked on initiatives aimed to increase public understanding of science in nearby communities and to contribute to fact-based public dialogue and policy. Concurrently, I served as the Director of Hospital Relations for ¾«Æ·SMÔÚÏßӰƬ’s chapter of Dance Marathon (a non-profit organization benefitting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals). Funds raised through Dance Marathon are used to cover costs of pediatric rehabilitation treatments and organization members are paired with local families who directly receive the benefits of this program.

Since 2015, I have volunteered at the annual Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) ‘Expanding Your Horizons’ conference for middle school girls. The event includes hands-on STEM activities and is aimed to encourage girls to embrace themselves as innovative and creative thinkers. I am also a member of the Grant Proposal Committee for WiSE, where we apply for funds to host speakers and hold workshops open to the public and aimed to communicate science to a wide audience. Through WiSE, I also participate in the High School Student Mentoring Program, where we hold both open discussions and activities with high school students in the Denver area who are considered at-risk for dropping out.

Every week, I volunteer with Eye to Eye, a national program run through ¾«Æ·SMÔÚÏßӰƬ’s Office for Disability Services. We visit Platt Middle School and work on art projects with middle school students who have learning disabilities (LDs). The art projects are specifically designed to share experiences between mentors (who also have LDs) and mentees and help improve self-esteem and self-advocacy skills. This group also encourages young students to continue their academic careers despite the challenges they face with their LDs. I am also a member of Biphoria, an LGBTQ student organization on campus. The goal of Biphoria is to create a community to provide support, education, and to increase LGBTQ visibility.

I plan to continue my involvement in all the organizations described above in order to promote diversity and inclusion in the CU community and beyond.