Wanted: Undergrads Interested in Social Policy
IPR sponsored programs teach undergraduates about social science research and policy issues

Fall 2004, Volume 26, Number 2

Junior Jason Szanyi discusses references for a study with IPR Faculty Fellow Lindsay Chase-Lansdale.

As an institute devoted to policy-relevant social science research, IPR has long championed encouraging students to study policy issues by engaging graduate students to work with faculty members. Additionally, the institute reaches beyond this traditional mentoring by supporting two efforts to promote social science issues and research to under-graduates: its summer research assistant program for undergraduates and the Undergraduate Lecture Series on Race, Poverty, and Inequality.

“Very few incoming freshmen have an exact idea about what policy-relevant social science research entails—and even fewer probably consider becoming a social scientist interested in researching social issues,” said Fay Lomax Cook, IPR’s director and professor of human development and social policy. “That is why we consider it important to give undergraduates an opportunity to work with IPR researchers who are conducting research on policy-relevant topics.”

Summer Undergraduate Research Assistants Program
Since 1998, the Institute has invited interested undergraduates to apply to participate in its summer program.

This year the program welcomed 42 undergraduates, who are working with IPR faculty on research topics that range from welfare reform to public housing and nonprofits. It is only open to Northwestern University undergraduates. ChristopherTaber, Household International Inc. Research Fellow of Economics and IPR faculty fellow, currently leads the program.

“It’s teaching them first-hand what social science research is like,” Taber said. “They acquire a deeper understanding of the policy-relevant issues that must be dealt with when approaching social problems.”

Jason Szanyi, who is majoring in psychology and political science, is working with Linsday Chase-Lansdale, a developmental psychologist and IPR faculty fellow. He said he became interested in working for her because it “meshes” his two majors. Szanyi, who will be a junior in the fall, is considering an advanced degree in psychology.

He has been reviewing new measures, such as adolescents’ romantic relationships or work orientation scales, which might be used in the third wave of the $20 million Three-City Study.

The study is tracing the psychological and cognitive development of approximately 2,000 poor children in three major U.S. cities. “It is helping me to think more critically and hone my writing,” he said. “It is an intense learning experience—even returning library books is an experience because I see what kinds of literature are being read.”

For information about the 2005 program, contact Ellen Whittingham at h-whittingham@northwestern.edu.

Undergraduate Lecture Series on Race, Poverty and Inequality

Co-chairs Laura Beres and Tyler Jaeckel introduce a keynote speaker.

IPR also wants to broaden the social science vocabulary of those students who might not necessarily be considering careers in the social sciences, but are interested in the myriad issues that social science research can address.

To this end, IPR has sponsored the Undergraduate Lecture Series on Race, Poverty, and Inequality ever since two undergraduates founded it in 2002. This past academic year, Tyler Jaeckel, who will return as a junior in the fall, and Laura Beres, who graduated in June, cochaired the lecture series.

One of the most important aspects of the program is to engage undergraduates in current topics from an academic perspective, Jaeckel said. This is accomplished through keynote lectures by distinguished scholars and panel discussions around a particular topic. Activism events such as getting students to participate in a voter-registration drive or visiting a public housing site are also an integral component of each series.

Over the past year, the undergraduate series explored voter disenfranchisement, race, and immigration. In addition to outside speakers and faculty, IPR and Northwestern faculty often participate in and lead panels. For example, IPR Faculty Fellows Greg Duncan, Mary Pattillo, and Dorothy Roberts presented some of their current research findings on these subjects at February’s “Dimensions of Race” series, which explored the impact of race on American culture, public housing, child welfare, employment, and college campuses.

For more information on the series, please contact inequality@northwestern.edu. A complete listing of past events can be found at www.northwestern.edu/ipr/events.