Graduate Students
Melissa Stoffers​
Senior Graduate Student Representative​
University of Delaware​
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Melissa Stoffers (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Sciences department at the University of Delaware. Melissa completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Rowan University where she received her M.S. in Collaborative Teaching and B.A. degrees in Collaborative Education and American Studies. Melissa holds multiple K-8 teaching certifications and worked as a New Jersey public school elementary and middle school special education teacher before arriving at the University of Delaware. Melissa's research interests are focused around the facilitation of healthy relationships and advocacy for individuals with disabilities.
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Allison Fears
Junior Graduate Student Representative​
College of William & Mary
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Allison Fears (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Counselor Education and Supervision department at The College of William & Mary. Allison received her B.S. in Psychology at Virginia Tech, and M.Ed. in Counselor Education and Supervision with a concentration in School Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth Institution. Allison is a Licensed School Counselor and worked previously as a high school counselor in North Carolina before moving back to Williamsburg, Virginia to pursue her doctoral degree. Allison's research interests include rural school counseling, COVID-19 pandemic effects on school counseling, and antiracism in school counseling.
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Current Research & Involvement Opportunities - AERA 2021
Division E
Seed Special Call
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Division E (Counseling and Human Development) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) invites proposals from advanced doctoral students and early career scholars for a special call of its Seed Grant Program. The purpose of this special call is to address the impact of the dual pandemics on education and learning through supporting advanced doctoral students and early career scholars who engage in research supporting individuals across the lifespan in areas including education, psychological and social-emotional adjustment, and social equity
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The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant challenges and opportunities to doctoral students and early career scholars, and those whom they serve. The pandemic has exacerbated racial and economic inequities in the US and globally. In the face of these challenges, communities of color have continued to work for and demand social justice. School closures have resulted in an unprecedented shift to digital learning. Although this shift provides new possibilities, it intensifies inequities related to Internet access and contributes to learning loss for students living in poverty and students with special needs. The pandemic is and will have significant impacts on individuals’ socio-emotional and physical well-being and academic learning. These impacts have important implications for educators, counselors, and communities.
In response, Division E is redirecting funds budgeted for the cancelled 2020 AERA Annual Meeting to seed research projects that will support the research of advanced doctoral students and early career scholars that will generate insight into how best to support the families, schools, and/or communities whom they serve. Seed grant projects may vary in focus and methodologies. They can range from pilot studies to research-based activities that address an area of need identified by an educational or community organization/entity with whom the researcher is working. We encourage projects in which researchers partner with an educational or community organization. Partnering organizations/entities may include P-12 schools, higher education institutions, community organizations, and family or social service agencies that have student, learning, mental health, or social equity directed initiatives.
Submission Details: Applications should be submitted to kiefer@usf.edu. The submission deadline is December 10, 2020, 11:59 pm EST. Please click here for more details, including specific eligibility criteria, monetary award requirements, etc.
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2018 Seed Grant Competition Winner
Nayoung Kim , University of Central Florida
Proposal Title: Examining the Relationship of Stigma, Perfectionism, Help-seeking Attitudes and Mental Health among First Generation College Students
Graduate
Student
Representative
If you would like to get more involved with Division E and learn about the inner workings of AERA, becoming a graduate student representative is a great opportunity. The position is for two years, one year as the junior representative and another year as the senior representative. As the graduate student representative you will have a chance to work with various people in Division E as well as the Graduate Student Council of AERA. Some of the duties involved include:
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Plan and coordinate a Fireside Chat for the AERA annual meeting
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Participate in Graduate Student Council meetings
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Write a submission for the Graduate Student Council newsletter
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Engage in outreach and communications to expand membership
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Plan and organize the Division E graduate student events (e.g., poster session)
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Collaborate with Div E’s Vice President & Council
Division E has traditionally had one graduate student in counseling and one in human development for the two graduate student representative positions. This year we are looking for a graduate student focusing on counseling. If you would like to apply, please fill out this form by Friday, February 7, 2020.
If you would like to know more about the position, send questions to the current junior representative, Jessica Koslouski, at jkos@bu.edu.
Grad Student
Pre-Conference Seminar
The Graduate Student Pre-Conference Seminar is designed to allow and encourage students to interact with faculty on issues of interest and concern to them. The seminar will include discussions led by experts in the field that will focus on issues such as starting a research agenda, balancing research and teaching, tips on publishing, and making yourself marketable. The seminar will include cocktails and appetizers on Thursday, April 16th, 2020 (the evening before the annual meeting begins), as well as a workshop session from 8 am-noon on Friday, April 17th, 2020. Fellowships provide a $200 honorarium to put toward conference expenses. Participants will be provided the opportunity to interact with early career scholars. Recipients of fellowships must be Division E members. Students interested in receiving a fellowship must be nominated by a professor who is a member of Division E.
Application Requirements:
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Cover Letter: The letter should confirm that the applicant is a member of Division E and briefly explain in 300 words or less why the applicant is interested in participating in the Graduate Student Seminar. The cover letter should also include applicant’s contact information (institution, address, phone numbers, and email).
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Letter of Nomination from a professor who: Discusses student’s progress toward the completion of his/her academic program and endorses student’s potential as a future academician.
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Current CV
Selection Process: Participants will be selected based on potential benefit from the seminar experience and their expressed commitment to pursuing a career in academia.
Submission Details: Graduate students should submit application materials in one PDF document to Christopher Slaten (University of Missouri, slatenc@missouri.edu) by Monday, February 10, 2020.
Division E Graduate Student Poster Session
The Division E Graduate Student Poster Session will be held during the Division E business meeting at the upcoming 2020 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. This is a great opportunity to present and share about completed or in-progress research projects with counseling and human development faculty and graduate students.
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Please complete this Google Form by Friday, January 24th for consideration. Proposals will not be accepted after 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, January 24th.
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During the Graduate Student Poster Session, counseling and human development faculty from various universities will review all posters and the top poster will receive a $100 Research Award!
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Please note that if your poster is accepted, you will be required to submit a PDF copy of it by Friday, March 22nd to ensure that reviewers can review it prior to the poster session.
Campus
Liaisons
We are continuing to seek out graduate students who are interested in acting as Campus Liaisons for Division E. This position will allow you to assist with our programmatic efforts at AERA and will automatically allow you to hold a leadership position at your university disseminating information to graduate students.
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The roles and responsibilities of serving as a liaison include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Assist in Division E efforts to increase graduate student awareness of both AERA and Division E;
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Disseminate information on Division E related activities and objectives on your campus
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If you would like to volunteer to become a liaison, please contact Chelsey Bowman at cebowman@bu.edu.
Seeking participants for your research?
As Division E Graduate Student Members, you have the ability to share your research with the Division E ListServ. If interested, email your request to the Senior Grad Rep, Chelsey Bowman at cebowman@bu.edu