Katie Mouzakis

PDF of Dr. Mouzakis' Article | Dr. Mouzakis' Reflection

Improving Faculty Support for Student Research and Student Access to High-impact Research Experiences 

By: Katie Mouzakis 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and inclusive excellence are at the heart of the Office of Research and Creative Arts’ (ORCA) mission. In alignment with this mission, my goals as a 2023 Faculty Fellow are to support and help expand ORCA’s programming. We are specifically focused on increasing access to, equity for, and support of research experience for all LMU students. My efforts this spring were focused on (1) the expansion of ORCA’s Research Learning Community (RLC) programming to include a STEM-specific experience for SCSE sophomore students, with priority enrollment for those historically excluded in STEM because of race and ethnicity, (2) ideating on content that would be most beneficial for LMU students participating in a second RLC that supports their professional development in ways that go beyond the focus of the first, (3) participating in a collaborative panel discussion at the CTE on Faculty Support for Mentoring Student Research, (4) brainstorming a transfer student pilot program that would allow these students to more quickly participate in and be exposed to research at LMU, and (5) working in collaboration with the office of National and International Fellowships to develop a letter of recommendation writing workshop for faculty to be offered in FA 23. The ORCA RLCs serve as a spring-board for students to engage in faculty-mentored research and provide students with the opportunity to join a community of researchers. The STEM-specific RLC and follow-up RLC programming is in dual support of ORCA’s mission and Dr. Heather Tarleton’s 2022-2027 HHMI Driving Change Award. In parallel, the work I am doing with ORCA on faculty-centered programming seeks to support the faculty research mentors of LMU students. The February 2023 CTE panel discussion provided faculty with examples of effective and inclusive mentoring strategies. Similarly, the letter of recommendation workshop will hopefully allow faculty to respond to requests for and write letters of recommendation more effectively and efficiently. I look forward to continuing to learn about and share the best-practices in these areas with the LMU community and to bring several of the programming ideas we’ve discussed closer to fruition in the second half of my fellowship.