Hey everyone! Before I start rambling about how much I love my research project, I want to first introduce myself. My name is Leilani Fonseca and I am a rising sophomore in the school of LSA. I plan on double majoring in psychology and sociology with a sup-plan in law, justice, social change. I hope to attend law school in the near future and become either a sexual assault attorney or a politician. This brings me to why I wanted to be a part of WAGSFP. Considering that I hold a close passion for activism, women’s rights, and justice, I felt that this fellowship would help me further explore my interests and allow me to view a different perspective of Women and Gender Studies through research.
My lab is titled, “University Responses to Sexual Assault on Campus,” also known as URSA. This lab focuses on understanding what schools are doing to adjudicate cases of sexual misconduct. There is a large focus on Title IX and college athletes. In efforts to better understand the terrain of policies and practices around campus sexual harassment, assault, and misconduct, I will be analyzing and coding literary articles in order to find existing and important trends in the data. I have only been working with my team for a little over a week, so I am currently in the process of being trained on how to use different programs I will be using throughout my time in the lab.
By the end of this fellowship program, I hope I will be able to look more objectively at societies and will have a global approach of analysis and praxis. Throughout the summer I hope to further understand certain aspects of my passions, become more invested in my field of study, connect with students and outstanding mentors, and ultimately fill gaps in knowledge. Doing research online is certainly upsetting (I miss seeing people… in real life!), but with such a great lab team I know that working on this project will be nothing but educational and fun. I cannot wait to tell you more about my journey!
Until next time,
Leilani Fonseca
University Responses to Sexual Assault on Campus website:
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/ursa/
My URSA lab page 🙂
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/ursa/leilani-fonseca/
