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Six New Scholars Selected to Participate in NORC’s Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion Scholars Program for Fall 2022

Press Release

CHICAGO, Sept. 20, 2022 – NORC at the University of Chicago selected six scholars for the 2022 NORC Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion (DREI) Scholars Program. Scholars will work on secondary data analysis projects under NORC expert staff supervision, build skills, and participate in mentoring, professional learning, and career networking activities. Their analyses will cover such subjects as reproductive justice; racial disparities in health care; race and policing; anti-oppressive attitudes and the use of meditation; and social discrimination. Five scholars are from outside of NORC, and one is a NORC senior research associate. The program is from August through December 2022.

Ashani Johnson-Turbes, vice president and director of NORC’s Center on Equity Research, shared that, “NORC is deeply committed to mentoring and sponsoring the next generation of scholars focused on promoting equity through the DREI Scholars Program.”

The six 2022 scholars are (in alphabetical order):

  1. Autumn Asher BlackDeer
    PhD, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver

    Indigenous Reproductive Justice: Examining Attitudes on Abortion among American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

    Dataset: General Social Survey

  2. Nneka Ibekwe-Okafor
    PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow for the Researchers Investigating Sociocultural Equity and Race (RISER) Network, Center on the Ecology of Early Development

    Identifying Systematic Barriers to Provider Success in Predominantly Black Communities: A Latent Class Analysis

    Dataset: National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) 2019

  3. Nora Marino
    MPH, Senior Research Associate at NORC at the University of Chicago

    Using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) to Identify Racial Disparities in the Health Care System

    Dataset: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS)

  4. Jonathan Reid
    PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston State University

    Economic Insecurity and American Attitudes Toward Police Reform: Exploring the Role of Political Trust and Punitive Views

    Dataset: General Social Survey

  5. Dominique Tunzi
    Doctoral Candidate at Vanderbilt University

    Exploring the Relationship among Anti-Oppressive Attitudes and the Use of Meditation

    Dataset: General Social Survey

  6. Fei Wang
    Doctoral Candidate in Social Work at Case Western Reserve University

    Social Discrimination and Mental Health among Older African Americans: The Paradox and the Mechanism

    Dataset: National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP)


“The scholars in this second cohort are asking innovative and important equity questions,” said Rebecca Berger, NORC research scientist and co-lead for the NORC DREI Scholars Program. “Their research is critical for furthering our collective understanding of racial/ethnic minority group strengths and structural disparities in early care and education, health, and criminal justice systems in the United States.”

“NORC is deeply committed to mentoring and sponsoring the next generation of scholars focused on promoting equity through the DREI Scholars Program.”

Director of NORC’s Center on Equity Research

“NORC is deeply committed to mentoring and sponsoring the next generation of scholars focused on promoting equity through the DREI Scholars Program.”



About NORC at the University of Chicago

NORC at the University of Chicago conducts research and analysis that decision-makers trust. As a nonpartisan research organization and a pioneer in measuring and understanding the world, we have studied almost every aspect of the human experience and every major news event for more than eight decades. Today, we partner with government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world to provide the objectivity and expertise necessary to inform the critical decisions facing society.

www.norc.org

Contact: For more information, please contact Eric Young at NORC at young-eric@norc.org or (703) 217-6814 (cell).


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