The Shield-Ayres Foundation partnered with IDVSA to create a fellowship to advance the understanding of interpersonal violence, improve the lives of survivors, advance diversity, and promote social justice through research and mentorship.
This program aims to advance the understanding of interpersonal violence crimes, improve the lives of survivors, and provide an underserved or marginalized doctoral student the opportunity to engage in research and policy initiatives and disseminate their findings at the state or national level. The Research Fellow will have the opportunity to build competency by participating in a scholarship area that aligns with the mission of IDVSA and conducting research relating to domestic violence, human trafficking, and or college campus sexual assault. Research Fellows will receive funding for travel to a national conference to disseminate their research findings. Fellows will also have the opportunity to observe a training regarding the use of expert witness in cases involving domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking. Project objectives include the following: 1) supervise and mentor one Research Fellow for 6-10 hours per week; 2) advance student understanding of social justice through advocacy and research; 3) lessen the burden on community practitioners; 4) participate in dissemination of research at the state or national level.
Current Fellow
Yulanda McCarty-Harris was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Shield-Ayres Advancing Social Justice Doctoral Research Fellow.
Yulanda will participate in scholarship that aligns with IDVSA’s mission, conduct research relating to interpersonal violence, influence expert witness training, and participate in the dissemination of research. Her fellowship will cumulate with the submission of an article to a peer-review journal. She will specifically be researching the intersection of Title IX processes and women of color, an area IDVSA researchers recognized as understudied during the CLASE Prevalence and Perception project.
IDVSA leadership chose Yulanda for this award due to her commitment to social justice, innate curiosity, respect for learning, and willingness to research and build the science to advance the field. Once you have the pleasure of meeting Yulanda, it doesn’t take long to understand that she has a deep and abiding commitment to justice, fairness, equity, and a demonstrable drive to advance and build knowledge. She is laser-focused on advancing the field in a way that accurately reflects the experiences of women of color in higher education, including a more nuanced understanding of resiliency, strengths, and barriers. She is also in the inaugural cohort of the Executive Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership program in the College of Education at UT Austin.