Rice University’s Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality is celebrating the 15th year of a program that connects students to the Houston community.
The program, the Seminar and Practicum in Engaged Research, has been instrumental in connecting 94 undergraduates with 53 nonprofit organizations serving Houston-area and Texas communities. Many organizations have returned year after year to partner with students in this yearlong collaboration.
During the fall semester, students work closely with these organizations to design research projects that benefit the organizations and the communities they serve. During the spring semester, the students execute those projects. The research projects are presented each year in late spring at a reception that brings together the nonprofit representatives, the general public, and Rice students, staff and faculty.
“The seminar was a great way to implement feminist, collectivist research in an organization that had particular research needs,” says Natasha Faruqui ’24.
“I had the opportunity to work directly with HOPE Clinic doctors and patients to gather information about the health care needs of an Afghan immigrant population. It was so meaningful and emotional to be able to speak directly with patients.”
The projects from the 2022–23 cohort offer a taste of the wide range of work students in the program have accomplished. Claire Castellano ’23 worked on “Evaluating LGBTQ+ Patient Experiences at Baylor Teen Health Clinic.” Jenny Gao ’23 worked with Kaleidoscope, a nonprofit that provides LGBTQ+ people opportunities to engage with “tangible expressions of Christ.”
From the beginning, students’ projects have garnered both local and state recognition. Several public figures outside the organizations have requested copies of the students’ work, including former Texas State Rep. Ellen Cohen, former Houston City Council member Sue Lovell, former HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra and the Rice University Police Department.
Jenifer Rene Pool, past president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, recounts that the work of Rice students played a role in HISD’s 2011 decision to adopt an enumerated nondiscrimination policy inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
Maria Trujillo, executive director of Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition, an anti-trafficking organization, shared that program projects regarding the infringement of the labor rights of immigrant women have circulated in the Texas Legislature.
The Seminar and Practicum is open to juniors and seniors of all majors and fulfills the capstone requirement for students majoring in the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality. A two-credit-hour preseminar in the fall prepares students for the work. The three-credit-hour practicum in the spring is the field component through which students perform their research.
A two-credit-hour seminar in the spring is the concurrent classroom component of the field research. It offers students a forum to develop their understanding of feminist engaged research and explore the dynamics of knowledge production.
To learn more about the Seminar and Practicum, visit cswgs.rice.edu/cswgs-major/seminar-and-practicum.
— Brian Riedel
CSWGS
Associate Director