The Graduate School has selected five scholars for the 2019 cohort of the UW-Madison Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. The Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society commemorates the first African American to earn a doctorate degree from an American university (Physics, Yale University, 1876). The Bouchet Society seeks to develop a network of scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support, and serve as examples of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy for students who have been traditionally underrepresented in the academy—exemplifying the spirit and example of Dr. Bouchet.
One national charter with two chapters was inaugurated by Yale University and Howard University on September 15, 2005, in commemoration of Dr. Bouchet’s birthday. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Graduate School formed a chapter in 2010. Each year, the Graduate School sponsors a limited number of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to become members of the national Bouchet Society.
The 2019 class of Bouchet scholars will be inducted into the UW–Madison chapter at a ceremony Tuesday, April 2. The scholars will then attend the Bouchet National Induction Ceremony and Annual Conference April 5-6, with travel covered by the Graduate School.
Meet the 2019 UW–Madison Bouchet Society inductees by reading their biographies below.
FOLAGBAYI AROWOLO
Molecular and Environmental Toxicology
Folagbayi Arowolo is a doctoral candidate in the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology (METC) program. His research focuses on understanding the biological impact of dietary (exogenous) oxidized lipids on gastrointestinal immunity and adipose tissue biology as well as its effects on chronic disease outcomes. He holds a bachelor’s degree obtained in 2014 from the University of Pittsburgh where he majored in biology and minored in chemistry and Africana studies. He joined Dr. Dhanansayan Shanmuganayagam’s lab in the same year where he began to conduct biomedical research aimed at evaluating the impact of dietary oxidized lipid products on atherosclerosis.
At UW–Madison, Fola has been active in the academic community and in the local Madison area. As treasurer for Catalysts for Science Policy (CaSP), he has participated in events that emphasize improving scientific communication and scientific awareness in the local community. He has won several grants from the university and the community to host community building events and science advocacy workshops. As a member of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association (BGPSA), Critical MASS and the MellowHood Foundation, he has embraced the challenge of promoting diversity initiatives on and off campus. He continues to work towards creating an inclusive atmosphere for high school, undergraduate and graduate students.
ROXANNE ETTA
Human Ecology
Roxanne Etta is a doctoral candidate in the Human Development and Family Studies program at UW–Madison. As a devout Badger, she has completed both her BS and MS at UW–Madison in Human Development and Family Studies. Her research interests broadly include young children’s cognitive development and media effects on learning and family interaction. Most recently, Roxanne has studied how preschoolers learn from various books formats (e.g., eBooks vs. print books, interactive vs. noninteractive books), and parent perceptions of children’s media. Her dissertation project will examine whether children’s book format influences how parents read books aloud to their children, how preschoolers engage with various book formats, and how preschoolers learn novel words and story structure. She hopes to provide parents with the principled and practical answers they seek on navigating eBooks with their young children.
As a first-generation student from the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, Roxanne has devoted herself to advancing her education and sharing it with others. She is a board member for the Dane County chapter of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. She has created and disseminated materials for parents on using media with young children, which was funded by a UW–Madison Baldwin Grant. Roxanne is a recipient of an Advanced Opportunity Fellowship from the School of Human Ecology and has received grants from the university to conduct and disseminate her research. Roxanne was recently selected as a Millennium Scholar from the Society for Research in Child Development and received a Top Paper Award from the International Communication Association.
PA HER
Counseling Psychology
Pa Her is a PhD candidate in the Counseling Psychology program. She is passionate about working with underrepresented college students. Her research examines students’ of color experiences in higher education and focuses on topics such as persistence, vocational development, social class, self-efficacy, and racial discrimination. Her research projects have resulted in eight peer-reviewed publications, a three-year research intervention program designed for Hmong parents, and more than 17 peer-reviewed presentations. Her dissertation focuses on how perceived social status and experiences with racial discrimination impact students’ of color self-efficacy and persistence intentions.
Pa has worked as an academic advisor with the Center for Academic Excellence assisting underrepresented students to transition to UW–Madison. She was also the student lead on the Hmong Research Team through the Department of Counseling Psychology leading the team to research Hmong students’ experiences and to examine Hmong parents’ support of their undergraduate child. Lastly, Pa has served on many committees throughout her tenure at the UW–Madison.
JAMILA LEE-JOHNSON
Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Jamila Lee-Johnson is a PhD candidate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis Department with a concentration in Higher Education. She is a critical educational scholar that utilizes critical theories and methods to disrupt the narratives around students of color. Her research focuses on the access and success of students of color in college. She has conducted and is currently engaging with research projects on: Black women’s leadership experiences at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs); mentoring practices that foster success for students of color in their transition into graduate programs; and, how to conduct research in critical ways that humanize students of color as study participants.
Jamila recently published a co-edited book, Critical Theory and Qualitative Data Analysis in Education (Routledge, 2019) which illustrates what critical theory is, what the missing link behind critical theory research is, and how to apply critical theories in qualitative data analysis in education. In addition to the book, Jamila has engaged in multiple publications and book chapters that center the experiences of students of color in higher education. One of her forthcoming collaborative papers, to be published in The Review of Higher Education, is a longitudinal analysis of undergraduate students of color and the bi-directional academic socialization and career development for underrepresented students. Another forthcoming book chapter explores what it means to be Black graduate student on a predominantly white campus, and the importance of building community with other graduate students that create space through writing groups.
ESTEBAN J. QUIÑONES
Agricultural and Applied Economics
Esteban J. Quiñones is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and a predoctoral trainee at the Center for Demography and Ecology. His primary field is development economics while his secondary fields are migration and demography. His research focuses on migration, responses to climate change, poverty, social protection, and gender. Prior to joining UW–Madison, he worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute and at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Esteban holds an MA in international development from American University’s School of International Service and a BA in economics from Tufts University.
Esteban’s research portfolio examines hypotheses at the intersection of development and labor economics along with demography and environmental sciences. In the lead chapter of his dissertation, “Anticipatory Migration and Local Labor Responses to Rural Climate Shocks,” he examines how individuals in rural, agricultural communities in Mexico cope with climate change. This study provides credible identification of a widely held but rarely tested hypothesis that households adapt in anticipation of future destabilizing climate events. The second chapter of Quiñones’ dissertation investigates how migration and return migration influence occupation outcomes for women and men from coffee producing communities in southern Mexico (a revision has been requested by the Journal of Population Economics). In his third chapter, he studies asset accumulation and poverty traps for rural households over a 21-year period in northern Nigeria. Quiñones’ previous works on migration and rural income generating activities has been published in World Development and Food Policy.
