Meet our Students
Graduate Student Spotlight
Meet Our Current UA Qual Doctoral Students
Carlson Coogler is a doctoral candidate in Educational Research with a specialization in Qualitative Methodologies at The University of Alabama. A current SEC Emerging Scholar (2023-2024) and a former National Science Foundation CADRE Fellow (2018-2019), her research focuses on interdisciplinary, artful, and speculative inquiry; responsible qualitative methodologies and pedagogies advancing more just futures; and, the practices and literacies involved in doing, learning, and teaching qualitative research methodologies. As these interests imply, Carlson understands herself as a methodologist-teacher-artist-researcher. She is invested in projects that intertwine these roles in relationship to issues of equity and inclusion in the Academy and beyond. Her dissertation work, for instance, takes a critical approach to graduate students’ understandings and practices of methodology. Because she assumes that how we define and perform methodology is inextricable from what and who counts (e.g., who is published, funded, tenured) in the Academy, Carlson conceptualizes methodological literacies as a resource for qualitative researchers who must communicate and legitimize their practices across paradigmatic, methodological, and disciplinary differences. In addition, Carlson is currently co-editing a special issue on artful inquiry in Qualitative Inquiry. Her work has also appeared in journals such as International Review of Qualitative Research, Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology, Art/Research International, and Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, and can be found on @course_of_inquiry (Instagram) and her website.
Kelsey H. Guy is a doctoral student in the Educational Research program with a focus in qualitative research at The University of Alabama; she is currently working on her dissertation. She also works as a full-time Instructor of Italian in the department of Modern Languages & Classics, which has not only enhanced her cooking skills, but has also contributed greatly to her research interests. Her research interests include non-traditional transcription methods, qualitative research pedagogy, and the second language acquisition and teaching of less commonly taught languages. In the future, she hopes to continue teaching and researching in academia while still making time for traveling, knitting, and caring for her 3 dogs, 1 cat, and first child (expected October 2021). Contact: khguy@ua.edu or on Twitter @kel_c_guy.
April M. Jones is a resident of Birmingham, Alabama and UA alumnus. After receiving her Master of Social degree in 2005, April worked in the non-profit sector for over fifteen years. Her social work experiences have afforded her the opportunity to engage with – and learn from – professionals across several disciplines and social systems. With a desire to expand her thinking in new and challenging ways, April enrolled in her first qualitative research course. It would take four semesters before she would lean into her calling as a qualitative methodologist and apply to ESPRMC Qual Doctoral Program. Now, fully immersed in the doctoral experience as a full-time student, April continues to pursue opportunities that will challenge her methodologically and provide thought-provoking, interesting ways to engage in research. Her research interests and paradigms are influenced by her identity as a woman of color in America and her experiences as a social worker interacting with professionals and youth/families in the juvenile justice and social service systems. As a future academic and researcher in the public/private sector, April hopes to utilize her qualitative research doctoral degree to meaningfully explore the experiences of marginalized, underrepresented, and historically oppressed populations.
I'm Boden Robertson and I’m a graduate research assistant exploring world language pedagogy in a post-secondary context. I graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in German Studies (BA '10) and Germanic Philology (MA '17). During my MA, I taught German language courses, sparking my interest in how pedagogical practices shape the teaching experience of graduate students.
I am pursuing a PhD in Educational Research with a focus in Qualitative Research Methodology. I’m on a Fellowship from the UA Graduate School for the 2023-2024 academic year and I also serve as Vice-President of the College of Education Graduate School Organization (COE-GSO).
While my primary focus is qualitative scholarship the area of teacher identity, I’m also interested in children’s literature and work on a quantitative-based project in this area. Apart from my academic career, I'm an avid car, train, and aviation enthusiast. I also enjoy playing video games, traveling, and learning about art and architecture.
I am pursuing a PhD in Educational Research with a focus in Qualitative Research Methodology. I’m on a Fellowship from the UA Graduate School for the 2023-2024 academic year and I also serve as Vice-President of the College of Education Graduate School Organization (COE-GSO).
While my primary focus is qualitative scholarship the area of teacher identity, I’m also interested in children’s literature and work on a quantitative-based project in this area. Apart from my academic career, I'm an avid car, train, and aviation enthusiast. I also enjoy playing video games, traveling, and learning about art and architecture.
Venus Watson is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Research department at The University of Alabama, with a focus on qualitative methodologies. Her professional journey encompasses roles as a K-12 teacher and as a school psychometrist, where she worked to identify and support exceptional students, both those who are gifted and those with special needs.
Intrigued by narrative research, Venus deeply values the power of storytelling methods in academic inquiries, recognizing their potential to bring richer context and deeper understanding to her research.
Outside of her academic endeavors, Venus cherishes her role as a mother to two boys. She also enjoys moments of relaxation with her pup. In her downtime, she appreciates the magic and storytelling of Disney, has a love for karaoke, and often finds herself engrossed in documentaries, with a particular interest in murder mysteries.
Intrigued by narrative research, Venus deeply values the power of storytelling methods in academic inquiries, recognizing their potential to bring richer context and deeper understanding to her research.
Outside of her academic endeavors, Venus cherishes her role as a mother to two boys. She also enjoys moments of relaxation with her pup. In her downtime, she appreciates the magic and storytelling of Disney, has a love for karaoke, and often finds herself engrossed in documentaries, with a particular interest in murder mysteries.
Not Pictured
Sun Gu
Candace (CECO) O'Brien
Kathryn Bornhoft
Alison Kearley
Candace (CECO) O'Brien
Kathryn Bornhoft
Alison Kearley
Getting to Know: A.C. Johnson
Written by: Boden Robertson (Ph.D. student in Educational Research)
Can you introduce yourself and talk about your research interest(s)?
My name is AC Johnson and I am a 4th year PhD student in the higher education administration program. I'm also a GA, serving as the editing assistant in the Research Assistance Center here in the College of Education. I'm from Birmingham, Alabama and before starting the PhD program, I was actually a full-time faculty member teaching English composition courses and intro to literature courses. I'm also a mother of a college student who is getting her bachelors degree in marketing. My research interests include the discourse surrounding students, faculty, and administrators at Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Black women’s self-identities and motivations while pursuing higher education, specifically at predominantly white institutions; and first-generation graduate students’ experiences. Tell me about how you were led to the education research program at UA? I registered for Qual I during my second semester and was hooked. You know, I think it’s kind of sad, but I was never really taught much about qualitative research. People’s stories were not considered data, unfortunately… that’s the way I was taught before coming here; however, after taking Qual I and developing a better understanding of research, I wanted to get the Qualitative Research certificate because qual research resonated with me in such a big way. I’ve always loved hearing about people’s lives and listening to their stories, so to find out that I could combine what I love to do and do research and possibly help make social changes? It was eye-opening. I felt like I was finally “at home” when I discovered qual. |
Why do you think that qualitative research is important?
I think qualitative research is important because it gives us an opportunity to tell the stories of marginalized populations who in the past have not been able to tell their stories. It also gives researchers an opportunity to amplify those voices. For instance, I identify as a Black woman, and I look at a lot of the statistics about Black women in higher education. When I look at those statistics, they paint a very discouraging picture of us. I find that if I only read the statistics or the numbers in the current research (as a whole), I would think that I could not graduate from college, that my experiences were always horrible, and that I was not smart enough or good enough, or that I definitely didn’t belong in academia. Even the literature on first-generation students can mimic these ideals, too, quite frankly. I think qualitative research is important because it's giving an opportunity to tell the stories of people who normally would not be able to tell their story to the masses. It gives me hope. It gives me hope that people like me can tell their stories about their first-generation college experiences or their experiences of being Black women in higher education. Just knowing that a number can say one thing, statistics and research can say one thing, but there's always a story behind that number. There’s always people behind those numbers, and we really need to get to the heart of their stories, and providing them an opportunity to tell their stories is important. That, to me, is why qual research is important, and it's actually the reason why I love it so much.
What advice do you have for current or prospective students in the program?
I would say take as many qual classes as you can so that you can expose yourself to the different methodologies and theories. I’ve taken some really fun and interesting courses. When I started out, I didn’t feel like I knew much at all, but the more classes I took, the more I could articulate why I chose to use certain theoretical frameworks and why certain methods and methodologies were a great fit for me and for my research. Also, don’t be scared to ask questions! A lot of what we read is pretty dense, and the professors know that you won’t always “get it,” so ask! The last thing I would tell anyone considering qual research is to embrace the process and the ambiguity. Qual has rules but then it doesn’t, which drives me crazy, but then I appreciate it.
What was a moment that stood out for you as impactful/defining while completing your program in qualitative research?
I was in Qual I, and we were assigned to do a nontraditional interview. I decided to merge my love for vision boards and interviewing, which resulted in my participant creating a collage. I didn’t know that collaging was even a methodology at the time. I just did what felt natural and fun. Anyways, I interviewed a first-generation African American woman doc student at a predominantly white institution, and I asked her to select words to describe her experience. After a few minutes, we discussed her selected images. She posted the word “Power,” and it was in bold, black letters against a white background. Well, because I was experiencing certain things in my program like isolation and invisibility and studying Black Feminist Thought (BFT) at the time, I really thought she would discuss the power dynamics at play at her PWI and being a part of a marginalized population for the interview. Instead, she talked about how empowered she felt during her program. She felt like if she could conquer this (the doctorate), she could accomplish anything. That moment was an a-ha moment for me because here I am studying BFT, and Patricia Hill Collins stresses how African American women’s stories are not monolithic, and I knew this, yet I was assuming my participant would discuss things that were what I experienced. I made some assumptions when I shouldn’t have. It reinforced what Collins said. That experience taught me that my job as a researcher is to LISTEN. If I say that African American women’s stories are important to me, then I need to take a step back and not make any assumptions because our stories may have some commonalities, but those stories are different. It made me dig deeper into my positionality as well, considering I am from the very population I study. That experience taught me how to be a better researcher.
In what way(s) has the program challenged you and/or your approach to research/methodology/etc.?
Just as I said before, the program challenged my way of thinking. In qualitative research, we examine the whys. Why do I care about this research? Why is this important to me? Can I explain that? If I can’t, I better be able to. No one knows the answers to these questions but me, so there’s really no “cheating.” You have to go inside yourself and understand why you believe the things that you believe and how do those things, your beliefs, affect your research? How do those beliefs shape you and your research? I was not prepared for that when I started. I wasn’t prepared to be THAT vulnerable. It felt weird and uncomfortable, but as time went on and I started understanding that this process is a necessary one, I felt more at ease with these types of questions and the ways that qual research challenges me. I frequently say that qual is therapeutic. You can’t really BS your way through it. I mean, I guess you can, but you’ll still need to do the work to be great at it. That, the inner work, is what’s been the most challenging and rewarding.
I think qualitative research is important because it gives us an opportunity to tell the stories of marginalized populations who in the past have not been able to tell their stories. It also gives researchers an opportunity to amplify those voices. For instance, I identify as a Black woman, and I look at a lot of the statistics about Black women in higher education. When I look at those statistics, they paint a very discouraging picture of us. I find that if I only read the statistics or the numbers in the current research (as a whole), I would think that I could not graduate from college, that my experiences were always horrible, and that I was not smart enough or good enough, or that I definitely didn’t belong in academia. Even the literature on first-generation students can mimic these ideals, too, quite frankly. I think qualitative research is important because it's giving an opportunity to tell the stories of people who normally would not be able to tell their story to the masses. It gives me hope. It gives me hope that people like me can tell their stories about their first-generation college experiences or their experiences of being Black women in higher education. Just knowing that a number can say one thing, statistics and research can say one thing, but there's always a story behind that number. There’s always people behind those numbers, and we really need to get to the heart of their stories, and providing them an opportunity to tell their stories is important. That, to me, is why qual research is important, and it's actually the reason why I love it so much.
What advice do you have for current or prospective students in the program?
I would say take as many qual classes as you can so that you can expose yourself to the different methodologies and theories. I’ve taken some really fun and interesting courses. When I started out, I didn’t feel like I knew much at all, but the more classes I took, the more I could articulate why I chose to use certain theoretical frameworks and why certain methods and methodologies were a great fit for me and for my research. Also, don’t be scared to ask questions! A lot of what we read is pretty dense, and the professors know that you won’t always “get it,” so ask! The last thing I would tell anyone considering qual research is to embrace the process and the ambiguity. Qual has rules but then it doesn’t, which drives me crazy, but then I appreciate it.
What was a moment that stood out for you as impactful/defining while completing your program in qualitative research?
I was in Qual I, and we were assigned to do a nontraditional interview. I decided to merge my love for vision boards and interviewing, which resulted in my participant creating a collage. I didn’t know that collaging was even a methodology at the time. I just did what felt natural and fun. Anyways, I interviewed a first-generation African American woman doc student at a predominantly white institution, and I asked her to select words to describe her experience. After a few minutes, we discussed her selected images. She posted the word “Power,” and it was in bold, black letters against a white background. Well, because I was experiencing certain things in my program like isolation and invisibility and studying Black Feminist Thought (BFT) at the time, I really thought she would discuss the power dynamics at play at her PWI and being a part of a marginalized population for the interview. Instead, she talked about how empowered she felt during her program. She felt like if she could conquer this (the doctorate), she could accomplish anything. That moment was an a-ha moment for me because here I am studying BFT, and Patricia Hill Collins stresses how African American women’s stories are not monolithic, and I knew this, yet I was assuming my participant would discuss things that were what I experienced. I made some assumptions when I shouldn’t have. It reinforced what Collins said. That experience taught me that my job as a researcher is to LISTEN. If I say that African American women’s stories are important to me, then I need to take a step back and not make any assumptions because our stories may have some commonalities, but those stories are different. It made me dig deeper into my positionality as well, considering I am from the very population I study. That experience taught me how to be a better researcher.
In what way(s) has the program challenged you and/or your approach to research/methodology/etc.?
Just as I said before, the program challenged my way of thinking. In qualitative research, we examine the whys. Why do I care about this research? Why is this important to me? Can I explain that? If I can’t, I better be able to. No one knows the answers to these questions but me, so there’s really no “cheating.” You have to go inside yourself and understand why you believe the things that you believe and how do those things, your beliefs, affect your research? How do those beliefs shape you and your research? I was not prepared for that when I started. I wasn’t prepared to be THAT vulnerable. It felt weird and uncomfortable, but as time went on and I started understanding that this process is a necessary one, I felt more at ease with these types of questions and the ways that qual research challenges me. I frequently say that qual is therapeutic. You can’t really BS your way through it. I mean, I guess you can, but you’ll still need to do the work to be great at it. That, the inner work, is what’s been the most challenging and rewarding.
Alumni Spotlight
Getting to Know: Dr. Michelle Wooten
Written by: Boden Robertson (Ph.D. student in Educational Research)
Dr. Michelle Wooten received her doctorate in Educational Research from the University of Alabama (2018) with a specialization in Qualitative Inquiry.
Can you share what your current position is and little about what you do, research, etc.? I am recently both a postdoctoral scholar in education, and an astronomy instructor at the Pennsylvania State University. Both here and with researchers across the United States, I am engaged in several collaborative educational research projects. One is the study of how particular educational technologies become relevant in exchanges between university admin, technicians, faculty, and students in one university’s context. Another regards consensus and dissensus about the development and utility of learning progressions in science education, which are research-based constructions of the ways in which students’ science ideas develop. Finally, and stemming out of my dissertation studies, I am studying with academics who study science teaching and learning how we develop notions of discipline and valuable research trajectories. As a doctoral student, I’m always hearing about how professors pull from their dissertation in their career, could you go into more detail about how this worked with your specific project? |
Of course! The dissertation study I embarked on regarded past and present makings of the science education research landscape. I learned that there are many different agendas and practices science education researchers valued historically and presently, and that these changed over time. Consequently, mapping our landscape can be thought of as an endless study of a morphing phenomenon. I let go of thinking I could capture the lay of the land with any finality. And so right now I am enjoying focusing on small entries into the landscape. For example, for the past year I studied physics teachers’ perceived utility of learning progressions (one territory of research in the landscape), and now I am studying the value and critique science education scholars assign learning progression research. I also have a couple of study participants who described interest in researching and writing about particular landscape features with me, and so there are those projects as well. In the long run, I hope to use my dissertation methodology (cartography) to study and make positive change in other communities.
What drew you to focus on qualitative research?
Qualitative research enabled me to focus on ethical implications of how I studied. My previous research practices, before coming to UA, focused on the construction of data and results that were as objective and unbiased as possible. However, in using these practices, I felt disconnected to those I studied – it felt as though I was doing something to them rather than with them. In my qual classes I became aware of different approaches to methodology – where rather than explicitly generating data sets for comparison, I could study the effects of my entanglements with research phenomenon.
What advice do you have for current or prospective students in the program?
First, ask for help. Set up regular meetings with your committee members, they are amazing resources! I really enjoyed inviting them to change my mind, or to think with me, rather than feeling like I had to tell them about my progress. I had some unforgettable conversations. Secondly, trust your gut with your committee member choices – especially in their attentiveness to one another’s ideas. The people on my comps committee were not the same people on my dissertation committee, and that was by choice. I really valued having a diverse committee, where no one’s voice was given too much sway. (I will add that your chair has a role in how these conversations are facilitated, so a chair who is a great facilitator of conversation is super helpful.) It could also be helpful to know that you can have up to two people on your committee who are not from UA. This was a huge help to my project!
What was a moment that stood out for you as impactful/defining while completing your program in qualitative research?
There was this great moment when I was drawing a sketch of a social-material landscape I was studying on a whiteboard in Dr. Kelly Guyotte’s office. I was trying to express (thinking with Deleuze) my interests in flattening hierarchized features, to which she responded, “Do you think the landscape can ever really be flattened?” (Notice she asked, not told.) This was an important moment for my thinking about how easy it was for me to slip into the production of binaries. (As an aside, I currently have a manuscript under review in which after submission, I reflected that I did just this sort of binarizing…again.)
Every time I would meet with Dr. Aaron Kuntz, I enjoyed spending part of the time asking questions about conundrums in daily life, to which he always gave a thoughtful response about how it connected to theory I was studying. Time spent on this kind of conversation helped bridge what otherwise felt like academic/personal life divides.
Is there anything you would like to discuss that we have not talked about?
One of my favorite pieces of advice given to me by a committee member, which I still think about today, was “Stop asking for permission.” I think I was (and am) in the habit of asking, “Is this research practice okay?” One could contrast asking for permission, or assigning a particular figure control and responsibility, with recognizing one’s possibilities of positively changing the world in unique, experimental modes. The latter doesn’t require asking permission. I think, out of politeness, I like to ask if a particular practice is okay or useful by others. But I now think about how it important it is, sometimes, to try and go and get something started.
Check out Dr. Wooten’s professional website at https://michelle.wootenlab.com/
What drew you to focus on qualitative research?
Qualitative research enabled me to focus on ethical implications of how I studied. My previous research practices, before coming to UA, focused on the construction of data and results that were as objective and unbiased as possible. However, in using these practices, I felt disconnected to those I studied – it felt as though I was doing something to them rather than with them. In my qual classes I became aware of different approaches to methodology – where rather than explicitly generating data sets for comparison, I could study the effects of my entanglements with research phenomenon.
What advice do you have for current or prospective students in the program?
First, ask for help. Set up regular meetings with your committee members, they are amazing resources! I really enjoyed inviting them to change my mind, or to think with me, rather than feeling like I had to tell them about my progress. I had some unforgettable conversations. Secondly, trust your gut with your committee member choices – especially in their attentiveness to one another’s ideas. The people on my comps committee were not the same people on my dissertation committee, and that was by choice. I really valued having a diverse committee, where no one’s voice was given too much sway. (I will add that your chair has a role in how these conversations are facilitated, so a chair who is a great facilitator of conversation is super helpful.) It could also be helpful to know that you can have up to two people on your committee who are not from UA. This was a huge help to my project!
What was a moment that stood out for you as impactful/defining while completing your program in qualitative research?
There was this great moment when I was drawing a sketch of a social-material landscape I was studying on a whiteboard in Dr. Kelly Guyotte’s office. I was trying to express (thinking with Deleuze) my interests in flattening hierarchized features, to which she responded, “Do you think the landscape can ever really be flattened?” (Notice she asked, not told.) This was an important moment for my thinking about how easy it was for me to slip into the production of binaries. (As an aside, I currently have a manuscript under review in which after submission, I reflected that I did just this sort of binarizing…again.)
Every time I would meet with Dr. Aaron Kuntz, I enjoyed spending part of the time asking questions about conundrums in daily life, to which he always gave a thoughtful response about how it connected to theory I was studying. Time spent on this kind of conversation helped bridge what otherwise felt like academic/personal life divides.
Is there anything you would like to discuss that we have not talked about?
One of my favorite pieces of advice given to me by a committee member, which I still think about today, was “Stop asking for permission.” I think I was (and am) in the habit of asking, “Is this research practice okay?” One could contrast asking for permission, or assigning a particular figure control and responsibility, with recognizing one’s possibilities of positively changing the world in unique, experimental modes. The latter doesn’t require asking permission. I think, out of politeness, I like to ask if a particular practice is okay or useful by others. But I now think about how it important it is, sometimes, to try and go and get something started.
Check out Dr. Wooten’s professional website at https://michelle.wootenlab.com/
Alumni News
Michelle Wooten (Ph.D. '19 in Educational Research) is an Instructor of Astronomy at CU-Boulder.
Maureen A. Flint (Ph.D. '19 in Educational Research) is Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia.
Caitlin Byrne (Ph.D. '18 in Educational Research) is Assistant Professor at Weber State University.
Jean Swindle (Ph.D. '17 in Social and Cultural Studies, Qualitative Research Certificate student) is Assistant Professor at Rockford University.
Anne Merrem (Ph.D. '16 in Human Performance, Qualitative Research Certificate student) is Assistant Professor at the University of West Georgia.
Zach Wahl-Alexander (Ph.D. '15 in Sport Pedagogy, Qualitative Research Certificate student) is Assistant Professor at the Northern Illinois University.
Maureen A. Flint (Ph.D. '19 in Educational Research) is Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia.
Caitlin Byrne (Ph.D. '18 in Educational Research) is Assistant Professor at Weber State University.
Jean Swindle (Ph.D. '17 in Social and Cultural Studies, Qualitative Research Certificate student) is Assistant Professor at Rockford University.
Anne Merrem (Ph.D. '16 in Human Performance, Qualitative Research Certificate student) is Assistant Professor at the University of West Georgia.
Zach Wahl-Alexander (Ph.D. '15 in Sport Pedagogy, Qualitative Research Certificate student) is Assistant Professor at the Northern Illinois University.
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Click here to read the spotlight on Kiara Summerville. Kiara was featured on the website in 2019.
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