Student research is the lifeblood of the Ethnography of Diversity in Higher Education (EDHE) at George Mason University. To give a taste of the breadth and range of the research currently underway by students involved with EDHE, every month we spotlight a student researcher and the work that they contribute toward exploring the limitless diversity of campus life at Mason.
Meet:
JOARY CASEY
Classication: Junior
Major: Public and Community Engagement (New Century College, with a double minor in Nonprofit Studies and Leadership Studies)
Research in her own words:
"My research is about the varying ways that differenty offices on campus create retention programs as a means to ensure retention. I looked at 3 offices: the Office of Orientation and Family Programs and Services, the Office of Diversity Programs and Services, and the Office of International Programs and Services. As retention is a vital objective of any university, there is always the need for programs in place to help keep students invested in the social and academic life in George Mason. Following Tinto (1975), I approach the university as "a social system with its own values and social structures", and consider retention as an issue involving the institutional commitments (or lack thereof) of students, fostered by university programs."
How Research Interest Developed:
"I worked with orientation for 2 years and have also been very involved in campus organizational life. I know that retention is one of our program pieces when working with orientation and I didn't see how we were being very effective. We didnt' take our retention pieces as seriously as we did other program pieces that got students interested in GMU in the first place. I know we have other organizations that try to ensure retention such as Akoma Circle, which provides mentor and mentee relationships, but what do the faculty and staff do to make sure that we as students do not drop out or transfer?"
