University of Minnesota Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipients

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2009-10

The 2009-10 Postdoctoral Fellows were selected from a competitive pool of 131 applicants from 57 institutions in and outside the United States. The selection process involved 50 University of Minnesota departments and programs across eight academic colleges that assisted in identifying the top candidates. The fellows were selected based on evidence of outstanding academic and scholarly achievements, strong potential for success in pursuing a tenure-track position at a research institution, and level of commitment to provide research funding and faculty mentors by the sponsoring departments or units.

Each fellow will receive an annual stipend of $45,000 plus benefits and will pursue scholarly research, teach one course, participate in monthly professional development seminars, and engage in mentoring relationships with faculty. The fellows are expected to arrive in August and will hold one-year appointments starting in fall semester.

Vichet Chhuon will hold an appointment in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction with an affiliation in the Asian American Studies Program. His research focuses on the influence of school structures on the ethnic and pan-ethnic identity of Cambodian high school youth. His doctoral degree is in curriculum and instruction from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Jarrett Gupton will hold an appointment in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration with an affiliation in the School of Social Work. His research is on educational experiences of homeless youth and access to higher education. His doctoral degree is in urban education policy from the University of Southern California.

Wendy Marie Thompson will hold an appointment in the Department of History with an affiliation in the Asian American Studies Program. Her research focuses on Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans' notions of race. Her doctoral degree is in American studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.

2008-09

Read the announcement and news release.

Robyn Autry held dual appointments in the departments of sociology and history. Her research explores representations of race and nation in historical museums, with an emphasis on post-conflict societies. She was a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

LaRose Davis held an appointment in the Department of English with affiliations in the Department of African American and African Studies and the Institute for Advanced Study. Her research interests are in the past and present convergences of African American and Native American communities. She worked on a book that considers the role of place in African American and Native American cultures and literatures. Her doctoral degree is in English from Emory University.

Patina Mendez continued her appointment in the department of entomology, described below, for a second year.

2007-08

Read about this year's recipients and the University of Minnesota Postdoctoral Fellowship in "Agents of Transformation" in the 2008-09 issue of Discovery magazine. See also the news release.

Zenzele Isoke held dual appointments in the departments of gender, women, and sexuality studies, and political science. Her research interest is to explore and enrich theoretical formulations developed in black feminist social theory through empirical investigations of U.S. black women's political agency. Her doctorate is in women's and gender studies from Rutgers University.

Patina Mendez held an appointment in the department of entomology. Her research focuses on variability in biological and ecological attributes of collected individuals across a family of caddisflies (aquatic insects closely related to moths and butterflies) using a phylogeny, or hypothesis of evolutionary history, to be constructed for the 73 species in the group. Her doctorate is in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ludwin Molina held dual appointments in the departments of psychology and political science. His research focuses on inter-group relations, with an emphasis on how social identities and group-based power asymmetries influence prejudice. He was a member of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology (CSPP), a nationally ranked center jointly sponsored by the hosting departments. His doctorate is in social psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.