Excerpt from the University Record published on August 30, 2022.
Read the article here.
Cindy Lustig, a Udall Center co-investigator and leader of STAR (Scholarship, Transferrable skills, Academics, & Research) Scholars is one of three U-M groups receiving the Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change at the CEW+ Advocacy Symposium on September 21.
The award honors the 20-year tenure of Hollenshead, the former CEW+ director. Leaders from each group will deliver lightning talks at the event, and then participate in a live panel discussion focused on the symposium theme, “Creating Change Through Introspection, Dialogue, and Action.”
STAR is an evidence-based program that increases underrepresented-student involvement in research. Led by Cindy Lustig, professor of psychology in LSA, STAR provides first- and second-year students and transfer students from underrepresented, low-income or first-generation college student backgrounds with workshops and small-group mentoring to overcome the barriers of the “hidden curriculum” and help them become involved in research.
It has dramatically increased underrepresented-student participation in research in the psychology department, and in the senior/honors thesis program. More than a skills-training program, STAR puts a major emphasis on near-peer mentorship, and helping STAR Scholars develop their self-confidence and feeling of belonging in the science community.
The other two recipients include Kelly Murdoch-Kitt, associate professor of design in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design for her work in ORBIT Labs: Online Resources for Building Intercultural Teams and Kourtney Pony, a medical and MBA student for her work in a Community Advisory Board for Lupus Care and Research.