Hello everyone,
I hope the start of the semester is treating you well. I am writing to ask you to consider a research project that we are kicking off this semester, “Bridging the Gap: A Feminist Approach to Understanding Graduate Student Leadership Perspectives.” We hope that you, or perhaps someone you know, may be interested in participating in this research.
This research study uses a feminist leadership lens to explore how graduate students are experiencing leadership roles in English graduate programs. We are interested in understanding how intersectional identities influence experience as leaders, especially related to workload, emotional labor, and undefined work built into the leadership role.
Our research centers on three questions:
- What does graduate student leadership look like during the busiest times of the semester?
- What are the biggest challenges to leading a graduate student organization?
- What is your perception of the leadership role in which you served (are serving)?
This research will be conducted through Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. We are asking participants to complete a survey, then an optional reflective letter and/or interview. You will receive compensation for taking part in writing a letter ($15) or an interview ($10). Funding is limited, and we will only select a number of individuals from those who sign up. If you are interested, please notify us in the survey. The interviews will be planned for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 and held via Zoom.
The interview questions will prompt participants to think about and share the specific challenges and opportunities they have had in a leadership role. Prior to the interview, we will prompt participants to take a survey about their experiences and collect any relevant materials (e.g., position descriptions, governing documents, etc.).
An Institutional Review Board responsible for human subjects research at The University of Alabama reviewed this research project and found it to be acceptable, according to applicable state and federal regulations and University policies designed to protect the rights and welfare of participants in research.
The biggest risk for this study is that the participants will be sharing information about their own personal experiences. While we plan to use pseudonyms, there is no guarantee that readers of published materials will not recognize experiences.
If you are willing to participate, please first complete the survey for preliminary information and demographics. We will ask if you would be willing to participate further through reflective writing and an individual interview.
Link to Survey
We will contact you with information regarding scheduling. Thank you for your time and consideration,
Macy & Josh