Stephanie Wilsey ’00, PhD is the social science researcher for the Celtic STEM Initiative (C-STEM) Project, funded by an S-STE grant from the National Science Foundation. The C-STEM project aims to create a pipeline of academically talented, female, low-income students who enter STEM fields or seek advanced STEM degrees after graduation. Wilsey was part of the team that procured the grant and her role is to address the fourth goal of the project, which is to generate new knowledge on the extent to which living-learning communities enhance success for the C-STEM student scholars.
Wilsey is a psychologist, with a background in developmental psychology, so has a keen interest in not only what the students are studying, but the social and emotional support students receive, and how that affects their educational journey. Wilsey was asked to join the research team as she specializes in this area, with most of her published research centering around how young adults respond to different learning settings and opportunities, and how they can be strengthened or improved upon.
The current project asks participants questions that gauge a student’s connection to the university, to their major, identity, if their sense of belonging and connection has increased since participating in the project, and other similar questions.
“Often the social aspect seems not as important [as academics] but it is actually really, really important. Feeling connected and learning how to talk and engage with the professors and other students is so important to a student’s success, especially for first-generation college students.”
Wilsey explains the importance of the study’s particular population, women in STEM, by sharing a story about a previous student.
“For women in the sciences it is often not enough to just say go get this degree. There are a lot of barriers to women in these fields. I have taught a lot of biology and chemistry majors throughout the years when I would teach general psychology. I remember one former student I ran into at a restaurant in Pittsburgh, she was our waitress.
She was a brilliant student, a really sharp chemistry major. I knew she had gone on to a grad program, so I asked her how she was doing. She said she was so frustrated. She was a top student going into her program, but found it very difficult to be in it as a woman…She ended up dropping out of the program.”
Wilsey explained various challenges often faced by women in STEM, particularly first-generation, low-income, and those without a large support system or deep connections.
“I don’t know that this project can completely protect or prevent things like this from happening, but it was built into the programming that we realize there are some fields, whether it is politics or IT, that are very difficult for some people to get into if you don’t feel supported. It makes a difference when you feel supported, and know there are others like you, who care about you, and want to persevere.
And so that is really what I am looking at. I think of that student every time. How do I help people like her? There are people who are really talented, and we need more scientists, and if we lose people for silly, unfortunate reasons, that is really against how we are taught at Geneva and in the sciences.”
By studying connection in correlation to academic success and personal thriving in students, Wilsey and her research team hope to provide research-backed methods for helping at-risk students thrive in their education.
Wilsey began a lot of her interest in this area and has invested some of her professional time at Geneva and within the Beaver Falls community.
As a student, Wilsey began her journey in psychology work that now results in research projects and multiple publications all aimed to improve the experience of young adults.
“Geneva prepared me very well because I did multiple research studies as an undergraduate student at Geneva and I was trained well in quantitative research methods…I also have been prepared for projects like this that are very interdisciplinary because of Geneva’s liberal-arts focus. I am not someone who can only do psychology-related things, I can see the connections with other fields of study, that has made me versatile, and is why they wanted me on this project.”
Living-learning communities is another area of study Wilsey has spent her career focusing on. In previous projects, Wilsey has worked with names that will be familiar to many at Geneva College, Wendy Whelply, executive director of Beaver Falls Community Development Corporation, and Bradshaw Frey, PhD, Geneva faculty emeritus, on City House.
Wilsey took both her technical field knowledge and soft skills she gained at Geneva to springboard into a master’s, PhD, and now to national research projects. Using skills and knowledge to better our community and world in service to God and neighbor is the mission of a Geneva education, which so many of our alumni exude in their personal and professional lives.
Learn more about Geneva College.
Have questions? Call us at 724-847-6505.
© Geneva College | All rights reserved
Online Course Login
myGeneva Student Portal