Kenicia Wright

Dr. Kenicia Wright is an Assistant Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. Dr. Wright studies how representation and policy outcomes are influenced by social identities, such as race/ethnicity, gender, and class. She teaches Race, Ethnicity, and Quantitative Methodology II for the Summer Program.

I've been an instructor for several years. It's one of the highlights of my summer, because it's one of these experiences where you're talking to people from different places with different research interests at different stages of their career, who have different topics that they're interested in and tools and methods that they apply. I share the things that I've learned, but I also learn from them. I’m inspired by them and motivated at a different level of productivity by the engagement and the energy.

Summer Program curriculum

What I love about the Summer Program is that you have refresher courses. I often tell participants that when they take classes in the first year of their graduate program, they’re often just focused on consuming that content and they just want to pass. But there's a different level of absorption they can have once they don't have that stress of being enrolled in a course for a grade. For example, regression: This becomes a basic tool that we often build on, and they need to be strong on those foundations.

I also like that you can get insight and tools and teaching approaches from people who aren't at your home institution. Sometimes having the same content taught differently helps it to stick. You also have courses here that aren't offered at people's home institutions, so this becomes a way that you can get training that you wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to.

Her slogan for the Summer Program

I'm very cheesy so this might be totally corny and not funny to anyone other than me, but maybe, "ICPSR Summer Program: We make math fun." I don't know, for me the Summer Program reduces the stress of learning, and you're able to absorb more information. You have a longer window to be able to look at materials, and then you have instructors, TAs, and other participants that you can build relationships with. So the Summer Program reduces the stress, which makes learning more fun.

Her favorite parts of the Program

Every year I enjoy the picnics, because I think there's something to be said about seeing instructors and TAs and participants outside of the classroom. So I love the picnics, it's just a fun environment to see folks in.

I just think it's a very unique experience. You're meeting people from so many different places. It's a special group of people who really just want to build support, build community, and sharpen their skills. This is the type of work that you want to be involved with or connected to in some way.

"The Summer Program reduces the stress of learning."