McNair Scholar 2018 Nahrissa I. Rush
Nahrissa I. Rush is a junior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, majoring in sociology with a minor in comparative U.S. race and ethnicity. Her research interests include race, segregation, redlining and gentrification and how they impact communities of color. Ms. Rush plans on earning her Ph.D. in Sociology.
My dream is to become a professor so that not only can I perform research to uncover new information, but also so that I can teach and inspire a new generation of learners and thinkers to question and change the world around them.
Research project
Choices by Default? Opportunities and Constraints for Families of Color in Youth Activities
Abstract: As part of the Kids Involvement and Diversity Study (KIDS), we looked at how families of color choose activities for their children, and how those choices may in fact be limited. In some cases, choices that were made were not really choices at all, and for other families options were limited and they were forced to settle for other activities. Of the almost 60 interviews with parents that have been collected for the study, the interviews of parents of color were reviewed for discussions around choice of activities and also how they experienced extra-curricular activities. The KIDS project is ongoing and there is much to be learned about the process of choosing activities, especially for families of diverse backgrounds. This initial research is some of the first to look in-depth at this subject and yielded interesting findings, signaling that more work in this area is both worthwhile and important.
Faculty mentor
Dr. Douglas Hartmann is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Hartmann attended the University of California, San Diego where he received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1997. His primary research specialties are race and sports, and specifically how the two intersect. He most recently published Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy in 2016. Dr. Hartmann has published numerous papers, journal articles and has served as editor for several journals. He has presented at numerous conferences nationwide, on his own work as well as on the Kids Involvement and Diversity Study.