1

HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Complete this proposal prior to your experience’s start date and upload it in the UHP Database
(https://webapps.uc.edu/uchonorsstudent). Create an experience (“Add a new record”) in the “Tracking Project”
tab and upload your proposal document as an attachment. The deadline for submitting proposals is the 5th of
each month.

Proposals are intended to be well developed plans for your experience. However, experiences are exploratory in
nature, and we are flexible with changes throughout the experience. If your experience changes after receiving
approval on your proposal, contact your honors advisor to verify the changes still satisfy the requirements of an
honors experience.

Basic Information
Full Name: Jessica Smith
Title of Project: Unaccompanied Minors in Cincinnati Project—Research Assistant Phase Two
Thematic Area(s): Research, Community Engagement, Leadership
Expected Start Date: June 26th, 2017
Expected End Date: September 1st, 2017

GUIDELINES

1. Proposal submission timeline: Proposals should be submitted at least one month prior to the expected
start date of the experience. International experiences require at least two months’ notice. Contact your
honors advisor immediately for any exceptions.
2. Proposal length: While the quality of the proposal is most important, strong proposals are typically 3-4
pages single-spaced.
3. Proposal format: Please maintain the proposal format (e.g. headers, layout)
4. Time commitment: Experiences should consist of at least 75-90 hours of preparation, execution, and
reflection. This is approximately equivalent to the commitment of honors seminars and pre-approved
experiences.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

All self-designed international travel experiences require two months’ notice and must be at least one week in
length. You will need to provide a detailed itinerary (dates, locations and activities). If participating in
independent travel (not with UC faculty, staff or student group), you must also fill out a Worldwide: Honors
Experience application via UC International.

Additionally, the Student Travel Policy restricts UC-sponsored travel to countries under a U.S. Department of
State Travel Warning. Those who wish to visit a country with a travel warning must seek an exemption through
UC International. Students traveling without a faculty or staff leader must individually request an exemption.
We cannot allow you to count this travel as an honors experience nor can we give you a grant without an
approved exemption.
 2

1. Abstract

Briefly describe the experience. What makes this experience personally meaningful? What goals do you have for this
experience? What is your timeline for this experience?
*If you are proposing an international experience, provide an itinerary.
**If you are developing this experience from an existing opportunity (class with a study tour, campus organization, co-op,
etc.) that is not already an honors seminar or pre-approved experience, how will you differentiate your experience from
what is already required of other students?

Briefly describe the experience:

For the summer of 2017, I was sought out by Dr. Leila Rodriguez, Director of Undergraduate Studies for the
Anthropology Department at UC, to be her research assistant for a research project. This research project is sponsored by
The Cincinnati Project (TCP), which is a local organization that collaborates with the University of Cincinnati to conduct
social research that will benefit communities in Cincinnati with goals of economic justice, health equity, racial equality,
and improved conditions for women. Dr. Rodriguez’s project with TCP is in partnership with Su Casa Hispanic Center.
Su Casa is a program of Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio, and its primary aim is to provide services for the Hispanic
and Latino/a immigrant population in Cincinnati. Some of these services include legal aid, employment assistance,
educational programs, and advocacy for and within the community. Su Casa needs the help of The Cincinnati Project and
Dr. Rodriguez because of the influx of unaccompanied minors that are coming to the United States, and more specifically,
the Cincinnati area. Unaccompanied minors are people under the age of 18 that have come to the United States without a
guardian, and while most immigrant unaccompanied minors are placed with a guardian through the Office of Refugee
Resettlement, some end up having to support themselves without the help of family or an adult caretaker. Su Casa needs
the research of Dr. Rodriguez in order to allow them to better support these unaccompanied minors, but more than that,
Dr. Rodriguez’s data will be some of the first of its kind in Cincinnati in terms of statistics on unaccompanied minors and
various other aspects of the Latino/a immigrant population.
My role in the project was initially going to consist solely of transcribing interviews that Dr. Rodriguez
conducted; however, as the second phase of the project approaches, both Dr. Rodriguez and I have concluded that more
active participation as a research assistant beyond transcribing would be invaluable experience; therefore, I will be getting
actual experience on the ground as a cultural anthropologist. This data collection will consist of working with both Dr.
Rodriguez and my fellow research assistant, Lucy (placed on this project through UHP Discover), to gather and log
information on an extensive database directory of community partners and organizations that provide services for the
Latino/a community in Cincinnati, the kinds of services that they provide, contact information for each organization,
followed by moving on to actually interview the organizations and partners. After the interviews have been conducted and
transcribed, we will be coding and conducting Social Network Analysis (SNA). Coding in the ethnographic sense is a
process qualitative analysis of data to find commonalities such as concepts, ideas, and keywords and then labeling them
with a code in order to identify trends and patterns in the data. SNA is analyzing networks of social structures, what links
the actors in the structures together, and the degree to which they are linked. For both SNA and the coding, I will have to
learn how to use software designed specifically for each kind of analysis.

What makes this experience personally meaningful:

As an undergraduate with a goal of graduate school, this kind of research experience—on the ground
ethnographic work with a cultural anthropologist—is something that is hard to come by. In general, finding an opportunity
to do research in the Humanities is underfunded and opportunities to do cultural anthropology specifically are extremely
hard to find. Even in the Anthropology Department at UC—which has supported and encouraged my desire to get
research experience—finding work with a cultural anthropologist poses a challenge due to the lack of funding previously
mentioned. Anthropologists that do work in Biological Anthropology or Archaeology have far more opportunities for
funding or experiences that are already set up for them, so this opportunity to work with Dr. Rodriguez getting to do work
to prepare me for my dream goal of becoming a cultural anthropologist is one that I could never pass up.
Earlier in the year, I went through a bit of a crisis because I was considering graduating early. Early graduation
would be logical in the sense that I would not have trouble finishing my credits on time, but one thing stood very clearly
in my way: how could I even think about applying to graduate school for anthropology without any research experience?
This question loomed in the back of my mind until I decided to stay on the four-year undergraduate course I was already
set on and hope that something came along. Getting to work with Dr. Rodriguez, Lucy, members of the Latino/a
community in Cincinnati, and those who advocate for them not only helps me to gain invaluable experience pertaining to
my future education and career, but it is also very fulfilling work to do something that I am passionate about.
 3

What goals do you have for this experience?

My goals for this experience center mostly upon learning about how to actually “do” anthropological work. I do
not have any prior experience with using anthropological methods to conduct research, and getting the opportunity to
conduct research interviews and go to meetings with community members will give me an idea of what it is like to use
methods that I would otherwise only be able to understand from a textbook. Re-familiarizing myself with Excel and
learning to use the software for the qualitative analysis such as MaxQDA is also a goal of mine. Neither Excel nor data
analysis software will be going anywhere any time soon, and they will be tools that I need to master in order to be
efficient and knowledgeable in a variety of fields.
Aside from the anthropological experience specifically, this is also my first experience as a research assistant. I
have constantly been working on building a good relationship with both my professor and also my research partner, Lucy.
The learning process of when to ask someone questions versus when to try to figure things out on my own, how formally
to speak, how to correspond with strangers via email to send a research interview request, and how to manage my time
wisely in order to be my most efficient self are all skills that I hope to further develop and refine.

What is your timeline for this experience?

My timeline for this experience is not as structured as one with an itinerary and reliant mostly on how quickly we
work and how cooperative people are with interviews. The summer A general timeline is something along these lines:
 Phase Two (June 26th-July 3rd): First round of interviews and transcription
 Phase Three (July 5th-31st): Second round of interviews and transcription; begin analysis and summary of data
collected
 Phase Four (August 1st-September 1st): Continue transcriptions, analysis, and summary; begin coding and Social
Network Analysis
 Phase Five (September 5th-April 27th**): Though the project is a year long and will subsequently continue until
approximately April, I have not clarified my role from that point on with Dr. Rodriguez.

If you are developing this experience from an existing opportunity (class with a study tour, campus organization, co-op,
etc.) that is not already an honors seminar or pre-approved experience, how will you differentiate your experience from
what is already required of other students?
I hope to differentiate this experience from those of other students in that it could possibly the only time I have the
opportunity to do something like this in my time at UC. There are not very many research experiences that align so
perfectly with my career and educational goals, and being in a smaller department results in fewer opportunities. The
Anthropology Department is happy to encourage research and development in the field, but before I could start
undergraduate research of my own, it was my goal to have some experience first. In the future, I hope to take advantage of
a program like UHP Discover, but the timing and specificity of this program is a near perfect fit with what I hope to do in
the future. This kind of opportunity to do research in cultural anthropology as an anthropology student would be different
from that of my other UHP peers, but also different than anything that I have ever done before. It is my goal to use this
experience as a platform to do more research in the future.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include: Required Revisions: Effective:

Brief description of the experience

Personal connection to the experience

Identified goals for the experience

Timeline from start to finish

*Itinerary (international experiences only)

**Explanation of differentiated experience

from what is required of other students
 4

2. Experience Advisor

Identify an experience advisor and provide their contact information. Explain why you chose this person and how you
plan to utilize your advisor for this experience.
Note: Advisor(s) should have knowledge or expertise in an area related to the experience. Honors advisors, undergraduate
students, and family members cannot be experience advisors.

Experience Advisor: Dr. Leila Rodriguez

Title: Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies
Office: 450 Braunstein Hall
Telephone: 513-556-5783
Email: leila.rodriguez@uc.edu

Explain why you chose this person and how you plan to utilize your advisor for this experience:
Having worked with Dr. Rodriguez in the classroom setting, I am already familiar with her teaching style and her
expertise on the subject for the research project. As a cultural anthropologist and instructor in the Anthropology
Department, she is knowledgeable on how to teach anthropological method, and I feel comfortable and confident in
asking her any questions that I may have. Working with Dr. Rodriguez also helps in the regard that she has already
mastered the software that we will be using, and it is a common software for anthropologists to use for qualitative data.
Lastly, Dr. Rodriguez has been my advisor for the past year, and she knows my strengths and where to challenge me, but
she also knows the places that I may have more questions and doubts about my abilities. Each week, we plan to meet as a
team to go over goals and points of improvement in order to move forward and stay on track, but also to acknowledge
what changes and adjustments need to be made. I look forward to working more with her and learning more about her
experiences with research and anthropological methods.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include: Required Revisions: Effective:

Experience advisor name and contact

information

Description of why advisor was selected

Specific plans to engage with advisor

3. Connection to Learning Outcomes

List 3 learning outcomes from any thematic area(s). Provide specific activities you plan to engage in to help you make
progress towards the chosen learning outcomes. Describe how you expect each activity to help your progress. Include an
estimated time commitment for those activities.

1) Research: Demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret, and critically evaluate primary sources appropriate to field.
a) The most crucial primary sources of data collected throughout this project are the interviews with leaders and
partners in the Latino/a community, parents and guardians, schools, churches, and the unaccompanied minors
themselves. Using interviews for research and data collection is also a very important skill to master in the field of
anthropology as it is a good way to collect the data first hand and get a good “feel” for how individuals perceive
themselves and their position in the research. Part of the interview process is determining who would be the most
relevant person to interview and locating their contact information. I will be conducting interviews myself, and
 5

that will be experience that will undoubtedly benefit me in my current understanding of the project, but also as an
anthropologist in the future (like graduate school) when I may be conducting interviews for my own research.
b) Estimated time commitment: 15-20 hours
2) Leadership: Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or goals.
a) The entire experience of being a research assistant involves working towards collaborating effectively with others.
Each day in the office, I work with my research partner Lucy to input data, discuss the best subsequent formatting
for the data, and the most efficient ways not only fulfill our tasks but to go above and beyond what is expected of
us to ensure the success of the project. In Phase Two of the research project, especially, Lucy and I will be
collaborating to come up with research questions and to research the potential interview subjects, themselves. I
will also be working closely with Dr. Rodriguez to discuss our progress, things I am doing well, and areas of
improvement. Each week, Lucy, Dr. Rodriguez and I set aside time to meet as a team and go over our
accomplishments of the past week and goals for the next week. I am also getting used to collaborating with
someone in my role as a research assistant and partner rather than only as a student, and that also requires some
personal adjustments.
b) Estimated time commitment: 100+ hours
3) Community Engagement: Identify and differentiate multiple ways to contribute towards the development or
achievement of the community’s goals.
a) The most important outcome of the data that we are collecting through this research project is that it will help Su
Casa provide better services for the unaccompanied minors and the immigrant Latino/a population in Cincinnati
as a whole. The ultimate goal of the research is to compile an extensive database of resources for Su Casa and
through Social Network Analysis, connect people and organizations in the community to each other so that they
can work together and collaborate on projects, events, and resource sharing. Collecting solid data on a topic that
people who work in public policy in Cincinnati do not have much of would also help to shape initiatives that can
better serve the Latino/a community in Cincinnati at large in ways that Cincinnati’s government is not currently
aware of or taking advantage of. Through my work with various methods of extensive analysis, coding, and one
day presenting the data, I can really be a part of something that evokes beneficial change for a local community
and population.
4) Estimated time commitment: 50-60 hours

Advisor Feedback
Must Include: Required Revisions: Effective:

3 learning outcomes explicitly identified

from any thematic area(s)

Examples of activities and explanation of

how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome

Estimated time commitment for each

activity

4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes

List 2-3 academic resources you plan to use. For each, describe how it connects to your learning outcomes and how you
hope that it will contribute to your learning during this experience. You must have at least one resource connected to each
learning outcome; a resource can satisfy multiple outcomes. Please include the title and author/creator for each resource.
Note: Academic resources are professional/academic works that can be used to assist your understanding of the topic.
Some examples are books, research journals, documentaries, or videos.
 6

1) “Essential Ethnographic Methods: Observations, Interviews, and Questionnaires” – Steven L. Schensul, Jean J.
Schensul, Margaret Diane LeCompte
a) This book is part of the Ethnographer’s Toolkit series, and it details the process of properly preparing to observe,
create and conduct interviews, and developing and conducting questionnaires. I am hoping that this would give
me some more background knowledge on these methods as I have not done research before, nor have I formally
learned about ethnographic methods in an educational setting. It will also help both Lucy and I to communicate
with each other and Dr. Rodriguez on a foundation of knowledge that the three of us would share on a basic level.
Not only would it assist me in the research that I am doing now, but it would also prepare me for the required
Ethnographic Methods course that I will take at some point in my time as an undergrad at UC.
b) Learning outcome connection: Research, Leadership
2) “See What We Say: Using Concept Mapping to Visualize Latino Immigrant’s Strategies for Health Intervention”-
Lisa M. Vaughn
a) This article was written using the Latino immigrant population in Cincinnati as the basis for the data. Although
concept mapping is not a method that we will be using, it will be helpful to see how someone else has started with
the same population and carried a project through until the end. The article directly concerning the Latino/a
immigrant population in Cincinnati is especially helpful because despite the 2016 date of publication, the
immigrant Latino/a population in Cincinnati has already changed so much since then, and it will also allow me to
track changes and trends within the community to figure out how to best serve them in this project.
b) Learning outcome connections: Research, Community Engagement

Advisor Feedback
Must Include: Required Revisions: Effective:

1-2 academic resources connected to the

learning outcomes

Title and author of each resource

Description of how resources will help

make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection
The on-going reflection should help you process the experience and progress toward your chosen learning outcomes.
Describe your method for reflecting throughout the experience. Indicate specific reflection questions/topics you plan to
use to guide your reflective process.
Note: A variety of methods can be used for on-going reflection. Some examples are videos, drawings, blogs, songs, and
journals. Reflection topics to consider include your ideas/insights about the experience, connection to other areas of
involvement, and your progress towards the learning outcomes.

As journaling is the mode in which I process my thoughts and ideas best, I will be keeping a journal to reflect
upon my experiences. Because my day-to-day experiences differ, I would like to keep a weekly journal so that I can
organize my thoughts and experiences in a more holistic perspective. I will be a bit further away from the experience than
daily journaling would lead me, and that would allow me to really dig in to what I learned about myself and my abilities
and also where I can go from there. Some specific questions and topics I plan on using to guide my reflection are:
 What happened throughout the week that made me feel confident in my abilities?
 What happened throughout the week that led me to doubt myself? Can I turn that into a positive experience?
 Did anything I heard change my perspective on the project? On myself? On life?
 How will what I learned this week affect how to proceed in the project in the long run?
 7

Advisor Feedback
Must Include: Required Revisions: Effective:

Method for ongoing reflection

Reflection questions/topics clearly

specified

6. Sharing Your Learning

Describe how you plan to actively share what you’ve taken away from this experience with a targeted audience. Consider
signing up for the UHP Impact Forum held each April. Explain why you chose this specific audience.
Note: While social media can be an effective platform for sharing, only posting on your personal learning portfolio or
social media account(s) does not reach a targeted audience.

Because the research is not my own and the project is approximately a year long, I will not be able to share details
of the research with anyone due to confidentiality stipulations; however, I would like to share my experience on World
Anthropology Day in the Anthropology Department to help encourage other Anthropology students to seek out research
experiences in the Humanities. On World Anthropology Day, the Anthropology Department holds workshops and
discussions to help stimulate conversations on why people are passionate about anthropology, and it would be my ultimate
goal to collaborate with others who have done research in the Humanities to possibly even form a panel sharing our
experiences and answering questions of other undergrad students who might want to learn more about research
experiences. Prior to this experience, I knew nearly nothing about what being a research assistant would actually be like,
and some tips and advice on how to go about approaching opportunities for research would be something that I would
have found helpful at this time last year.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include: Required Revisions: Effective:

At least one method to actively share take-

aways/learning from the experience

A specific audience and why the audience

was selected

7. Budget (if applicable)

Provide an itemized budget and indicate your source for cost information.
*If you are engaged in an unpaid internship or research, please indicate the number of weeks and hours per week you
plan to participate.

The funding for my pay and resources ends on June 17th, but I have secured a STEM grant from the Anthropology
Department that will fund an extra week of work for me; unfortunately, this means that after June 23rd, I will be working
the equivalent of an unpaid internship.

Number of Weeks Hours Per Week $/hour (Ohio Minimum Total Money Needed*
Wage)*
12 21 8.15 ~$2,053.80

*Ohio minimum wage for 2017 taken from National Conference of State Legislatures
(http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx)
**Cost of travel and equipment (such as recorder and qualitative analysis software) covered already, so I have listed the
what would be the cost of my labor without the taxes taken out.
 8

Advisor Feedback
Notes: Required Revisions: Effective:

Detailed budget of expenditures with

sources to justify budget estimates

*Indicates the number of hours per week

and number of weeks of participation

THEMATIC AREA LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning Outcomes for the Community Engagement Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to…
 Identify and differentiate multiple ways to contribute towards the development or achievement of the community’s
goals.
 Develop a thorough understanding of the world view, beliefs, experiences, self-consciousness, or history of
community members through collaboration.
 Articulate the purpose of service on a social issue or public policy and how service mutually enhances individual
growth and the common good.
 Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence social issues and transform
communities.
Learning Outcomes for the Creativity Thematic Area:
By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to…
 Discover new techniques to gain knowledge, consider options, make new connections, and ask questions.
 Explore a new creative competency/medium or seek new ways to engage an existing competency/medium.
 Understand and optimize the use of people, technology, physical resources or community in a creative process.
 Articulate the broader significance of a creative project and the value of its contributions.

Learning Outcomes for the Global Studies Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to…
 Develop practical travel skills that promote safe, stimulating, and productive travel throughout your life.
 Summarize the interconnectedness of geography, history, cultural traits and world issues.
 Articulate the interdependence of professional fields to address current and impending global issues such as
technology, the environment, human rights, or politics.
 Demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity by acknowledging the impact of their own identity and the
experience of social norms, customs, or beliefs that are different from their own.
 Demonstrate a sense of empathy, respect, and appreciation for others to build meaningful cross-cultural
collaborations toward mutual growth and prosperity.

Learning Outcomes for the Leadership Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to…
 Formulate and manage a shared vision and develop goals towards its achievement.
 Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or goals.
 Develop strategies to identify and respond to challenges and obstacles.
 Identify personal strengths and areas of growth and evaluate opportunities to maximize skills and abilities.
 Synthesize the current trends related to a specific issue or field and evaluate how thought-leaders are currently
addressing them.

Learning Outcomes for the Research Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to…
 9

 Demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret, and critically evaluate primary sources appropriate to field.
 Identify and apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for analysis.
 Analyze and interpret the meaning of results.
 Produce dissemination appropriate to the field in order to share the results or impact of the research.
 Articulate the broader significance of the research project and its relationship to other fields, research and ideas.