{"id":1758,"date":"2021-06-26T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2023-06-13T14:03:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T21:03:01","slug":"mpa-students-present-at-aspas-82nd-annual-conference-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/mpa-students-present-at-aspas-82nd-annual-conference-2\/","title":{"rendered":"MPA Students Present at ASPA’s 82nd Annual Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\u00a0<\/h1>\n

by<\/span><\/i> Lindsay Fujimoto, MPA Student Ambassador<\/b><\/p>\n

June 26, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

Image<\/span><\/p>\n

This spring, the <\/span>American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)<\/span><\/a> announced that MPA students, Bekah Guenther ’21, Ivy Ayers ’21, and Arturo Avila ’21, would be presenting their research, \u201cDeserving of Punishment: How Race Informs Public Opinion of Suitable Incarceration Terms,\u201d at ASPA\u2019s 82nd Annual Conference as part of their Race and (In)Equity: Public Perspectives session. Following the announcement, we sat down with Guenther, Ayers, and Avila to get a behind-the-scenes perspective of their research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why focus on sentencing?<\/b>
<\/b>Guenther and Ayers originally started to work together in previous quarters, completing their MPA Core budget analysis on the Department of Corrections. Guenther noted that they wanted to continue exploring criminal justice-related research, particularly as it relates to public perceptions of crime. She explained, \u201cPublic perception undergirds sentencing,\u201d raising additional questions of what exactly is the appropriate punishment for a crime. These lingering policy questions and the many reforms and corrections that have been implemented over the last few years motivated Guenther and Ayers to dive deeper into the research. Summer of 2020 only solidified their motivation. \u201cOver the summer, we all heard a lot of people talking about when protestors would get hurt or something like that, that they deserve [it] and asking, \u2018What do you expect to happen?\u2019\u201d said Guenther. For Ayers, public commentary seemed to ask, \u201cWho deserves to be punished?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Avila\u2019s motivation to team up with Guenther and Ayers had a personal aspect to it too. \u201cThis topic was really interesting because I had family members who have dealt with the justice system,\u201d Avila said. Avila remains curious to explore the topic and hopes that more research is done in this field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biggest takeaways?<\/b>
<\/b>All three students expressed that their biggest takeaway was the experience of conducting research as a whole. Throughout the process, they learned the importance of leaning on prior research, their MPA cohort, and teammates to accomplish their ambitious project. Guenther expressed how important it was for them to be able to trust each other as a group and lean on each other. Building enough flexibility in to their research supported their success as well, according to Avila. This enabled them to shift easily yet meet the demanding schedule of their research. Finally, Ayers noted that their personal interest in and passion for the topic made it worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did it contribute to the overall MPA experience?<\/b>
<\/b>\u201cLike many MPA students, it is hard to simultaneously learn and practice,\u201d said Ayers, but learning about experimental research design through the MPA program pushed her to seek out answers to a topic she is interested in. \u201cIt makes me feel a little more like a practitioner!\u201d she said. Avila agreed with Ayers, saying, \u201cHaving been removed from academia for a while and coming back and learning the process and applying the methodology, [it was a] great learning experience.\u201d Avila and Guenther both enjoyed the hands-on application of putting the research methodologies and concepts from class into practice. Guenther\u2019s one wish is that she had more time. In the program, \u201c[We are] learning and doing at the same time,\u201d said Guenther. \u201cIt would be nice to have a little more process time and a little more time to make mistakes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Advice to future students?<\/b>
<\/b>\u201cEspecially with research, you may go into it thinking you\u2019re going to find something, and you might find something else and you have to be open to it,\u201d said Ayers. \u201cNo findings are [also] findings,\u201d she noted. Key to their success, Guenther says, is having a good action plan. Within that, \u201cWork ahead and stick to plans,\u201d but \u201cbe flexible within that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou get what you put into it. If you work hard, you\u2019re going to learn a lot,\u201d said Avila. At the same time, Guenther advises, \u201cBe gentle with yourself. Grad school sometimes lends to maybe being hard on yourself. Be gentle through the process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 by Lindsay Fujimoto, MPA Student Ambassador June 26, 2021 Image This spring, the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) announced that MPA students, Bekah Guenther ’21, Ivy Ayers ’21, and Arturo Avila ’21, would be presenting their research, \u201cDeserving… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1759,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions\/1759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/mpanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}