The WDR Lab Student Challenge aims to spark innovative, interdisciplinary programming, scholarship, and research to address complex issues of workforce development, while also creating a cadre of “change agents” whose projects, stakeholder engagement, knowledge generation, and dissemination enhance the workforce development opportunities for underrepresented and marginalized groups.
Please check back in Spring 2024 for the information about Fall 2024 competition!
Winners of 2023
The Student Challenge was open to all graduate students in CEHD. This year, we received eight proposals with the capacity for collaborative work with community-based organizations, grassroots organizations, or non-profits aimed to address one or more topics in two overarching themes:
- Connect demand and supply – assess needs, develop skills, and staffing.
- Promote diversity and combat social inequality in the workforce.
The first prize of $1000 was awarded to Ashley Watson for her proposal to address education pathways for girls in Tanzania through a partnership with Action for Democratic Governance (A4DG) in Tanzania. Ashley is a Comparative and International Development Education PhD student who noted one objective for the project is to “Engage local community in problem-solving and policymaking efforts to alleviate educational disparities and ultimately career outcomes for girls and women”.
The second prize of $500 was awarded to Hyerim Cho, a PhD student in Human Resource Development, for her proposed needs assessment with the University of Minnesota Extensions’ Tourism Research Center. Hyerim’s research aims to address the feasibility of a training model using an action research case “by providing an example of a leadership development program for employees in the tourism industry, which was given scant attention before”.
Winners of the 2023 award will be granted prize money toward their work along with WDRL faculty mentorship in pursuit of their research over the next twelve months. Upon completing their projects, fellows will present their findings and serve as resources for future cohorts.
Questions?
If you have questions about the Student Challenge or want to know more about prospective lab projects, please e-mail wdrlab@umn.edu with “student challenge” in the subject line.