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California State University, Chico
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Grad Studies YouTube ChannelTina Hanson-Lewis Selected for 2020-2021 Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program
The Office of Graduate Studies is proud to illuminate one of our CSU, Chico recipients of the 2020-2021 Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program (CDIP), Tina Hanson-Lewis!
Tina Hanson-Lewis transferred to CSU Chico from Washington State University to finish her B.S. in Biochemistry. She then went on to earn her M.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology here at CSU Chico, where she is currently a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Hanson-Lewis is also actively pursuing her PhD in Curriculum, Instruction, and the Science of Learning through the University at Buffalo, which is a part of the State University of New York system.
With a focus on Chemistry Education, Hanson-Lewis is currently working to illuminate the causes for the equity gap within Chemistry classrooms, stressing the importance of understanding the causes in Chemistry specifically because it “is a gateway course for many STEM degrees.” she notes, “Across the country minority students succeed in the Chemistry classroom less frequently than their non-minority classmates. […] diversity in STEM fields is notably lacking.” Hanson-Lewis also expresses her own, personal connection to the lack of equity in STEM saying, “As a first generation, multicultural student myself I also struggled in my general chemistry courses. I am fervent to find ways for teachers to design chemistry courses that reduce or eliminate the achievement gap.”
Established in 1987, the Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program offers loans and mentorships by CSU faculty in an effort to increase the number of doctoral students applying for future CSU instructional faculty positions. These loans may be offered per year over a five year period, and are repayable over a fifteen-year period beginning one year after the completion or withdrawal from full-time doctoral studies. The loans are also forgivable at the rate of twenty percent for each year of full-time postdoctoral teaching employment within the CSU system or at the rate of ten percent for each year of part-time postdoctoral teaching employment within the CSU system. As of October 2020, over 2,000 doctoral students participated in this program with over 1,300 participants successfully earning their doctoral degrees; over eight hundred of these students have gone on to obtain employment in a California State University instructional faculty position.