Summer Predoctoral Institute Coordinator

The Summer Predoctoral Institute (SPI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I) provides new incoming graduate students from underrepresented U.S. populations with an early start to their graduate studies and an opportunity to work with a department advisor. As the SPI coordinator for three consecutive years, Dr. Perez-Quetives assisted ninety new incoming graduate students (master's and doctoral students) from racially diverse and socioeconomic backgrounds in transitioning and getting familiarized with the U of I campus, Urbana-Champaign community, and the culture of their department. As coordinator, she trained, supervised, and evaluated eight doctoral students who served as SPI group leaders in social sciences and STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and majors. Dr. Perez-Quetives and her staff were responsible for providing graduate students an opportunity to prepare for the rigor of their graduate program. The SPI curriculum that she developed included participants conducting an independent research project with their department advisor, attending several writing and professional development workshops, networking at social events with university faculty, staff, and current graduate students in their department, and presenting their research in a poster/roundtable and oral presentation in front of an academic audience. For some participants, this was their first time presenting and speaking in public at a professional event.