Please join us in congratulating Wei LAB Research Scientist Dr. Brian A. Burt for his recent promotion to Associate Professor with tenure in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The promotion will take effect for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Dr. Burt’s program of research uses qualitative methodological approaches to study the experiences of graduate students, and the institutional policies and practices that influence students’ educational and workforce pathways. His current research projects fall in two strands: 1) understanding team-based science, and 2) exploring the experiences of underrepresented graduate students of color in engineering. Through this program of research, Dr. Burt seeks to provide new understandings of the complexity of science participation. The aim of his research is to better understand the experiences that promote or turn students away from science pathways. The implications of this work have the capacity to improve student-to-faculty (as well as student-to-student) interactions, and inform recommendations for the (re)design of supportive learning environments.

As Research Scientist in the Wei LAB, Dr. Burt leads the research and writing teams.

He was recently featured on the UW-Madison Discovery Building’s Saturday Science Series which features Black innovators in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math).

Wei LAB Director Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson has been selected to chair the search-and-screen committee for UW-Madison’s next deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, vice provost and chief diversity officer.

The deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, vice provost and chief diversity officer provides overall leadership for UW–Madison’s efforts to create a diverse, inclusive and excellent learning and work environment for all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others who partner with the university. The incumbent is responsible for coordinating numerous institutional initiatives, while supervising the key diversity units that comprise the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement, a unit with approximately 80 FTE employees and an annual budget of $10 million.

Wei LAB Special Projects Manager and Research Assistant Kayla Gross was appointed as the Inclusion Program Manager for the Department of Computer Sciences at UW-Madison in January 2021. She is responsible for improving the recruitment and retention of women in the computer science department.

The effort is funded by a multi-year grant from the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University, which serves as a catalyst for universities to take the lead in educating more women in computing. Strategies supported by the grant include initiatives to attract and retain women in computer sciences, developing programs that address disparities, and creating a community of support for women.

Gross will continue to support the work of the Wei LAB as Special Projects Manager.

In February, Director Jerlando F. L. Jackson gave a virtual guest lecture titled “Disrupting Organizational Disparities: A Chief Leadership Challenge Post 2020” for the University of Tennessee’s College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. The lecture was part of the Billie Grace Goodrich Distinguished Lecture Series and Bogue Lecture Series.

The Billie Grace Goodrich Distinguished Lecture Series are intended to contribute to the intellectual life of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and to provide the public with new and provocative ideas, stimulating thought and possible solutions to educational problems in the United States.

The Bogue Lecture Series offers the opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to learn from a scholar within the field of higher education about diversity, inclusion, and equity, particularly as these themes relate to educational policy and practice.