Utilizing a developmental psychology approach, Dr. Leoandra “Onnie” Rogers explores how cultural stereotypes and expectations shape the identity development of children and adolescents in urban environments.
As a student-athlete on the gymnastics team at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a past Diverse Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar, Rogers developed a sense of focus, determination and time management that has served her well from undergraduate school to graduate school to postdoctoral fellowship to her current position at Northwestern University.
Since becoming an assistant professor at the university in 2016, Rogers has called upon those skills to balance the many demands on her time. Juggling teaching, research and family (she is the mother of two young children) is still a work in progress, but she feels herself becoming increasingly adept.
Building her lab has been extremely rewarding. Grants from Northwestern and input from the university’s undergraduate research office helped her hire three undergraduates, who became the foundation of Rogers’ lab. Training them, getting feedback and seeing the work develop over the past year have all been exciting. Three more students have been added recently, and she feels like there is a team behind her work.
“Northwestern is incredibly well resourced and really intentional and deliberate about putting resources toward research on diversity and addressing issues of inequality and diversity,” says Rogers, who was hired in 2016 as part of a diversity science initiative.
The Chicago area is diverse and there are community-based organizations and conversations. The school district where Rogers’ daughter attends kindergarten is hosting SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) groups for parents, teachers and community leaders based on Dr. Peggy McIntosh’s diversity and equity workshops around race and intersectionality.
“I feel I’ve spent a lot of time this year figuring out who is doing what in the community so I can do work that is grounded and supportive of the work that’s already happening,” Rogers says.
