At 32 years old, Mirinda M. Morency represents a new generation of scholars who understand that meaningful research begins with lived experience and community connection. As a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the joint developmental and clinical psychology program at the University of Minnesota, Morency’s journey to academia has been anything but traditional, and that’s precisely what makes her work so compelling.
“I place Mirinda very high among the students I have trained in intellectual merit, life experiences in promoting health, and potential for broad impact in the field,” says Dr. Megan R. Gunnar, Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota, who nominated Morency as a Rising Graduate Scholar. “Her ability to work well as part of a collaborative team is fabulous, as Mirinda is remarkably adept in working with students and faculty from diverse backgrounds and experiences.”
Growing up in the south suburbs of Chicago as the daughter of Haitian immigrants, Morency was the first in her family to attend college. Her path to higher education began at Loyola University Chicago, where she became a McNair Scholar, a program that would prove pivotal in introducing her to the world of psychological research.
“My mentor was a Black psychologist, and I was like, ‘oh, yes,’” Morency recalls of that transformative undergraduate experience. Working alongside her mentor on community violence prevention work on Chicago’s west side, she found herself immersed in neighborhoods with concentrated crime, learning firsthand about the challenges facing urban communities.
This early research experience wasn’t conducted from an ivory tower. Morency was on the ground, working directly with youth and families, asking crucial questions about resilience and protective factors.
“We know about all these risks, but what are the protective factors? How can we leverage strengths within the community that already exist and sustain that to sort of mitigate the negative effects of being in a high-crime, impoverished area?” she asks.
