51茶馆

by Maura Kelly

Throughout her academic life, Javiera Garcia-Meneses, Ph.D. has studied how communities work. She鈥檒l continue that line of inquiry as the new Senior Research Fellow at the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society鈥攁 role she won after an exhaustive national search鈥攂y examining how interdisciplinary centers are structured and managed; how they function within a university; and how they can boost collaboration across departments. At the same time, Garcia-Meneses hopes to determine how Schiller and other centers like it can better communicate what they are doing both within and beyond the walls of the institute.

鈥淲hat an incredible hire!鈥� says Laura J. Steinberg, Schiller鈥檚 Seidner Family Executive Director. 鈥淛aviera wowed us with her intellect and curiosity, and her history of accomplishment. She also brings a unique lens to the study of interdisciplinarity in the academy; she is interested in taking into account the academy鈥檚 cultural and historical roots as she looks at how it can accommodate and encourage collaboration.鈥� Steinberg adds, 鈥淛aviera will use the tools, methods, and perspectives of the social sciences and humanities to study how science is created.鈥澛�

Garcia-Meneses moved to the Boston area recently, after growing up in Chile. She also began studying for her Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Transformations there, at Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica de Valpara铆so. While she was completing her doctorate, two American universities hosted Garcia-Meneses as a visiting scholar: She spent five months at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and a month at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, TX. She鈥檚 excited to be in New England now. From her office above the Chestnut Hill campus, as she looks out at the majestic Gothic architecture of Boston College, Garcia-Meneses says, 鈥淚 am waiting to see it in winter with snow,鈥� she says. That鈥檚 not something that she saw much of in central Chile.聽

In addition to dazzling Steinberg, Garcia-Meneses鈥攚hose big smile frequently lights her face鈥攈as made an impression on Ximena Soto, the assistant director of the Latinx Leadership Initiative (LLI) at the Boston College School of Social Work, who is also the former co-chair of Latinxs at 51茶馆 (L@51茶馆). At the end of September, she met with Garcia-Meneses so they could discuss the work of L@51茶馆. 鈥淛aviera is already actively participating in the L@51茶馆 board,鈥� says Soto. 鈥淭his is an impressive commitment to developing relationships on campus and finding ways to connect.鈥澛�

Being at Schiller 鈥渋s a discovery every day for me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think I鈥檓 the only social psychologist here, the only social scientist. It is really different for me to be in a building where there are engineers and labs on the next floor.鈥� Prior to this, her co-workers were primarily those in the social sciences鈥攁s they were for a project she worked on as part of her doctoral study, looking at how women experience academia, with the goal of better understanding how to encourage them to stay in research positions. To do that, she explains, 鈥淲e wanted to figure out the most complex elements of their work.鈥� Simply interviewing subjects didn鈥檛 seem like an adequate approach, so Garcia-Meneses and her team went further: 鈥淲e would follow them for a day so we could see with our own eyes the micro-relationships that make academia work.鈥� At Schiller, she has spent her first weeks on the job 鈥渄iscovering what other people are doing and trying to understand my place here.鈥澛�

Though she is still very new, she鈥檚 already building relationships鈥攊ncluding with the assistant dean for the doctoral program of the Boston College School of Social Work, Professor Christopher P. Salas-Wright. 鈥淚 am excited to begin to collaborate with Javiera,鈥� he tells SchillerNow. 鈥淲e hope to look at the experiences of Venezuelan migrant youth and adults as part of my NIH-funded research and perhaps via my current Schiller project,鈥� which aims to 鈥渦nderstand motivations for emigration and how people transition from thinking about leaving to leaving their home country behind.鈥澛�

As her Schiller fellowship unfolds, Garcia-Meneses plans to study not only Schiller, but other similar organizations. 鈥淲e want to look at how centers around the country work with the funding they receive, for example, and how they manage that funding to do interdisciplinary work.鈥� Her plan is to consider a number of related questions: 鈥淚f different centers do interdisciplinary work differently, why? Why do they have different elements? But also: How does interdisciplinary work feel? Comfortable? Or like hard work? Why?鈥� The answers that she discovers will ideally help her and Schiller to develop new strategies to push their work forward, while enhancing existing strategies. She adds, 鈥淲e also want to help researchers connect more with society鈥攖hat is the main definition of interdisciplinary work.鈥�

Research is her main interest鈥攂ut she knows that a human touch means at least as much as facts and statistics. 鈥淎cademia can be a really hostile place,鈥� she points out. 鈥淚n the university, people don鈥檛 often hear, 鈥榊ou are doing it right, you鈥檙e doing something really good.鈥欌�� If she has anything to say about that, though, they will. What鈥檚 key to building a collaborative spirit, in her mind, is 鈥渁cknowledging people鈥檚 work and making them part not only of one lab but part of the organization.鈥澛�