At Cal State Northridge, Negin Ghavami had been doing research on social issues related to racial and ethnic identity, but she was hoping to expand her research into similar identity issues among gays and lesbians. Looking to find a mentor for her SPUR summer session at UCLA, she found that Professor Anne Peplau in psychology was doing exactly what she wanted to do.

Dr. Peplau and one of her graduate students, Adam Fingerhut, were just starting to put together a study on gay identity and feelings of discrimination. "I was able to contribute to constructing the study, I collected data, and I did a lot of work," Negin recalls. In turn, Dr. Peplau and Adam “treated me as though I had something important to contribute,” she says. "I always felt that I was a colleague." And her name ended up on a research paper they published about the summer work.

But the best was yet to come. "Because of the fact that I had worked with her for the summer, she got to see my work ethic and my dedication," Negin says. "We really established a good connection. She encouraged me to apply. I did, I got in, and here I am."

Negin took her identity research in a somewhat different direction during her doctoral studies, looking at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender, but adding a race/ethnicity—Middle Easterners—that has not been greatly studied. In one study, she found that Asian men are an exception to the male stereotype as aggressive and assertive, and while most women are typed as emotional and caring, African American women are seen as assertive and dominant. While Middle Eastern men are stereotyped as terrorists, Middle Eastern women are viewed as oppressed and passive. Her second study examines the consequences of these stereotypes for the experience of individuals and their outcomes.

Supported by a remarkable variety of fellowships and grants, she is always willing when the Graduate Division asks for volunteers at recruitment events. At SPUR panels, she "talks about what it’s like to be a graduate student to undergraduates who are here for the summer, just like I was seven years ago," she says. "I help students understand what graduate school is about, what you need to do to become successful, the first step being to get in."

At this stage, Negin is looking to get out, hopefully into a faculty job near her Southern California family. "I really like the Cal State system," she says. "I feel like I can make a difference in students’ lives there—so fingers crossed!"

Published in Winter 2011, Graduate Quarterly