Faculty and Students Present at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry

Faculty members and doctoral students from the Dreeben School of Education and Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) presented at the Seventeenth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI) Conference held virtually on May 19-22.

ICQI is the largest annual gathering of qualitative scholars worldwide. Scholars lead presentations and discussions on the development of qualitative research methods across academic disciplines to support qualitative inquiry used to engage in pressing social issues at the local, state, national and global level.

“The ICQI conference solidified the important attributes that qualitative research provides. In particular, action research coupled with a participatory extension to tell a story. As an emergent scholar, the future of my qualitative research will be to advance this methodology along with others to distill the need for a compassionate university, San Antonio, and the world,” said Jeff Neal, a doctoral student and presenter at the event.

Presenters are part of the UIW Community Participation for Health and Wellbeing Project, an action research working group, led by Dr. Alfredo Ortiz Aragón and Dr. Arthur Hernandez in the Graduate Studies Program at the Dreeben School of Education. The purpose of this group is to design, test and evaluate action research approaches by participating with targeted communities focused on health and wellbeing in San Antonio, Texas.

“I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with colleagues at UIW – it has provided an opportunity to develop and participate in a community of learning and service with whom I have learned much about AR, SBPR and community development. The opportunity to share at ICQI was a natural next step and demonstrated the best of all scholarship – that which has potential to make a difference for the good of the community,” said Dr. Arthur Hernandez, professor of Education.

See the full list of UIW presenters below:

Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, PhD, associate professor, and Inci Yilmazli Trout, doctoral candidate, in the Dreeben School of Education presented “Amplified and Muffled Voices through Digital Media in Times of Pandemic” at the PAR: Action Research in Adult and Higher Education session with co-presenter Mary Brydon-Miller, PhD, professor, at the University of Louisville.

Shandra Esparza, EdD, associate professor, and Lucero Martinez-Delgado, MD, assistant professor, in the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions presented “Rewriting the Script with LGBTQ+ Community Members and Pre-Professional Healthcare Students for More Equitable Healthcare” at the PAR: Community Focused Action Research session.

Arthur E. Hernández, PhD, professor, in the Dreeben School of Education presented “A Traditional Public Health Researcher’s Experiences with Action Research: Bridging a Problem and People Focus” at the PAR: Action Research for Equitable Community Health and Wellbeing session.

Michelle C. Vasquez, doctoral student, Kimberly Cox, doctoral candidate, and Jeff Neal, doctoral student, presented “Storytelling for Social Change: Helping Parents of Children with Disabilities Discover Services and Support through Action Research” at the PAR: Action Research for Equitable Community Health and Wellbeing session.