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5/20/2009

Political scientist named visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

Melissa Marschall, associate professor of political science, was recently appointed as a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.

	MELISSA MARSCHALL

The foundation, based in New York City, is devoted to research in the social sciences and publishes books based on the work of its grantees and visiting scholars.

Marschall is one of 16 leading social scientists appointed as visiting scholars for the 2009–10 academic year. She will use the fellowship year to write a book on immigrant parent involvement in schools.

"It's a real honor, and I think it will be really beneficial to the project to be working at the foundation and interacting with the other visiting scholars," Marschall said. "There are very few fellowships like this."

Marschall's book relies primarily on survey data collected between May 2007 and July 2008 in six immigrant communities in New York and Chicago. The questions she investigates in the book are central to the Russell Sage Foundation’s Program on Immigration and bridge both new and old initiatives.

The book looks at parent involvement in schools and its consequences by systematically investigating whether and how it is linked to immigrant incorporation in community and political affairs. It also builds on the studies funded by the foundation of second-generation immigrants in a number of important ways. In particular, it examines how broader institutional and governing factors influence the incentives and behaviors of schools and parents, focuses more explicitly on school organization and leadership, and explores the context and practices of parent-school interactions across four distinct ethnic groups: Chinese, Dominicans, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans.

Marschall, who just completed her term as master of Sid Richardson College, said she is looking forward to being in New York and devoting the year to working on the book manuscript.