Professor Spencer Receives Scholar Award Supplement for PhD Student

Professor Renee Spencer is pleased to announce that she is receiving a $60,000 supplement ($30,000/year for two years) to her scholar award from the W. T. Grant Foundation to fund BUSSW doctoral student Antoinette (Tona) Basualdo-Delmonico. The award will fund Tona from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009 to work with Professor Spencer on her scholar award project, Understanding the mentoring process: A longitudinal study of mentoring relationships between adolescents and adults. Funding also will support Tona’s dissertation research, in which she is examining how race, ethnicity, and culture are negotiated in one-to-one formal mentoring relationships between youth and adults.

Tona entered the PhD program in 2004 after years of working in community organizations serving immigrant and Latino communities. Her primary research interest has focused on issues related to Latino youth and their healthy development.

"I am honored and looking forward to working along side Renee Spencer, one of SSW’s well respected and accomplished researchers,” said Tona. “Her work on mentoring relationships will offer me an excellent opportunity to investigate and explore how race and racial identity is negotiated in the mentoring relationship. I am fortunate to have the support of the William T. Grant Foundation, which will allow me the opportunity to once again turn my attention to completing my education and research here at BU.”

Established in 1980, the William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program encompasses the Foundation’s largest capacity-building support. The Foundation has long been committed to fostering the career development of our Scholars as researchers. These awards supplement the Foundation’s commitment by focusing on Scholars’ development as mentors for future researchers. The Foundation also is interested in increasing the number of people of color at higher levels of the career ladder in research. In line with this commitment and interest, the Foundation sought applications from Scholars for supplements to their current awards to support 1) their mentoring relationships with junior researchers of color and 2) junior researchers’ career development and research experiences.