So, today I want to take a moment to introduce my McNair mentor, Professor Joshua Potter-Efron! For those of you who may not know, having a supportive mentor is an extremely important part of the McNair Program. The mentor role includes overseeing the McNair scholars academic research, meeting consistently to work on research and graduate school plans, advising the student when creating a research plan and applying for funding, and serving as a overall support for the McNair Scholars academic advancement.
Professor Potter-Efron is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Field Director at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where I currently study. He holds a Masters of Social Work from Smith College School of Social Work, and did his undergraduate coursework in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. In the past, Professor Potter-Efron has worked with children and families in low-income communities of Los Angeles as a field based therapist, supervisor, and manager. He also has experience working on various committees with the Los Angeles Department of Health and Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services, and has provided workshops in schools for children and parents, for those working with or for diverse communities, and that focus on goal setting, personal development, integrated poetry and clinical social work practices to develop strength based poetic narratives called Soul Translations.
I have been extremely lucky to have had multiple courses lead by Professor Potter-Efron. Meeting him through my Social Work courses served as a foundation for our introductions and eventually led to us collaborating on research together. I found his open and honest teaching style to be one of the most effective of any professor I have ever had. He uses a strengths-based approach when teaching that engages students on a personal level. By tiering his course content, his students get to build upon new skills introduced in the course, as well as take an introspective look at how our own "Sense of Self" affects our Social Work practice.
Professor Potter-Efron and I currently meet once a week to discuss the status of our research project. At this stage, we are currently wrapping up our proposal to the Institutional Review Board which oversees our research with human subjects to ensure our research procedures protect the rights and welfare of all human subjects in the study.
