The Research Institute at the Women’s Success Center was formed to address the glaring disparity between the number of male and female tenured faculty. We strive to embed scholars at UVU in a culture of support that enables them to flourish and build connections. We work to give faculty the support needed to increase their scholarship and tenure portfolios while creating connections with other faculty members. We seek to amplify research done by, for, and about women through fellowships and marketing efforts.
We can support you through:
The Research Institute is always looking to amplify the faculty work being done by, for, and about women at UVU. We highlight this work in the Faculty Newsletter, Women's Council Newsletter, and here on the Research Institute website. If you would like to be featured, submit your work in progress, presentation, poster, exhibit, or paper. Your submission will help with faculty Retention, Tenure, and Promotion (FTR).
Submit Your Research To Be Highlighted
Breanna Lambert, Priscilla Villaseñor-Navarro, and Addison Hansen recently competed in the University of Oxford’s Map the System research competition hosted by the Skoll Centre of Social Entrepreneurship. This research competition encourages student leaders to develop deep understanding of the unjust systems they attempt to dismantle.
The UVU student team researched “The Lack of Comprehensive Sex Education for Utah Youth.” Their research took an equity-centered system-thinking approach and highlighted some of the primary health and safety concerns prevalent throughout the state of Utah. The Saïd Business School of Oxford awarded the UVU team with the Underrepresented Community Voices Award for their efforts to highlight how local communities have been affected.
The Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill Endowed Fellowship (BBSEF) aims to support women scholars and their collaborators, scholars of any gender who mentor women students, and scholars of any gender whose work focuses on women. The BBSEF provides up to $10,000 in scholarship funding to selected applicants.
Bonnie-Ballif-Spanvill, Ph.D. is a Professor Emerita of Psychology at Brigham Young University, where she was the Director of the Women’s Research Institute for sixteen years. Previously, she served 25 years as a professor and department chair in the Graduate School of Fordham University at Lincoln Center in New York City. Her professional accomplishments earned her Fellow status in both the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.
Arnold, M., Ballif-Spanvill, B., & Tracey, K. (2002). A chorus for peace: A global anthology of poetry by women. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
Ballif-Spanvill, B. & Clayton, C. (2010). The PEACEABILITIES Program: Compelling stories and activities that develop abilities of children to live peacefully with others. Provo, Utah: Creative Works, Brigham Young University.
Hudson, V. M., Ballif-Spanvill, B., Caprioli, M., & Emmett, C. F. (2013). Sex and world peace. New York: Columbia University Press.
Dr. Rachel Bi is an Associate Professor in the Personal Financial Planning program, director of the WSB FinTech Center, and the head of the Finance and Economics Department at the Woodbury School of Business. She has taught financial planning software in the classroom for over 13 years and has led the Technology Applications in Personal Financial Planning course at UVU for nine years.
Working with students at the WSB FinTech center, Dr. Bi explores new business applications using cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, cloud computing, and machine learning. The FinTech Center’s mission is to advance our education and promote student success through interdisciplinary, hands-on, innovative projects.
In 2022, Dr. Bi led the FinTech Center students in building the UVU NFT platform. The platform opens a new channel for university fundraising and community engagements. Over the years, the FinTech Center has done several AI projects, including:
Dr. Chong Meng is an Assistant Professor of Finance in the Finance and Economics Department at the Woodbury School of Business. Since joining UVU in the fall of 2022, he has passionately engaged in teaching Principles of Finance and Financial Statement Analysis, believing that his expertise in finance research can equip UVU students with valuable real-world insights.
Meng’s research primarily focuses on two areas related to corporate finance. First, he aims to understand the impact of stock market imperfections on firms’ financing and investment activities. Additionally, he explores the intriguing dynamics between product market competition and the stock market. His passion for data-driven insights drives his focus on empirical research with real-life implications, including the following research questions:
Students with the Research Institute are
currently working on The Gender Pay Gap in FinTech: An Analysis of Women’s Compensation in the Industry.
Major: Statistics
“I’m a senior in the statistics program here at UVU. I’m passionate about using statistics to further social justice and public policy. I hope to attend graduate school in the coming years to further my knowledge about social policy. When I’m not studying, I love to read, write poetry, and spend time with my dog.”
Major: Finance
“I’m Mo Dodson! I am a current student at UVU studying finance. As well as finance, I plan to pursue architecture and commercial real estate in my future career. I love learning new things in various subjects, even outside of school. I also love to travel and learn about the different countries I visit.”
Xiaoyuan Sun is a recent graduate student with a master’s degree in financial planning and analytics. She also has a bachelor’s degree in computer science. While in school, she won third prize in the WeChat Mini Program App Development Competition. After graduation, she worked for a Chinese gaming company, responsible for the regular updates and interface design of a poker game.
Xiaoyuan loves to apply the links between different realms to create new things, and she believes this will be the future. So, she chose to study finance and completed her studies with excellent grades. After learning about the innovative impact of AI on financial planning, she began to study the field if fintech, hoping that AI technology can provide convenience for customers safely and stably in the future.
Please check back soon for information about our winter semester, 2024 events.
UWHEN - UVU Chapter is an employee organization committed to advancing women’s equity and leadership in higher education.
The Research Institute at the Women’s Success Center holds annual events to uplift
scholarship by, for, and about women.
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
Loading Directory data....
