Gray grew up in a small rural town in eastern Oregon alongside classmates she’d known since kindergarten. Once she enrolled at PSU, she found herself in a big city. The MAX terrified her, and her large lecture classes were eight times the size of her high school class.
Gray, a first-generation student, says she felt a lack of belonging in her first few years at PSU until she found her community. As a Ford Scholar, she was paired with a peer mentor, who encouraged her to get involved with student groups and the BUILD EXITO program.
“There’s a lot of academic support available and that’s important, but finding little pockets of community where you feel like you belong and can connect with people goes a long way,” she says. “I’ve definitely felt that in my own personal journey through PSU and in talking to a lot of students about persistence as well.”
Gray came to PSU in 2016 on the pre-med track. She liked science but didn’t know much about the careers she could pursue. In her first year, she got her first taste of research and learned what a Ph.D. was while working in a lab at OHSU. Eight years later, she’s graduating with her own Ph.D.
After realizing she wanted to work with people and engage more in social science research, Gray switched her major to public health. Around that time, she took a class about best practices in teaching and learning science with Biology Professor Erin Shortlidge. She didn’t know it then, but that class would set her on a new path.
Gray’s interest in supporting first-gen students like herself meshed well with Shortlidge’s research projects around enhancing access and inclusion in STEM research and education.
That led her to join Shortlidge’s Biology Education Research Group. Shortlidge went on to become her faculty advisor for the McNair Scholars and BUILD EXITO programs and, eventually, for her graduate studies in biology as well.
MacKenzie, left, and her advisor, Prof. Erin Shortlidge, twinning.
“It was a very supportive environment and exciting,” Gray says. “I got to go to conferences and fully think about questions that I cared about.”
Gray assessed the impacts of STEM support programs on campus through surveys and focus groups: Did they think of themselves as scientists? What tools and support did they think they needed to achieve their academic and professional goals — and were they getting them at PSU? How important was community, and did they feel connected to particular groups or communities on campus?
“We were really looking at their experiences transferring to PSU and their sense of belonging,” Gray says.
She discovered that she enjoyed this research — so much so that it became the basis of her dissertation for her Ph.D. in biology.
Gray says she was still on the fence about pursuing a Ph.D. when she attended the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research conference in January of her senior year. But by the end of the conference, she knew she wanted to continue.
The two weeks following the conference were a whirlwind for Gray as she registered for the GRE graduate school entry exam on the plane ride home and took it the following weekend. She applied to school right before the February 1st deadline, and got in.
As a graduate student, she’s put her research into practice in the classroom, teaching and working with undergraduate students in the introductory biology sequence alongside Professor Radhika Reddy.
“It’s been interesting to be on the theory side of all this research on teaching and learning and then getting to go pilot it,” she says. “I tell my students that I do education research, and I’m really interested in their experiences and open to their feedback.”
She’s especially enjoyed being hands-on in the lab sections and being able to hone her teaching and communication style.
“I’ve found that I really love teaching,” she says. “I eventually want to be in a student-facing role — either continuing with teaching or working in a student success position.”
MacKenzie during her dissertation defense on May 8.
But Gray isn’t ready to leave PSU just yet. She’ll be starting a new role in June as a research associate for the Center for Internship, Mentoring, and Research, where she’ll continue researching STEM support programs.
She says she’s grateful for her time at PSU, and especially for the people.
“You can tell that they care a lot about their students, and I got a lot more than just a degree,” says Gray. “I’ve been able to meet amazing people and build amazing communities and work with amazing students. I’m grateful that I ended up at PSU and I’ve been able to be here for so long.”
This June, Gray will get the commencement ceremony that she didn’t get as an undergraduate in 2020 because of COVID-19. She’s excited to celebrate with family and show her three younger brothers what’s possible.
Her advice to current and future PSU students? “Get to know your peers and your instructors. That was huge for me,” she says. “They became great resources for me. College can be difficult, so having that support to lean on is great. Investing in that community is r