Van Lac, an assistant professor with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, has been elected chair of the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Grassroots Community and Youth Organizing for Education Reform Special Interest Group (SIG). Lac has taught at UTSA for five years, primarily in research methods and sociocultural foundations courses. She has been involved with this particular SIG for even longer, beginning as a graduate student representative and more recently as the group’s communications chair.
As a scholar whose research interests focus on youth participatory action research and exploring how young people can make their voices heard, it’s only natural Lac would gravitate to a group dedicated to youth and their active participation in social change.
“I think a lot of people find their niche within certain special interest groups, and I feel very much like this particular SIG is my academic home,” she said.
Lac says her years of experience with the group and passion for its mission made running for chair an easy decision.
“Because of my familiarity and history with the SIG I care deeply about it, and I want it to continue, and be strong, and have a positive influence on scholars, practitioners, researchers, and community members."
“Because of my familiarity and history with the SIG I care deeply about it, and I want it to continue, and be strong, and have a positive influence on scholars, practitioners, researchers, and community members,” she said.
Even so, Lac said the news left her feeling grateful and with a deep sense of responsibility to nurture relationships within the group and ensure that it continues to grow and flourish. This goal is especially important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, Lac says, the group has seen a decline in membership, and a growing distance between scholars and communities. Even she has not met with her SIG members since 2019. As she steps into her new role, Lac says strengthening the group’s programming and bolstering its ranks will be some of her top priorities. She would also like to see more support for graduate students within the group, such as professional development and mentoring opportunities. Lac and her cabinet must also prepare for some of the group’s main events, such as the AERA annual conference, and the SIG’s offsite event, a collaboration with community organizations that is held in the community and centers around grassroots work within it.
As a scholarly organization devoted to grassroots organizing, the SIG tries to reconcile academic aloofness with community outreach. While Lac says those drawn to her group tend to value the knowledge of the community over the knowledge of the university, one goal of the group is to combine those sources of knowledge productively.
“Our SIG is very much a space that is open to building authentic relationships and making meaningful connections and really seeing how, for many of us who are scholars, we connect our work at the university and the communities."
“Our SIG is very much a space that is open to building authentic relationships and making meaningful connections and really seeing how, for many of us who are scholars, we connect our work at the university and the communities,” Lac said.
And while the SIG, as a national group, houses scholars from universities all over the country, Lac sees the relationship between its goals and those of UTSA.
“UTSA and the College of Education have a very community-centered mission in what we value,” she said. “I do think that this particular SIG is very much about valuing the communities that we live, work, and collaborate with, and how we collectively work together at the university and the community to create social change.”
For more information on the Grassroots Community and Youth Organizing for Education Reform Special Interest Group visit https://www.aera.net/SIG172/GCYO-SIG-Home.
-Christopher Reichert