Get Involved

The Culture and Character Research Lab exists to study issues related to cultural diversity and the development of character virtues within a variety of ethnic, racial and cultural contexts.

If you would like to serve as a research assistant (RA) in the Culture and Character Lab, you will be expected to understand and engage in a number of practices:

• Be creative, collaborative and not competitive—we strive to work together, bringing out the best in each other and in our research.

• Be diligent—our goal is to produce good research. We do this by staying on task, working hard and not giving up even when the work is difficult. RAs may be asked to engage in a variety of tasks, keeping in mind that research is a complex process that at times involves very interesting work and at other times involves menial tasks.

• Be proactive—each lab member has specific goals and interests. In order to meet your goals you must show initiative and drive. Lab members have opportunities to not only work on faculty-lead projects but also projects developed on their own initiative. 

• Be professional—the work of an RA is not just to engage in research but to also develop a professional demeanor, network and professional reputation that will serve his/her future work.

• Be thick-skinned—We seek to provide respectful and helpful feedback to each other. We are not afraid to critique another’s work while also not being afraid to receive feedback. Feedback is an integral part of the learning process but must be offered with kindness and honesty and received with a positive attitude.

• Be patient—the research process takes time. In order to develop good research projects, we must accept that the process involves many steps. In addition, all members of the research team (including the principal investigator) have a number of other responsibilities. We seek to give each other grace as we manage these responsibilities and the steps involved in the research process while also keeping each other accountable to meeting our stated goals.

If you are interested in research related to Culture and Character and believe that you can serve as an RA in the ways listed above, please apply.

You will find a link to the research assistant application here.