Research & Initiatives

About

In WEST, we strive to provide our students with ample opportunities to increase their critical thinking skills and apply their knowledge. A number of students in our department have completed research projects with mentorship from faculty members. Our students have completed research for class credit or with the support of funding. 

Students can work with a faculty member to complete research for class credit with WEST 9400: Independent Study in WEST or WEST 9499: Independent Study - Research and Creative Works. Students can also enroll in WEST 9499 for zero credit hours. 

Students can fund their research through private grants, Undergraduate Research Academy (URA), or other funding through the Office of Research. 

Courtney Cowling - Transgender Embodied States of Recognition (Funded)

  • 2022 Undergraduate Research Academy Grant
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tre Wentling
  • Cowling created a promotional plan, designed promotional materials, transcribed 19 interviews, and explored analytic coding practices.
  • Presented at Queer Futures Symposium (May 2023)
  • Undergraduate Research Showcase Article

Irina Amouzou - BBC: Blackness, BDSM, Community (Funded)

  • 2021 Undergraduate Research Academy Grant
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tre Wentling
  • Inspired by WEST 3090, Amouzou interviewed 10 participants to investigate the significance of race within BDSM experiences among people self-identified as Black.
  • Presented at Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum (April 2022)

Ally Moseley - Social Stress in Transgender Memoirs (Funded)

  • 2019 Undergraduate Research Academy Grant
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tre Wentling
  • Inspired by 2 specific questions (e.g., what types of stress do memoir authors write about and how might identity influence exposure to stress), Moseley coded 3 memoirs written by people of trans experience, Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, Sissy by Jacob Tobia, and Me, Myself, They by Joshua Ferguson.
  • Presented at Transgender Spectrum Conference (November 2019) and Mountain Lion Research Day (December 2019)

Ally Moseley - Discovering and Decoding Sexuality at the Collegiate Level: How Does Sex Education Shape Our Sexual Identity and Expression? (Funded)

  • 2018-2019 LAS Faculty-Student Research Grant
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tre Wentling
  • Inspired by WEST 3090, Moseley interviewed 12 participants to investigate the following questions: what external sources are used for sex education an how do these influence the development of sexuality?
  • Presented at Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum (April 2019)
  • Published in Undergraduate Research Journal

Heather Albanesi, Ph.D.

Dr. Heather Albanesi's areas of research interests include gender, disability, education, heterosexuality and artificial intelligence (AI). 

View Albanesi's latest research and publications here. 

Abby Ferber, Ph.D.

Dr. Abby L. Ferber’s teaching, writing and service all coalesce around issues of privilege and oppression from an intersectional perspective. She has authored or co-authored more than three dozen articles and book chapters, many of which have been reprinted numerous times. She writes for both academics and the general public.

View Ferber's latest research and publications here. 

Nina Monet Reynoso, Ph.D.

Dr. Nina Monet Reynoso performs research within areas of black studies, militarism, for-profit education, media studies, and veterans history & rights. Her most recent chapter, “The Political Economy of Military Recruitment and Education Privatization” featured in Race and Refusal documents the underlying mechanisms that promote militarization and neoliberal reform in education.

View Reynoso's latest research and publications here. 

Julie Torres, Ph.D.

Dr. Julie Torres research and teachings focus on issues related to Latinx/Puerto Rican studies, diaspora, feminism, social activism, and transnationalism. Her work has been published in the journals Meridians, Feminist Anthropology, Anthropology News, and CENTRO Journal for the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. Her book manuscript, Border Zones of Crisis: Community, Resistance and the Puerto Rican Diaspora to Orlando (under contract with NYU Press), ethnographically examines Puerto Rican women’s activism in Orlando, Florida in light of contemporary crises.

View Torres's latest research and publications here. 

Ilaheva Tua'one, Ph.D.

Dr. Ilaheva Tua'one specializes in research areas relating to postcolonial/global long eighteenth-century literature, nineteenth-century global travel narratives, nineteenth-century American literature, Indigenous Pacific Islands studies, and queer theory. 

View Tua'one's latest research and publications here. 

Tre Wentling, Ph.D.

Dr. Tre Wentling's areas of research and teaching include sexualities and transgender studies. He focuses on identity, embodiment, agency, trans studies, queer studies, governance, and citizenship. 

View Wentling's latest research and publications here.