Author Biography
Eunsong Park obtained her BA (equivalent to BSW) in Social Welfare at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Korea. Subsequently, she completed her MSSW degree at the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. While pursuing her PhD program at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, her research interests included the experiences of higher education students, including international students. Additionally, she conducted studies on the implementation of recovery support services in Maryland and the health outcomes of individuals with opioid use disorder.
She has extensive expertise in collecting and analyzing primary data for quantitative and qualitative research studies. Her proficiency includes the use of STATA, SPSS, and NVivo software, as well as designing surveys using the Qualtrics platform. She began her employment as a social science research analyst at the Social Security Administration and earned her Ph.D. in 2024.
Corey S. Shdaimah is Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at the University of Maryland Baltimore where she has taught MSW and PhD student for 18 years in the areas of qualitative research and social welfare policy and runs a biannual social justice lecture series. Her research, which employs primarily qualitative and participatory methods, focus on how people navigate policies on the ground that they perceive as ineffective and unjust. She has law degrees from Tel Aviv University and University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. She is also founder and director of the Community Justice and Equity (CJaE) Initiative at UMB School of Social Work.
Nikita Aggarwal is an international student from India and is a 4th Year Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work. She did her MSW at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and completed her dissertation in Understanding Economic Control among survivors of Intimate partner Violence. Nikita plans to conduct global research with low-wage workers and examine the effect of migration trauma on mental health outcomes of im/migrant workers in the informal economy.
Her current area of work is focused on examining how different structural factors and environmental factors contribute to precarious working conditions and a myriad of outcomes related to mental health and risky behaviors. Her research strengths are informed by her skills to develop quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method study designs, experience in coding and analyzing qualitative data, working with large quantitative data sets and advanced software tools.
Amy Garzón Hampton began her social work career in West Virginia’s child welfare system, after acquiring a BA in Psychology and Criminal Justice ASS from Fairmont State College. In 2003 she earned an MSW from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). She returned to WV to train social service workers in child welfare, implementing the foster/adoptive parent training program in 16 counties.
Amy taught as an adjunct professor at Shepherd University for 16 years, developing courses on human rights, social development and study abroad to Guatemala, Mexico, and Cuba. In 2015-2016 Amy was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Nicaragua where she taught child welfare workshops and gender and equity. In 2018 she began a social work PhD at UMB.
In 2020 Amy became an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Shepherd. Her teaching and research focus on systemic and institutional oppressions and their globally intertwined manifestations. She works for the US Foreign Service.
Abstract
Graduate students and universities continue to be challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study explored how U.S. graduate students (n=19) experienced and navigated pandemic challenges to their education using by Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and field. Respondents’ abilities to manage changes caused by the pandemic were largely dependent on the capital they or their informal networks had and the field where they positioned during pre-pandemic and pandemic. Institutions’ characteristics and supports greatly influenced students’ habitus and sense of belonging. Study respondents’ ability to maintain their educational trajectories was tied to both their assessment of their institution as caring and inclusive and their own existing resources. Overall, respondents considered themselves “super lucky,” recognizing their privilege and the relative safety that allowed them to continue their education and expressed compassion for people who faced struggles greater than their own. We provide recommendations for how students and institutions can create sustainable and inclusive support systems to enhance graduate students’ abilities to adapt and respond to individual and social crises.
