Brianna Chance \u201823 (SFA) says the philosophy of \u201ctry everything\u201d is what led her to rewarding research experiences during her first year at the University of Connecticut.<\/p>\n
Chance, a music education and vocal performance major from New Haven, was intensely involved in her school music programs before college. Chance credits the music educators in her life as the people who helped her the most, helping her through difficult situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were the people I could rely on,\u201d Chance says. \u201cSo, I said I needed to do this because it saved me as a kid. It\u2019s a tribute to myself and the people who helped uplift me.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her first year at UConn, Chance was part of La Comunidad Intelectual, a Latinx living and learning community. Chance and her peers quickly recognized there were relatively few Latinx people working in higher education.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the students felt this sense that there weren\u2019t many people who looked like ourselves at UConn,\u201d Chance says.<\/p>\n
Diana Rios, associate professor of communication and member of El Instituto: Institute of Latina\/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies, began collecting testimonials and data about Latinx students\u2019 experience at UConn through the learning community\u2019s class.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to examine why there were not many people who look like me in the field and how we can change it,\u201d Chance says.<\/p>\n
Chance spoke to members of her learning community and alumni from different majors and ethnicities. She then presented the findings of this research at a professional conference with Rios.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so gratifying,\u201d Chance says. \u201cFor me it was almost a form of activism and education. Being able to voice that concern to a bunch of people from all over the U.S. meant so much to me.”<\/p>\n
Chance\u2019s concerns were well-received by the members of the academic community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was this immense feeling of warmth because so many people agreed with me,\u201d Chance says.<\/p>\n
Chance\u2019s experience showed her research is not only for those in STEM fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought research had to be done in a white lab coat over a microscope,\u201d Chance says. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize research could be going out and gathering people\u2019s stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chance hopes to apply the research skills she learned working with Rios to questions surrounding students of color in the arts that have been overlooked, since they are issues the predominantly white participants do not face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want to connect what it means to be a student of color and be pursuing the arts and not be tokenized,\u201d Chance says.<\/p>\n
Last semester, Chance worker with Fostering Connections for College Success under the Center for Academic Programs, which connects students who identify as having a foster care background and\/or independent status with resources to prepare for college.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with that program has definitely broadened my horizons,\u201d Chance says. \u201cI realized there are so many more dimensions to marginalized groups on campus. It\u2019s not just about your race, it\u2019s about how you were brought up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chance also works to advocate for homeless and food insecure students. Seeing that most of these students are students of color, Chance wants to research the link between race and homelessness and food insecurity.<\/p>\n
Even with her interest in research, Chance ultimately plans to be a music educator.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the work I want to do is on the ground,\u201d Chance says. \u201cI feel I was created to really be in the field and work with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chance encourages students interested in conducting research to reach out to professors conducting work they care about, even if it is outside their major as it was for Chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing at a research university, the possibilities are endless,\u201d Chance says. \u201cDon\u2019t do research for the sake of it otherwise you probably won\u2019t enjoy it. It has to be something you\u2019re passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students interested in learning more about research opportunities at UConn can check out virtual events during the <\/em>Month of Discovery<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Follow UConn Research on<\/em> Twitter<\/em><\/a> &<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brianna Chance ’23 (SFA) roots her research in the experiences of people of color in the arts world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":164989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,2076,1914,2235,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-164988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-research","category-sfa","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","series-meet-the-researcher"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 04:41:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165432,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164988\/revisions\/165432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/164989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164988"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=164988"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=164988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}