Presenter: Sarah Woods, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Applied Sociology Institute for Social Research
Authors: DSU Institute for Social Research (Pam Holiday, Mackenzie Davis, Jaime Cormani-Denny, and Alena Walker)
Faculty Advisor: Robert Oxley, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Applied Sociology
Institution: Dixie State University
In 2013, the National Park Service (NPS) created the Office of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion (RDI) to address the lack of diversity among park visitors. NPS states, “The mission of the [RDI] is to champion for an organizational culture that is increasingly inclusive and participatory, which values the diverse ideas, experience and background of every individual, and empowers an innovative, flexible and resilient NPS to engage the opportunities and challenges of the future.” The Outdoor Leadership Academy (OLA)’s mission is to provide outdoor experiences and leadership development for underrepresented youth, including students who sometimes fall into two or more of these underrepresented groups. Research on those belonging to more than one group, referred to as intersectionality, shows us that an individual’s possession of multiple different social identities can lead to different levels of privilege and discrimination. An acknowledgement of intersectionality allows researchers to show the complexity of identity formation and maintenance and gives outdoor leadership programs insight into disparities. Through the Quality of Life Initiative 2020-2021 study, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) will attempt to track students who self-report as being a member of multiple underrepresented groups to OLA to show additional burdens they may face and how they feel OLA helps address these issues. Survey analysis, interviews, and participant observations will be used to show the links between intersectionality and outdoor leadership experiences. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines, data collection through participant observation for the 2020-2021 OLA outdoor activities may be limited.