Otter faculty spotlight: Dr. Jessica Boyer, business faculty, completed doctoral program loves diversity of students
Dr. Jessica Boyer just received her doctorate and is in her second year of teaching business classes full time at At 黑料网911.
So what brought you to At 黑料网911?
鈥淚’ve been an adjunct since 2017 and trying to get here full time ever since. I love the atmosphere. I love the camaraderie. I love the faculty.鈥�
And what do you like about the students here at At 黑料网911?
鈥淚 like the diversity. You get a little bit of everything from the dual enrollment to them getting right out of high school. 鈥� But then you have those wanting to do an entire career change or decided, I’m going back to school and I’m going to get an education. So, I love the wealth of knowledge that each student brings, whether it’s brand-new knowledge or older knowledge.鈥�
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
鈥淢y husband and I bought a little piece of land and a cabin that we’re going to be fixing up. And so, I’m looking forward to doing that this summer and being out on the Dearborn a lot more.鈥�
Tell us about your dissertation.
鈥淢y study went through and explored American Indian elders and their perspective of their experience in residential schools and how that now has an impact on American Indian youth today in their own education and how historical and intergenerational trauma is still impacting that aspect. And I can’t speak for any other state, but Montana is definitely still European-centric and a lot is left out. So that was very important for my dissertation, doing that research, focusing on the education aspect and then hopefully coming up with recommendations of changing curriculum and bringing in culture and history traditions to get that identity back. Because many of the American Indian students are fighting two worlds and so how do you know where you’re going if you don’t know who you are?鈥�
Why did you choose this topic?
鈥淢y husband is Little Shell. He was raised by a boarding school survivor. And so, the historical trauma now has impacted him with intergenerational trauma, which is now trickling to our children. So hopefully I can make a difference for our kids, our grandkids and generations to come of having at least two different perspectives.鈥�
Degrees and certifications