Shavonnea Brown

What do you do as an Evaluation Coordinator?

I’m responsible for the evaluation for various projects that are currently being conducted at [Gleaners Community] food bank. My duties include designing surveys for projects, conducting focus group interviews with clients that participate in these projects, data collection (surveys, focus data) and analysis, report writing and occasional proposal writing for research projects that we are pursuing for the upcoming year.

Why did you choose to major in Psychology and how has that affected your career thus far?

I ended up majoring in Psychology because I was working on a research project through UROP that focused on ethnic identity and college students, and I was fascinated at the fact that psychology was so much more than mental health. It was the study of how people behave, and there are many factors that impact this behavior. Working on that project for UROP grew my love of research, and I knew I wanted to continue with a career that was research related in some way. I kept working on various research projects with faculty during my time at UMICH in order to build more skills that I could use later on for my career.

What was your career path like?

My career path has probably been different from most psychology majors. I took two years off after undergrad to figure out exactly what I wanted to do in the field of psychology. At that time I wanted to go on to pursue a PhD in psychology (clinical at the time), but I wasn’t able to gain admissions to any doctoral programs. So I re-grouped and decided to try a Masters program, and I ended up applying to and getting accepted to the Applied Psychology masters program at New York University. This was a two-year program that I finished in 2015 and after I finished, I moved back to Michigan.
My academic preparation at Michigan really prepared me for this program. Having a prior research background helped a great deal (particularly for writing my masters’ thesis and working in a research lab at NYU) and also the rigor that many psychology classes at UMICH put you through also helped me to keep up with the demanding workload as well. Upon moving back, I was hired as a Research Assistant at Gleaners Community Food Bank for a 2-year research project that focused on adults with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. This role really allowed me use all the skills I had built up until that point. That project just concluded this September and food bank offered me a new position as an Evaluation Coordinator that started Oct. 1 of this year. I am really excited about this position because it will allow me to put many of my evaluation and analytic skills to use.
I felt that all my academic preparation both at UMICH & NYU helped me a great deal while working on that research project and will continue to do so in my new role as well. This path has also helped me to discover exactly the type of career I want to build for myself. I want to continue working in research particularly in a community setting and eventually obtain a PhD in community psychology.

What advice do you have both professionally and personally for students and recent alumni who are interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?

I would say don’t be afraid to take a non-traditional route to get to your career. I never thought I could gain such valuable skills from doing a Masters program but I did, and the same can be said of working on various research projects while at UMICH as well.  Don’t be afraid to take time off after graduating if you need to figure out exactly what you what to do. If you are interested in research try and find a professor that is conducting research on a topic that interests you.