Our Research

Our research focuses on the experiences of academic mothers+.

The Motherscholar Collective was founded in the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic to capture the voices and experiences of academic mothers+ with young children.

To date, we have published the following research projects (listed alphabetically). Many more are in progress. Contact us to learn more or follow our Google Scholar page!

Blanks Jones, J. L., Cerdeña, J., Coleman-King, C. Shaw Bonds, M. (2022). Coping through kinship during COVID-19: Lessons from Women of Color. In S. McCarther (Ed.) [Special edition]. American Educational History Journal, Snapshots of History: Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic, 51-58.

Blanks Jones, J. L., Richardson, I., Conley, J., Donohue, J. L. A., & Loomis, C. (2022). “All you can say is that you plan on being finished soon”: Doctoral student mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In S. McCarther (Ed.) [Special edition]. Snapshots of History: Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic, 233-240.

Lim, S. R., Cerdeña, J. P., Azim, K. A., & Wagner, K. (2022). Motherscholars with Disabilities: Surmounting Structural Adversity During COVID-19. Snapshots of History: Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic, 133-140.

Pennell, S. M., Greene-Rooks, J., & Wagner, K. (2022). Finding the Radically Queer Within Our Mundane, Monotonous, and Sometimes Homonormative Experiences. In S. McCarther (Ed.) [Special edition]. American Educational HIstory Journal [special issue]: Snapshots of History: Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic, 183-190.

Motherscholar Collective, K. A. Azim, J. L. Blanks Jones, M. Campbell-Obaid, M. Eilert, J. H. Greene-Rooks, N.A. Heller, H. K. Ho, S. Key-DeLyria, S. Lim, C. C. Myles-Baltzly, L. C. Parker-Barnes, S. M. Pennell, and I. Richardson (in press) “Collective Perspectives: The formation of a motherscholar pandemic research collaborative” in Castillo Planas, M. & D. Castillo (eds), Scholars in COVID Times, Cornell University Press.

​​Motherscholar Collective, Bielski, L., Blanks Jones, J. L., Brooks, T. P., Greene-Rooks, J. H., Lim, S. R., & Pennell, S. M. (in press). Pandemic Challenges during Field Experiences: Responding with Creativity and Flexibility, In S. M. McCarther & D. M. Davis (Eds.), Breakthrough: From Pandemic Panic to Promising Practice. Information Age Publishing.

Motherscholar Collective, A.K. Frazer, K.E. Frazier, A. Harmon, C. Coleman-King, C.C. Myles-Baltzly, E.T. Cripe, I. Richardson, K.A. Azim, L. Quaynor, and M. Eilert (in press) “Pushing boundaries and balance: Finding humanity in pandemic pedagogy”; special issue of the American Educational History Journal, “Breakthrough: From Pandemic Panic to Promising Practice” (eds. McCarther and Davis). 

Motherscholar Collective, J.L. Blanks Jones, L.M. Bielski, J.P. Cerdeña, I. Richardson, C. Coleman-King, C.C. Myles-Baltzly, H.K. Ho, J. Garcia-Hallett, J.H. Greene-Rooks, K.A. Azim, K. E. Frazier, K. Wagner, L. Quaynor, M. Eilert, S.R. Lim, S.M. Pennell, T. Brooks (in press) “Building a Virtual Village: Academic Mothers’* Online Social Networking During COVID-19”, Trocchio, S., L. Hanasono, R. Dwyer, J. Jorgenson Borchert, & J. Yih Harvie (eds.), It Takes a Village: Academic Mothers Building Online Communities.

Motherscholar Collective, Myles-Baltzly, C. C., Ho, H. K., Richardson, I., Greene-Rooks, J., Azim, K. A., Frazier, K. E., Campbell-Obaid, M., Eilert, M., & Lim, S. R. (2021). Transformative Collaborations: How a Motherscholar Research Collective Survived and Thrived During COVID-19. International Perspectives in Psychology, 10(4), 225-242. https://doi.org/10.1027/2157-3891/a000029

Wagner, K., Pennell, S. M., Eilert, M., & Lim, S. R. (2021). Academic mothers with disabilities: Navigating academia and parenthood during COVID‐19. Gender, Work & Organization, 29(1), 342-352.

Transformative collaborations: How a motherscholar research collective survived and thrived during COVID-19.

This research was published in International Perspectives in Psychology. The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated existing gender-based inequities in the workforce. A research collective developed by academic mothers with young children (“motherscholars”) emerged as a solution to address some of the constraints particularly faced by mothers in academia. The Motherscholar Collective was formed…