Graduating senior Helene Burch knew accepting School of Journalism and Media Assistant Professor Guy Harrison’s invitation to help with his research last year was a good opportunity.
But she never predicted the impact it would have on her academic career.
Last month, she presented her own research at the International Association for Communication and Sport (IACS) annual summit in Chicago.
Burch interviewed female collegiate athletes from different sports disciplines to learn more about how they feel physically and emotionally about their uniforms, culminating in her presentation titled It’s a Feminionmenon: A Qualitative Analysis of Collegiate Women Athletes’ Perceptions of Their Sports Uniforms.
“I was really interested in if they feel empowered, sexualized, or if their uniforms were uncomfortable or not,” Burch said. “I chose this topic because I had noticed that female uniforms look different than male [uniforms], and I wondered about it.”
This was the second time Burch attended IACS but the first time she presented her own research and on her own.
Last year at IACS, Burch shared part of the School of Journalism and Media research team’s preliminary findings from their research analyzing the potential use of racial stereotypes in written evaluations of NFL draft prospects.
“This was a major step up from her presenting responsibilities last year. She presented two slides,” Harrison said. “This time she had an entire 12-minute presentation in front of a room of academics from around the world.”
A Love for Research
Burch has been interested in research since taking her high school’s AP Seminar and Research program. She enjoyed looking in depth at something specific.
She also worked for her high school newspaper and loved it, so she decided to study journalism and media at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The ability to tell stories as a career is what drew her to the journalism profession, and she found research offers that opportunity as well.
“Research allows me to tell interesting in-depth stories of real people. It’s just a different format from traditional journalism,” Burch said. “Instead of writing a story for a broadcast, I find something I’m interested in, I find sources through academic literature, and I expand upon it. It’s beautiful and hard work.”
Burch said studying traditional journalism helped her as a researcher. The writing, interviewing, and editing skills she honed studying journalism have translated well when conducting research.
Harrison said Burch’s experience validates the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships’ support of UT students conducting research. Without the office’s support last year, he would not have been able to invite Burch and fellow journalism and media major Brandon Goggins onto his research team.
“Their support is not misplaced because clearly there are undergraduate students interested in research,” Harrison said.
As Burch prepares to graduate this May, she is strongly considering graduate school to do even more research.
“This experience was incredible,” Burch said. “I feel like presenting on my own has given me so much confidence in myself, I know that I can pursue my dreams because I just did. It’s a dream to be able to travel and discuss with people what I am interested in and what I am researching. It has definitely deepened my curiosity for research.”