Left to right: Me, Dr. Antoinette Landor, Virgie Tovar, & Dr. Ginny Ramseyer Winter following MU’s Center for Body Image Research & Policy inaugural event featuring Virgie Tovar’s “Lose Hate Not Weight.” (2019)
The purpose of this blog is to share my academic research and general musings from content discussed in my classes as it applies to my life, career, or research interests.
I am Michaella (pronounced Mi-kayla) and I am proud to have recently added some letters behind my name! In July 2019, I graduated from with my Master of Social Work and a Master of Public Health concentrating in health policy, promotion, program design, and administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia. I accidentally finished the Graduate Certificate in Epidemiology in Spring 2018, but I did not graduate with the certificate until Spring 2019. Why? I did not know I finished it! I simply enjoyed taking extra epidemiology and statistics classes. In August 2019, I began the PhD in Health Behavior at Indiana University with hopes to work closely with the Kinsey Institute to produce new intervention research to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for adolescent and young adult women.
A Short History on my Academic Journey
I originally came to University of Missouri to pursue a PhD in Sociology focusing on women’s issues in the intersections between political and medical sociology. My primary research focused specifically on comparative human trafficking policies and subsequent rehabilitation programs. During the first year of the program, serious socioeconomic and racial issues were revealed on campus leading to many protests and other actions that are still occurring today. Witnessing monstrosities of overt racism and abuse of graduate students, I felt I needed more education on how to make effective change in society, communities, and for individuals. Initially, I thought this meant I wanted to practice applied sociology more than I wanted to do research. Naturally, I chose social work where I have since found the perfect mix of research and application within areas and with people groups for which I have the most passion. I am now focused more on the social determinants of and intersections among women’s mental health and sexual health.
Blog Origins
I received my B.A. in May 2015 from Louisiana Tech University where I double-majored in Sociology and History while minoring in English literature. The original purpose in creating this blog was for assignments for two of my senior history classes (Hist 465: Early 20th century America & Hist 467: Vietnam, Watergate, and after) at Louisiana Tech. For now I hope to post small assignments and thoughts from my graduate classes and readings. Perhaps I will eventually share the bigger things to come (published articles, research and dissertation ideas).
Near the Prime Minister’s home in London (2014)
Academy of Michaella 