Fulbright scholar Meg Jones at URI’s Gender and Sexuality Center. At URI, Jones has been active in the Graduate School’s Diversity and Inclusion Badge Program and facilitated a session on “invisible” sexual orientations, specifically asexuality, bisexuality, and pansexuality. She’s also participated in the University’s Safe Zone Project, a training program that covers issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community and how best to be an ally.

Doctoral student Meg Jones was awarded a Fulbright grant to study LGBTQ+ inclusive practices in teacher education programs in Finland. She hopes to put what she learns there to work at URI when she returns, to push inclusivity beyond the basic notion of acceptance.

When Meg Jones learned that Danielle Dennis, her major professor at the University of South Florida, was headed to Rhode Island to become director of URI’s School of Education, she knew she had to go, too.

Now a URI doctoral student in education, Jones received a prestigious Fulbright grant to conduct research at the University of Helsinki in Finland on global approaches to LGBTQ+ inclusion in teacher preparation programs.

A focus on social justice

“Finland is idealized as having one of the best education systems in the world,” says Jones. “Yet when surveyed, queer youths in Finland are facing similar rates of discrimination, mental health issues, and suicide ideation as queer youths in the United States.

“The University of Helsinki has a master’s level teacher education program that is focused on social justice and changing education. I will be looking at what is happening in this program to help push the boundaries of what we think of as inclusion,” says Jones. “It’s such a unique teacher education program—and a unique educational and political system. There’s a lot to be learned there.”

Jones notes the importance of moving beyond acceptance. “These are integrated lives and cultures and experiences that should be normalized and represented. Not just because you might have queer students in your classroom—but for all students.”

In Helsinki, Jones will collect research and work on her dissertation, but she also hopes to collaborate with her colleagues there to publish internationally. Ultimately, her hope is to return to URI and replicate the study.

A unique educational path

A nontraditional, first-generation college student, Jones initially dropped out of high school before obtaining her GED certificate. After a couple of false starts, she obtained her bachelor’s degree from the College of Central Florida and her master’s degree at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Dennis encouraged Jones to apply for the Fulbright. “I met Meg when she was a student in the University of South Florida Master of Arts in Reading Education program. Her ideas, and the way she conveyed them through her writing, stood out to me, so I encouraged her to consider a Ph.D. program. The path she took into higher education provides her with a unique perspective on education, and I believe the Fulbright will propel her work as an advocate for LGBTQ+ youths,” says Dennis.

“I dropped out of high school; I dropped out of community college—not because of lack of academic ability. It was just life. It has been a bumpy road, but now I’m sitting here somehow as a doctoral student, I’ve received a Fulbright award,” says Jones. “I’m certainly not a traditional applicant by Fulbright standards.”

Giving back to URI

Jones feels strongly that what she learns in Finland can be put into action at URI.

“We are known for our Gender and Sexuality Center and for inclusiveness,” she says. “I have felt very supported by the faculty; everybody seems interested in my work. Being a student here, doing this research, and also choosing to be out about my own sexuality and relationships—being unapologetic about it—has put my research on people’s radar, and it’s been embraced. Yet there is always more work to do and more to learn.”

Now, says Jones, “I fully intend to come back to URI and say, ‘OK, here’s what I know’—to give back. I want URI to become a leader in the conversation And I want other schools in the states to come visit us because this is where it’s happening.” •

—Dawn Bergantino ’94

PHOTO: Nora Lewis; BLACKBOARD ARTISTS: Katie Reidy and Taylor Oliveira