Philosophy Major Awarded a Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship!

May 19, 2021
Amish Patel

Amish Patel, a first-generation college student who is double-majoring in Philosophy and    Psychology has been awarded a Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship! The Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship Program is designed to increase the pool of potential California State University faculty by supporting the doctoral aspirations of CSU students who have experienced economic and educational disadvantages.

Nominated by the CSU Board of Trustee Award for Outstanding Achievement last summer, Amish is a member of the McNair Scholar's Program, which prepares high-achieving undergraduate students for admission into graduate schools to pursue advanced degrees. His McNair Scholar's research project, which is being conducted under the guidance of faculty mentor Dr. WenWen Ni, aims to see if mindfulness can reduce implicit bias and if this can, in turn, enhance the quality of diversity training. You can learn more about his project by visiting the SSU's Virtual Research Gallery. Amish says he has benefited from the amazing support of both faculty and staff throughout the university, as evidenced by the support he received from Dr. Andy Wallace, Professor of Philosophy, who helped him develop his research project.

Next year, Amish will be a member of the Dean's Student Advisory Council for the School of Social Sciences. After he graduates in Spring 2022, Amish will pursue a Ph.D. in Health Psychology where he hopes to study topics related to mindfulness, implicit bias, and health disparities.