Research Mentor Information
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Primary Research Mentor Name: Cui Jing
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers
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Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated): cjing@fsu.edu
Position Title: Graduate Student
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Faculty Advisor's FSU Email: {Empty}
FSU College (if applicable): Fine Arts
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation: Art Education
Headshot (optional): https://cre.fsu.edu/system/files/webform/urop_project_proposal_portal/8351/Jing-Headshot.jpeg

Additional Research Mentor(s)
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Overall Project Details
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Title of the Project: Art Facilitates Community Building
Project Keywords: art therapy, community building, wellbeing, international students, Chinese culture
Are you currently looking for research assistants?: No
Number of Research Assistants Needed : 1
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s):
open to all majors.

Project Location:: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?: {Empty}
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s):: Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work?: 5-10
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work?: Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description:
Chinese students studying in the United States often face significant challenges related to their unique cultural background, which can exacerbate their anxiety and loneliness during the cultural transition process. Building a sense of community can help alleviate this sense of alienation, and art can serve as a non-verbal and indirect means to create subtle opportunities for connections. This dissertation project investigates how art may facilitate community building among a group of Chinese international students who experience feelings of alienation to gain a nuanced understanding of their experiences and the potential role of art in their social and emotional well-being. The findings of this study may provide insights into the use of art as a bridge for community building and promoting cross-cultural understanding, which may have broader implications for the integration of international students into their host communities and for art therapists who are addressing such alienation in their clients.

Research Tasks:
Mainly literature review. 

Skills that research assistant(s) may need::
I would like to have an assistant who is willing to learn about qualitative research and interested in art and mental health/wellbeing. However, there is no required skills.

Mentoring Philosophy:
Based on a philosophy that combines American Pragmatism and Chinese Wu-wei, I aim to create a psychologically safe environment in which mentees have the freedom to choose between action and nonaction for their learning based on their unique experiences and perspectives. Pragmatist philosophy places a high value on the act of doing as a means of acquiring knowledge, and Chinese Wu-wei involves accepting or acting naturally without external forces or direct interference. Although Wu-wei is literally translated as inactivity or nonaction, it refers to a type of action that appears like nonaction. In this innovative philosophical framework, mentees can have the freedom to choose between acting by the mentor's direction and their own, this choice cannot be reduced to a simple either/or dilemma. Through this open-minded approach, mentees' learning process can be based on their own free will — self-directive. Ultimately, mentees will develop their own way of knowing with resultant positive consequences. This then invites new opportunities for betterment and improvement. 

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UROP Program Elements
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Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication: Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation: Yes
Materials Grant: Yes
UROP Poster Presentation: Yes
Faculty Advisor Confirmation: {Empty}

Are you interested in attending in a UROP Research Mentor Workshop Series?: Yes
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Year: 2023
update url: https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?element_parents=elements/research_mentor_information/headshot_optional_&ajax_form=1&_wrapper_format=drupal_ajax&token=L8FhCms_-qQOzEHe0q_ebFWNgf7c9OkXA_qyCsZIoXY