Graduate student receives grants for research

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WACO, Texas (July 18, 2012)- Baylor sociology Ph.D. student Jenna Griebel was awarded with nearly $10,000 in grants for research this summer.
Griebel received two grants to support her research. The first was the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Student Research Award, and the second was the Fichter Research Award from the Association for the Sociology of Religion. The award amounts were $3,000 and $6,000, respectively. The Fichter Award was given to Griebel and Dr. Jerry Park, professor of sociology at Baylor, for their research together.
"I study the intersecting of gender, religion and work," Griebel said. "The current research project that I am focusing on looks at women entrepreneurs, and specifically how they balance work and family and how their religion impacts these decisions."
She said the grant money will be used to collect data on a sample of women entrepreneurs.
"These awards mean a great deal to me," Griebel said. "They will enable me to collect data for my dissertation. Women entrepreneurs have been overlooked as a group and there is almost no data on them. There are currently no data sets which contain a large enough number of women entrepreneurs to analyze statistically or which have questions about religion and family on them. Part of the lack of data is because women entrepreneurs are such a difficult group to find, being that they are few in number. The other problem is that surveys which are put out on entrepreneurs don't include questions about family or religion, being that they are more focused on the business aspects. These grants will allow for new findings about women entrepreneurs."
Park, who has worked with Griebel as both a student and research assistant, defined her as a first-rate scholar.
"She is perhaps the most organized graduate student I have ever met. Her organizational skills, however, are not just a personal habit for its own sake. She has turned these skills into a productive career as a young scholar," Park said. "She has set a new bar for excellence in research in Baylor's sociology department," he said.
After completing her Ph.D. studies, Griebel hopes to work at a university where she can teach and do research.
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by Mallory Hisler, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805