Rio Grande Valley Veterans
Last spring, the team developed and refined the research plan that had been outlined in its Transformations Grant Application. After a series of discussions with a health care professional who specializes in veterans’ counseling, and related research, the team crafted a set of proposed interview questions, guiding principles, and effective research strategies. Once that preliminary work was finished to its satisfaction, the team sought clearance for its research goals and methods from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at UTRGV. Three members of the team met with a representative of the IRB and had a productive discussion about the project, responding to and reflecting further on the questions that were raised. Next, as directed, the team proceeded to submit a formal, written request for IRB clearance, along with all the requested documentation, and shortly after this, received an official letter of clearance for the project. In the months since, the team has conducted research and, in the fall, initiated the interviewing phase of its work. After this interviewing process began, the team found that the time needed for its research, and in particular the interviews, necessitated it amend the project's schedule, and it extended it by twelve to eighteen months.
Team members:
- Dr. Eric Wiley, Professor in Theatre
- Mr. Frank Martinez, Program Coordinator, Military Veterans Success Center
- Gerardo Segundo, undergraduate student
- Jonathan Romero, Student and Employee, Military Veterans Success Center
(L) Joining Forces: Latino Theatre Initiatives partners with veterans at UTRGV to create a stage documentary on veterans' experiences with personal relationships. Lucero Rodriguez and Jonathan Romero are student leaders on the project.
(R) Lead student researcher for the veterans project, Jonathan Romero (R), discusses the project with fellow student researcher, Lucero Rodriguez, and William Pabon III (L), a volunteer research subject.
Project leaders discuss the project
Transcript of Rio Grande Valley Veterans Project leaders discuss the project video
Jonathan Romero: Hi everyone, I'm Jonathan Romero, one of the Student Veterans of America here. We're along side Ms. Lucero and Mr. Pabon.
Lucero Rodriguez: Hello, my name is Lucero Rodriguez. I'm a student here at UTRGV and also the president of the Latino Theatre Initiatives.
William Pabon III: Hello, my name is Will Pabon III and I'm the current president of the Student Veterans of America here on campus and also worked at the Military Veterans Success Center.
Jonathan Romero: We just want to give you a friendly update of what's going on with the project. There's a lot of research that's being conducted, as well as IRB requirements have been met to full completion. We understand the legalities and the implications of doing such a elaborate project to have people open up emotionally and personally. Interviews are being conducted, they are the bulk of our work. There's a lot of veterans willing to share very unique interesting stories and I'm pretty sure you'll be excited to hear about. We appreciate everything you have done for us. We have veterans that are willing to come on board and open up and tell us a little bit about their personal lives and I think we can all gain from that, personally. There's a beneficial growth when you see other people enduring certain situations that some of us have faced before, some of us might face in the future and we really appreciate the veterans that share and reach out and continue to keep doing so.
Lucero Rodriguez: Latino Theatre Initiatives is partnering with the veterans in this project. We're going to be able to help them do the research, providing them with the tools necessary for this production and also looking out for people who might be interested in sharing their stories with us and we'll also in the future be able to help them with any theatrical tools that will help them for this production.
William Pabon III: I was in the Marines for eight years in infantry so I'm going to be one of the veterans that are interviewed and actually sharing one of my stories and I look forward to see how my personal stories are shown in this particular project.
Jonathan Romero: Overall, our concern is to respect the lives and intimacy and the situations of the veterans. We don't want to cross any boundaries or present negative cogitation. We'd also want to illustrate some images, some videos just so the world can see what we're seeing sort of from our perspective.