Chandler Batchelor
Hometown: Topsail Island, NC
Education and Career Background: At UNC-Chapel Hill, I double-majored in psychology and comparative literature and minored in creative writing. After getting some research experience working on a longitudinal qualitative study with UNC's Center for Bioethics, I went on to get an MA in health humanities. I began to get a second master's in clinical mental health counseling here at UofM, but I transferred into the doc program before I completed it.
Year Started the Program: 2019
Advisor: Dr. Sara Bridges
Research Interests: My two main threads of research both revolve around the idea of identity work. I am interested in joining the budding field of asexuality research, as well as exploring the idea of mental illness identity, by which I mean the way that a formal psychiatric diagnosis can become internalized as a part of one's identity.
Current Research Team Membership: Constructivist Sexuality Lab (Bridges)
Graduate Assistantship: I am a GA in the Government Publications department of McWherter Library.
Why you chose U of M: I was drawn to this program because Dr. Bridges' emphasis on constructivism really resonated with my own research orientation. I also love the strong comradery within the program and the genuine support and care from faculty.
Interests Outside of Academics: Travel, hiking, poetry, d&d, climbing trees, Haruki Murakami novels (or anything in the genre of magical realism), dance of all kinds (but especially tap and ballet).