Publication Date: August 14, 2023

Dr. Andrea Briceno Mosquera began her work as a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Institute in early June 2023. In that role, she will support sponsored research projects and work with her advisors VTIPG Director Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr. and Dr. Sharon Mastracci, Professor in SPIA and the Center for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP). During her tenure at VTIPG to date, Dr. Briceno Mosquera has published two articles and seen another accepted for publication, an outstanding start by any measure! 

Dr. Briceno Mosquera took some time recently to reflect with Billy Parvatam, IPG Communications Coordinator on her role with the Institute.

BP: What is your role at the Institute?

AB: My work at IPG addresses three main pillars that involve research and teaching. First, I support some sponsored research projects. Currently, I have been revising creative engagement methods and evaluation methods to support the projects between IPG and the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts (RCAHD). Likewise, I have been reviewing evidence-based practice reports prepared by graduate students related to people who use drugs (PWUD), LGBTQIA+, and racial minority populations. As those projects progress, I will support quantitative and qualitative data analysis related to each. In the near future, I may also collaborate on projects related to immigrants and refugees, target groups that have been core in my research. Second, I am working closely with Professor Sharon Mastracci of the Center for Public Administration and Policy to research the connections between administrative burdens and emotional labor when individuals seek government services. Third, I will teach a graduate-level Research Methods course for the Department of Political Science and the Government and International Affairs program this fall. I also aim to collaborate with Dr. David Moore and others at the Institute to help design a community engagement course for students passionate about working with communities.

BP: How would you describe your research and praxis?

AB: My research has consistently focused on investigating how political factors and bureaucratic practices may influence individuals' behavior and may prevent them from accessing public services to which they are otherwise entitled. Exploring the specific barriers that underrepresented groups face in accessing public benefits, in particular, have captured my enduring attention. The fact that policy implementation nearly always involves administrative discretion implies that prudential use of that trust is vital to citizen outcomes. So, how organizations and their personnel exercise that trust is an important area to investigate. To date, I have explored how administrative burdens may defacto become policymaking instruments. I have also investigated whether administrative burdens are associated with perceptions of the deservingness of those targeted to receive them.  

BP: How did you become affiliated with IPG?

AB: After completing my Ph.D.,  I worked for SPIA in Richmond for a while. Then, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Dean Laura Belmonte, School Director Dr.  Timothy Luke, Dr. Max Stephenson, Jr., and Dr. Sharon Mastracci rightly suggested that IPG would be a good place for me to complete a postodoctoral year since my background and research interests align with the those in play at the Institute. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

BP: What are some projects you are currently working on?

AB: I am involved in helping to revise the engagement methods presently employed for projects in the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts (RCAHD) and offering feedback on evidence-based practice reports drafted by graduate students at IPG. Those efforts relate to people who use drugs (PWUD) and LGBTIQA+ and racial minority populations. Additionally, I am working on two research articles with Professor Mastracci, "Gauging the Inequality of Administrative Burdens" and " Individual-Administrative State Interactions: Administrative Burdens And Emotional Labor."

BP: What does a typical day look like for you?

AB: I get up early and have a cup of Colombian coffee! I often work out before starting my activities. I love jogging or working out at the gym and doing so always gives me a good start. Then, I prepare breakfast and pack lunches for my children, and help them get ready for school or camps. Then, I start working and usually do so at my office; which I have found to be a wonderful space in which to focus. Depending on the weekday, I attend meetings, prepare classes, meet with students, and work on each project or paper with which I am engaged. I always have a checklist of important activities and deadlines daily and weekly. This permits me to tackle responsibilities more effectively. After work, I try to spend quality time with my children; we have dinner, play, or read together.

BP: What is one detail your job entails that might be surprising for others to know?

AB: My research demands that I craft questions that will allow me to analyze the often subtle factors at play in the exercise of bureaucratic discretion during policy implementation. Examining the learning, compliance, and psychological barriers with which individuals must cope when seeking public benefits and services implies "putting yourself in their shoes," embracing empathy, exploring and questioning organizational artifacts, rules, and practices, and understanding how language as well as the form and substance of organizational procedures matters. In my view, these details are too often overlooked but adjusting or eliminating them can often make a material difference in people's lives. I assume as I say this that policy research is most meaningful when it can arguably be said to affect society positively.  

BP: What inspires you to do the work you do?

AB: I am inspired by a mix of several factors. I was raised with a strong Christian faith, where caring about others was a core value. I also was born and raised in Colombia, which has long evidenced unreasonable poverty and inequality rates, a fact that always troubled me as I grew up. In addition, my family has been involved in the academy and politics in my country and their position has consistently been progressive and democratic, advocating for minority rights and disadvantaged groups. In addition, when I worked in Colombia, I was involved with projects at the state and national levels that demanded listening to people and interpreting their needs for government action plans and participatory budgets.

My life experience in the United States has also inspired my work. As a Latin woman immigrant, I have experienced multiple obstacles when interacting with this nation’s  administrative state. I am often struck by the fact that even though I am well-educated, I must nevertheless deal with these barriers. Frankly, I cannot imagine how those less educated, without social networks, and lacking resources do so. Awareness of that fact fuels my passion for my research.

People's experiences also inspire me. Besides analyzing a data set that agencies have built or parsing my own “data set," I always try to interact personally with members of those whose experiences I am studying. Data sets do not let you "hear" the voices of those who daily experience exclusion and oppression at the hand of the administrative state.

BP: What's your advice to someone who would want to pursue your area of research or praxis?

If you want to explore barriers people experience when interacting with the administrative state, you must interact with those individuals exploring those costs demands, listen to people's experiences and understanding their contexts when they seek government services (e.g., social benefits, driver licenses, public health or education access, for example). Apart from research, getting involved in relevant community groups and volunteering are also ways to gain insight into the experiences of these subpopulations while also giving back to your local community.

BP: What is a potential area of research/grant in the future that you would like to study and/or work on?

I am exploring potential grants related to equity in education access and attainment, administrative burdens and workforce development, immigrants and refugees, and community engagement projects. Recently, I have been passionate about exploring the relationships between administrative burdens and emotional labor, two avenues of research that have historically proceeded separately but have common avenues of inquiry. 

BP: What are some things you like to do in your free time?

I have a broad menu. I like hiking, exploring new places, trying restaurants, going to the beach, reading novels, biographies, and non-fiction books, visiting museums, attending concerts, having coffee and dinner with friends, listening to live music, and volunteering in community groups. I particularly love spending time with my two boys, reading books, painting, and playing tennis and soccer with them--although they are much better at all of these, I think, than me!

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