FHSU Docking Institute - Student Staff

Desirae Copeland is a senior studying political science. She joined the Docking Institute as an intern in February 2022. Desirae will be graduating from Fort Hays State University in May 2022. Her plans are to attend graduate school in hopes to study Public Administration or Public Policy. 

Wesley Davis joined the Docking Institute in the spring semester of 2021 as a student research assistant. He is pursuing a degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders with plans of attending graduate school and earning a Master's degree. Wesley's plans are to become a Clinical Speech-Language Pathologist.  

Ryan Lalicker is an undergraduate student majoring in Mathematics. Ryan joined the Docking Institute in January 2022 as an intern. Ryan is scheduled to graduate in May 2022. 

Spencer Manning recently completed his Bachelor's degree in political science with an emphasis in Pre-Law/Legal Studies and a minor in Spanish. Spencer joined the Docking Institute as a student research assistant in May of 2021, and upon graduation has transitioned to a full-time research assistant. Spencer plans to attend the University of Kansas School of Law in the fall of 2022.  

Leslie Watson-Divittore joined the Docking Institute in mid-spring 2020 as a student research assistant. Leslie is currently working as the Graduate Research Assistant. Leslie programs and administers surveys using state-of-the art softwares IDSurvey, CATI/online, and Qualtrics online. She carries out the Institute’s quality assurance protocols for best practices in phone surveying. She is experienced at piloting surveys, importing samples, monitoring for data quality control, troubleshooting respondent technical questions/issues, and exporting and cleaning data for analysis. Leslie provides status updates on all survey progress to staff and policy fellows on projects. Additionally, she contributes to the Institute’s team by submitting projects for IRB-approval, managing large data sets from secondary sources such as U.S. Census and the Kansas Departments of Commerce and Labor, and mentor's student research assistants on the Institute’s staff. She also assists other staff and policy fellows with analysis and reporting authoring and is increasingly assuming the lead role on some technical reports. Leslie graduated from Fort Hays State University with a Bachelor's in Psychology in 2019. Currently, she is pursuing a Master's Degree in Experimental Psychology. 

Jenna Welsby joined the Docking Institute of Public Affairs in February of 2022 as a student research assistant. She is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management with plans of graduating in May of 2024. Upon graduating, Jenna plans to travel and be involved in management within the tourism industry.