The Sistah Network: Black Women Graduate Students Supporting and Retaining Each Other

• In Event: From Baccalaureate to Professoriate: Voices of Black Women From Within the Academy

Abstract

The marginalization of Black graduate female students at predominately White institutions (PWIs) is a persistent problem in U.S. higher education. Institutional factors such as few role models (Valadez, 1998), less support for research interests (Turner & Thompson, 1993), unwelcoming, insensitive, and isolative environments (Watt, 2003), and fewer research and funding opportunities (Lovitts & Nelson, 2000) can shape Black women’s experiences in graduate programs. The experiences of Black graduate women at PWIs often are aligned with their positions of differential status, wealth, and power within U.S. society (Blackwell, 1981). Pervasive attitudes of racism as well as differential access and power continue to limit educational opportunities for Black women in graduate programs at PWIs in the U.S. At PWIs there exists great potential for disconnect between espoused intensions, theory and practice as it relates to inclusive excellence (IE) (Danowitz & Tuitt, 2011). Given these realities, Black graduate women are rarely afforded the opportunities to engage in the four dimensions of IE including equity, positive campus climates, robust learning and development, and diversity in the curriculum. In order to maintain this position of resistance, Black graduate women in the academy must pool their collective energy and continue to proactively identify and participate in formal and informal mentoring relationships as well as pursue both conventional and unconventional connective opportunities. The Sistah Network is an example of an informal “academic space” that aims to address the gaps in Black graduate women’s journey of graduate programs. A preliminary framework for how this academic space can be structured, developed, maintained, and sustained is shared.

Authors

• Nicole Michelle Joseph, University of Denver

• Evette L. Allen, University of Denver