Educating and Validating: Improving Black Women's Advising Experiences in Doctoral Programs

• In Event: International and Mentoring Graduate Students

Abstract

Advising remains a critical component of the doctoral student experience, and thus the socialization experience. For Black women doctoral students require additional consideration to these women’s racialized and gendered experiences. In this qualitative case study, we explored the advising experiences of 12 Black women doctoral students who attended a culturally responsive professional development program centered on Black women. Our findings suggest that even while reporting feeling supported, Black women doctoral students identify race and gendered ways of being as missing from their advising relationships. These gaps were even more apparent after participating in a culturally responsive socialization experience where their experiences were centered.

Authors

• Brittany Brewster, Florida State University

• Jesse Randall Ford, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Tamara Bertrand Jones, Florida State University

• Sherrina S Lofton, Florida State University

• Adrianne Jackson, Florida State University

• O'Juan Edwards, Florida State University