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The mentoring experiences of African American women in masters programs

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The mentoring experiences of African American women in masters programs

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Content Running head: MENTORING EXPERIENCES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN 1

The Mentoring Experiences of African American Women in Masters Programs
Dominique Hall-Carr
Master of Education- Educational Counseling
Rossier School of Education
August 2018

University of Southern California
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 2

Thesis Committee:

Kristan Venegas, Ph.D. (Chair)

Rossier School of Education

Janice Schafrik, Ph.D

Rossier School of Education

Patricia Tobey, Ph.D

Rossier School of Education
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 3

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………….........page 5
Abstract ……………………………………………………………………. page 6
Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………page 7
Purpose of Study………………………………………………………page 8
Chapter 2: Review of the literature and Use of Theory…………………page 11
Describing Critical Race Theory……………………………………...page 11
Five Tenets of Critical Race Theory………………………………….page 12
Why Critical Race Theory?..................................................................page 14
Mentoring and African American Women…………………………...page 18
Chapter 3: Methods and Methodology…………………………………...page 25
Design of Study………………………………………………………page 26
Sample and Population……………………………………………….page 27
Data Collection……………………………………………………....page 28
Interview Protocol……………………………………………………page 28
Prologue: Role as Researcher………………………………………...page 28
Chapter 4: Data Collection………………………………………………..page 31
Background of Participants……………………………………..........page 31
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 4

Interview Questions…………………………………………………page 33

Chapter 5: Conclusion……………………………………………….........page 50
Analysis of Findings………………………………………………..page 50
Sense of Belonging………………………………………………….page 50
Becoming Resourceful………………………………………………page 51
Developing Identity in a new space…………………………………page 51
Using “Counter-storytelling” as Critical Race Methodology……….page 53
Critical Race Theory lens: Five Tenets……………………………….......page 54
Counter-storytelling…………………………………………………page 54
Permanence of Racism………………………………………………page 54
Whiteness as Property……………………………………………….page 55
Interest Convergence………………………………………………...page 55
Critique of Liberalism……………………………………………….page 56
Implications of Research Study……………………………………..page 57
Implications for Institutional Practice……………………………….page 57
Recommendations for Future Research……………………………..page 59
Epilogue: Role as Researcher……………………………………….page 59
References………………………………………………………………….page 61
Appendix 1: Interview Protocol………………………………….......…..page 63
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 5

Acknowledgments

I dedicate this Thesis to my parents. Thank you, Mom, for pushing me to reach my
highest potential. Thank you, Father, for always depositing seeds of wisdom into my life.
Every word on this page, I want to dedicate to my “Angels in Heaven” who contributed
to who I am today. My Grandmothers Luvenia Hall and Geraldine Carr and lastly my
Uncle Carlus who I lost along this Thesis journey but I know is my Angel who got me
through!
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 6

Abstract

To better understand the graduate school experiences of African American women in Masters
programs, qualitative interviews were conducted to six interviewees to explore their experiences
of receiving mentorship in their respective graduate programs. The application of the scholarship
of Critical Race Theory is used, as well as Yosso and Solorzano’s counter storytelling
methodology to examine study participants experiences. Findings from the study suggest that
many of the women did not receive mentorship within their program and instead found external
sources of mentorship such as from family and friends. The following themes emerged from
interview data, which included the following: Sense of Belonging, Becoming Resourceful, and
Developing Identity in a new space.

Keywords: mentoring, African American women, relationships, critical race theory
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 7

Chapter 1: Introduction to The Study

Introduction

The existing literature on African American women in higher education, especially at the
post- baccalaureate level, illustrates a distinct experience that African American women
encounter that often leaves many of them feeling left out of the collegiate process. According to
the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2016) the largest difference in percentages
between male and female post baccalaureate enrollment was among Black students (NCES,
2016, p. 99). In 1990, 63 % percent of Black post baccalaureate students were female; in 2013,
females accounted for 70 percent of total Black post baccalaureate enrollment. From 1990 to
2013, within each racial/ethnic group, females increased their share of post baccalaureate
degrees (NCES, 2016, p. 99). According to the U.S Department of Education (2017),
preliminary data on total degree attainment by American institutions in 2015-2016 academic
year research shows African Americans still lag behind in degree attainment. However, the
report illustrates that while African Americans still lag in overall degree attainment, African
American women have higher degree attainment levels than their African American male
counterparts. The preliminary data further suggest that (NCES, 2016) in the 2015-2016 academic
year African Americans earned 81,347 Masters Degrees. Black women attained 69.8 % percent
of those Master’s degrees awarded in the 2015-2016 academic year (NCES, 2016).
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 8

The data from this national study illustrates a stark incongruence of African American
women and men who are pursuing post-baccalaureate degrees. While African American women
have historically pursued college degrees in higher numbers than their African American male
counterparts, there needs to be further exploration of the individual experiences of African
American women in graduate school, because while this student population is completing
degrees, research suggests that this occurs at a great sacrifice and against many obstacles (Jones
& Shorter-Gooden, 2003). Therefore, the research question for this study is this:
Using the lens of Critical Race Theory scholarship, what are the mentoring experiences
of African American women pursuing Masters Degrees?
Purpose of Study

The goal of this study is to explore the mentoring experiences of African American
women currently within graduate and professional programs at a predominately White research
institution (PWI). The significance of exploring the relationship between African American
women in graduate school and their personal mentoring experiences could shed light on the
intentional supports received whether in a formal context or informally. Mentorship can be
provided in a myriad of ways; for instance, one could receive mentorship, informally from
external outlets such as from community members from church, family, or friends outside of
academia (Patton, 2003). Formal mentorship could be received from faculty members within
their respective graduate programs, or from other professional contacts (Patton, 2003). Currently
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 9

there is a lack of robust literature on the value of mentorship for African American women, with
special attention to at the graduate school level. Coupled with focusing on the intentional
supports of mentorship provided to African American women in graduate school, there also
needs to be further exploration of how race influences the graduate school process. Utilizing the
theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), emerging issues that are found in the process of
investigating the support of African American women in graduate school, can serve as a
contextual framework that disrupts myths of colorblindness and meritocracy, which only further
isolates counter experiences of people of color that go unnoticed. Yosso and Solorzano’s (2002)
“counter-storytelling” will be used as a critical race methodology for this study.
Scholarship by Patricia Hill Collins informs existing research on African American
women; it describes the distinctive experience that African American women face based on
societal biases (Collins, 2000, p.12). For this reason, using tenets of Critical Race Theory as a
lens in understanding this research subject will provide the opportunity to consider whether or
not it is applicable to African American women, especially in the context of the influence of
access to mentorship. This research project will be qualitative. To ensure that the richness of the
personal voices are heard and not interpreted differently, this study will be conducted through
conducting in-depth interviews. The interviews will delve into probing participants about their
experiences as a graduate student in their program. Before moving to Chapter 2, I will provide
operational definitions of the terms that will be used often in this paper. The term
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 10

“mentoring” will be defined as “a dyadic, face to face, long term relationship between a
supervisory adult and a novice student that serves to cultivate the mentee’s professional,
academic, or personal development” (Wai-Packard, 2009, p.443). The term “Critical Race
Theory” will be defined as a “theoretical and interpretive mode that examines the appearance of
race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012, p.
3).
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 11

Chapter 2: Review of the literature and Use of Theory

The purpose of this chapter is to consider the role of Critical Race Theory related to
African American females with an emphasis on mentoring. In this chapter, key studies related to
this topic are noted. I begin by describing critical race theory. Then related literature as well as
research on mentoring is considered. The chapter closes with a discussion of why this theory is
most appropriate for this study. As noted in Chapter One, my research question is “Using the
lens of Critical Race Theory scholarship, what are the experiences of African American women
pursuing Masters Degrees?” Utilizing this question through a critical race theory lens can begin
the process of unpacking these unique experiences that African American women in the
literature illustrated in the research of Bova (2000) and Settles (2006). Critical Race Theorists
argue that ideas such as color blindness and meritocracy systematically disadvantage people of
color and further advantage whites (Hamilton, 2003, p. 22).
Describing Critical Race Theory

The theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory emerged as counter-legal scholarship
from legal scholars of color whose work challenged the ways in which race and racial power
were constructed specifically in American legal culture, and generally in American society
(Crenshaw et al., 1998). Critical Race theory is a framework that has emerged across disciplines
but has two common connected interests across subjects. The common interests of CRT include
understanding how the construct of white supremacy and its subjugation of people of color have
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 12

been created and maintained in America (Crenshaw et al.,1995, xiv). The second common
interest derives from not merely a desire to understand the conflicting bond between law and
racial power, but to dismantle its existence (Crenshaw & Gotanda &.,1995, xiv). Aligned with
the overarching goal of shedding light to the existence of racism in everyday life, there is an
emphasis on uncovering the experiential knowledge from people of color.
Five Tenets of Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory framework is built upon five tenets all of which include counter-
storytelling, the permanence racism, Whiteness as property interest convergence, and the critique
of liberalism (Hiraldo, 2010, p. 54). The first tenet, counter-storytelling, allows for individuals
that have been marginalized to share their narratives to counter dominant discourse regarding the
lived experiences within communities of color. Dominant discourse is generally perpetuated
racially stereotyped views that derive historically from male, White, and heterosexual ideology.
Utilizing counter-storytelling is an important tool to use for higher education professionals to
hear the voices of students of color. The second tenet, the permanence of racism is the belief that
racism is an inherent part of the fabric of American society that privileges White individuals over
people of color in most areas of life, including education (Hiraldo, 2010, p. 55). The concept of
permanence of racism is founded on the premise that racism is inherently part of American
civilization. This idea of permanence of racism demonstrates that higher education professionals
cannot make the mistake of viewing the system under a colorblind lens. The inherency of racism
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 13

means that if educational professionals ignore systemic racism, plans for diversity action will be
ineffective. The third tenet of Critical Race Theory (CRT), is Whiteness as property. As a result
of institutionalized racism in our society according to CRT scholars, whiteness can be considered
a property interest. Essentially, in American society, the Whiteness is a valued currency that
leverages access to various opportunities, ultimately putting anyone who does not fall within this
category at a disadvantage (Hiraldo, 2010, p. 55). For example, this is evidenced in the
administrative hierarchy in higher education according to Howard-Vital (1989), most African
American women are underrepresented in Community Colleges and senior institutions, often
times serving as assistants to assistants (Howard-Vital,1989, p. 186). The fourth tenet of CRT is
interest convergence, which argues that historically White individuals have been the sole
beneficiaries of United States Civil Rights legislation (Hiraldo, 2010, p. 56). For example, the
legislative policy of affirmative action that emerged as a result of the Civil Rights movement, of
the primary beneficiaries of which were White women. When an institution increases its
recruiting efforts to admit more minority students but fails to provide services that address the
needs of students of color, this is interest convergence (Howell, 2010, p.113). Lastly, the fifth
tenet of CRT is the critique of liberalism which derives from the idea of colorblindness, the
neutrality of law, and equal opportunity for all. Historically, when analyzing the influence of
race in our society, the notion of colorblindness does not take into consideration the permanence
of racism (Hiraldo, 2010, p. 56). In response, much of the scholarship of CRT focuses on the role
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 14

of “voice” in bringing additional power to the legal discourses of racial justice. Indeed, Delgado
(1990) argued that people of color speak with experiential knowledge about the fact that our
society is deeply structured by racism (Ladson-Billings, 1998, p. 8). The lived experiences
expressed by people of color is valued within Critical Race scholarship because of its ability to
unveil the colorblind trope that emerged post-Civil rights movement (Crenshaw et al.,1995, xiv).
A critique of liberalism is its foundation is based upon the concept of a “colorblind society”.
Subsequently, the critique is that the use of colorblindness in liberalism, is being used as a tool to
allow people to ignore racist policies that continue social inequity (Hiraldo, 2010, p. 56).
Why Critical Race Theory?

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an important lens towards understanding the underlying
factors that precipitate certain outcomes within our society. This framework works towards
dismantling myths that exist surrounding communities of color. To truly become familiar with an
individual, one must be able to take an objective walk in their shoes. Anäis Nin in her 1961 work
Seduction of the Minotaur, eloquently expressed that “we see the world, not as it is, but as we
are..” (Nin, 1961). The overarching goals of Critical Race theorists are to step outside of our own
biases and see the world from a different vantage point. The application of this theoretical
framework onto African American women who are currently in graduate school pursuing their
Master’s degrees is the first step towards valuing the experiential knowledge possessed within
this group. Ultimately, failure to listen to the lived experiences of people of color, is then simply
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 15

pathologizing historically oppressed groups in society and systematically continuing the cyclical
effect of certain groups being marginalized. According to Jones and Shorter-Gooden (2003), still
today in the twenty-first century, Black women are constantly susceptible to racial and gender
discrimination, and sometimes left wondering which bias is most potent (Jones & Shorter-
Gooden, 2003, p. 38). A survey of African American women participants asking if they could
recall a time they were ever called a racially derogatory term “nigger”, whether it was when they
were walking down the street or stepping onto a school bus for the first time as a Kindergartener.
The responses they received from the participants was that 1 of 10 of these women could recall
being called a “nigger.” What deserves attention is that 94% of the study participants were
between the ages of 42 years old or younger, meaning these participants were either born in the
midst of, or long after the Civil Rights movement (Jones & Shorter-Gooden, 2003, p. 41). The
rest of the participants who could not recall being called a racial epithet still offered a “long,
painful laundry list of racially discriminating experiences” (Jones & Shorter-Gooden, 2003).

For this reason, selecting a Critical Race Theory lens to view the experiences of African
American currently in graduate school with a special emphasis on the mentoring aspects of their
graduate school journey is important in truly getting to the lived realities of African American
women today. In beginning the process of unpacking the experiences African American women
face within Masters Programs, is the first step towards starting a discussion within the higher
educational community regarding ways to potentially improve the academic spaces.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 16

In a study conducted by Bova (2000), that interviewed 14 professional Black women to
explore the nature of the mentoring relationship from the Black woman’s perspective. Essentially,
the study explored whether participants received mentorship in their respective organizations.
The organizations represented within the ten selected participants ranged from: higher education,
nonprofits, banking, and the airline industry (Bova, 2000, pg 9). Many of the women did not
receive mentorship or much guidance from an influential colleague. According to Bova,
“mentoring” embraces a philosophy that should denote to the individual of lesser influence that
they are viewed as important to the mentor and the overall establishment (2000, p. 7). In
addition, an emerging theme found from this study was that many of the professional Black
women all expressed feeling they faced a “double jeopardy:” being Black and a woman
(Bova,2000, p. 5). This two-ness of race and gender is an aspect of this population that still needs
further investigation and the influence it has on Black women, especially in terms of professional
development.
According to a qualitative study by Settles (2006) used to examine black women’s
perceptions of their racial and gender identities, their experiences related to the intersection of
these identities, and the relationship of these factors to their psychological well-being. What this
literature shows about African American women who pursue professional advancement is that
there is a distinct experience that is faced that needs further exploration. This distinctive
experience is discussed by Patricia Hill Collins in her book Black Feminist Theory (2000) as she
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 17

explains that “for individual women, the particular experiences that accrue to living as a Black
woman in the United States can stimulate a distinctive consciousness concerning our own
experiences and society overall” (Collins, 2000, p. 27). As illustrated by the findings of the
research, studies conducted by Bova (2000) and Settles (2006) there should be a further
investigation of the experiences of African American women and their professional development.
Critical Race theory argues that racism still exists in our society and it is part of our
everyday reality but in more subtle, invisible, and insidious ways in contrast to the past
(Savas,2014, p. 508). This insidious form of subtle racism that is described is also known as
“microaggressions”. According to Huber and Solorzano (2014), “micro-aggressions” are
“systemic, everyday racism used to keep those at the racial margins in their place” (Huber &
Solorzano, 2014, p. 298). Forms of micro-aggressions can include verbal and non-verbal assaults
directed towards People of Color, cumulative assaults that take a psychological, physiological,
and academic toll on People of Color (Huber & Solorzano, 2014, p. 298). Racial micro-
aggressions have the same result as it performs in an implicit manner that often impacts the lives
of People of Color.
According to Bourdieu (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977) cultural capital refers to an
accumulation of cultural knowledge, skills and abilities possessed and inherited by privileged
groups in society (Yosso, 2006, p. 76,). Bourdieu further describes different forms of capital
which can be “cultural capital” (i.e., education, language), social capital (i.e., social networks,
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 18

connections) and economic capital (i.e., money and other material possessions) can be acquired
two ways, from one’s family and/or through formal schooling. However, Bourdieu argues that
members of the dominant group are able to maintain power because access is limited to attaining
and learning ways to use forms of capital towards social advancement (Yosso, 2000, p. 76).
The existing literature on the experiences of African American women in social spaces
that could lead to social mobility appears to be hindered in some cases due to isolation or lack of
professional guidance from a seasoned colleague. By that same token, in thinking about the
journey of professional development, college spaces are a bastion for many to seek ways to
establish themselves towards social advancement. According to the National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES), African American women between 2009 and 2010, earned 71
percent of master’s degrees and 65 percent of all doctorates awarded to black students (NCES.
Ed.gov).
Mentoring and African American Women

McCauley (2005) discusses the significance of the mentoring concept within
organizations. The term “mentoring” is defined within the scope of a human resource
organization as an “intense, committed relationship in which a senior person (the mentor)
stimulates and supports the personal and professional development of a junior person (the
protégé) (McCauley, 2005, p. 443). In a traditional sense, mentoring is viewed as “a dyadic, face
to face, long term relationship between a supervisory adult and a novice student that serves to
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 19

cultivate the mentee’s professional, academic, or personal development” (Wai-Packard, 2009, p.
443). Further, Smith & Davidson, examined the role of mentoring young African American
Masters and Doctoral students and reported that those students who had mentors, were more
likely to persist (Schwartz et al, 2003, p. 254). Taylor and Antony refer to “stereotype threat
reduction and wise schooling” a construct borrowed from Steele (Schwartz et al, 2003, p. 266).
Taylor and Antony discuss how Steele’s “wise schooling” theory suggests that often times
African American students often suffer the stereotyped identities that presumes intellectual
deficits and a lack of ability (Schwartz et al., 2003, p. 266). Specific strategies that are suggested
by Steele to implement “wise schooling” include: “faculty mentoring, increasing opportunities
for socialization for minority students, and opportunities to increase communication with other
students and faculty of color on other campuses as well as their own” (Schwartz et al., 2003, p.
266).
According to Jones and Shorter-Gooden (2003), “Black women must consistently fight
against the myth of inferiority and note that this population ‘report[s] how difficult it is to
survive in a culture that constantly stereotypes Black women as unintelligent, lazy, unmotivated,
unattractive, difficult to deal with...’ (2003, p. 13)”. Jackson’s study of 135 Black women, (1985)
asserts that Black women feel they must constantly prove themselves by working harder than
their White counterparts and combating negative stereotypes. Robinson (2013) describes the
emotional drain of being within the academy as an African American woman, recounting the
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 20

experience as ‘feeling alone, disillusioned, and discouraged often utilizing the coping mechanism
of ‘silence’ as a survival strategy” (Robinson, 2013, p. 156). Johnson-Bailey (2004) examined
the issues influencing or hindering the participation and retention of Black women graduate
students, in ways such as accessibility and encouragement from academic staff and recruitment
by other Black mentors and students.
Literature shows that the experience of isolation is not just relegated to African American
women in graduate school, but it occurs also to those at the faculty level. According to data from
Wagstaff and Moore (1974), black women are at the bottom of the educational hierarchy and are
subjected to racial and sexual discrimination at all academic levels (Wagstaff and Moore, 1974, p.
61). Wagstaff and Moore further explained that the majority of African- American women
faculty in senior colleges have little time, or gain little support, to engage in research” (Howard-
Vital, 2008, p. 186). Similarly, Staples explained that tracing back to graduate school African
American graduate students maintain formal relationships with white faculty and peers, rarely
participating in some aspects of the academic socialization process (Howard-Vital, 2013, p. 186).
The formality of these relationships results in a lack of understanding and support for African-
American students. This lack of connection places them at a disadvantage when seeking coveted
academic positions (Howard-Vital, 2008, p. 186). Overall, the literature thus far illustrates the
common theme of African American women within the academy “feeling left out” of the
institutional process.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 21

Another emerging theme from the literature shows that many African American women
in graduate school have noted that they do not feel supported (Patton, 2009; Patton & Harper;
2003). Aspects of support can vary for different individuals; however, in many ways mentorship
has been evidenced to assist in an individual’s career advancement. Discussed by Patton (2003),
it is very important for many African American women participating in the mentoring
relationship to find someone who looks like them, shares similar personal, professional, and
scholarly interests, and that is overall dedicated to their holistic experiences and personal success.
Due to the scarcity of mentoring relationships among African Americans in higher education, as
an alternative many seek informal forms of support outside of the institution (Patton, 2003).
These informal support networks include friends and family, church members, neighbors, and
civic and professional organizations (Patton, 2003, p. 69). The term “mentor” according to Hill
and Ragland (1995), means to “guide, train, and support a less skilled or experienced person
called a novice, mentee, or protégé” (Hill and Ragland, 1995, p. 72). Mentorship, is one of the
key forms of supports for an individual trying to advance their career. Mentoring relationships
are key components to contributing to the successful experiences of African American women
and are necessary in breaking the glass ceiling (Patton, 2003, p. 68).
Investigating the proposed research question through a critical race theory lens can begin
the process of understanding the unique experiences that African American women face, as
evidenced in Bova (2000) and Settles (2006) research. Critical Race Theorists argue that ideas
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 22

such as color blindness and meritocracy systematically disadvantage people of color and further
advantage whites (Hamilton, 2003, p. 22). Investigating the experiences of African American
women currently within their perspective graduate programs from a critical race theory lens is
necessary to understand the intersectionality that may exist and potentially contribute to their
distinctive narratives. Yosso’s (2005) research related to counter-story narratives relied on the
following definition of Critical Race Theory (CRT). She used the framework to note a shift in
the research lens from a deficit view of Communities of Color as places full of cultural poverty
disadvantages and instead focused on learning from the array of cultural knowledge, skills,
abilities, and contacts possessed by socially marginalized groups that often go unrecognized and
unacknowledged (Yosso,2005). Subsequently, the application of Yosso and Solorzano’s (2002)
critical race methodology of “counter-storytelling” is an appropriate tool to utilize because it
provides the opportunity to conduct and present research grounded in the experiences and
knowledge of people of color (Yosso & Solorzano, 2002, p. 23). Ultimately, “counter-
storytelling” is a methodology that is a fundamental tenet of critical race theory.

With respect to African American women pursuing advanced degrees in their respective
programs instances of stress could occur with meeting the day-to-day demands of their graduate
program. In thinking about the growing number of African American women who are
ascertaining their graduate degrees, further literature needs to examine if whether during that
process they are experiencing support or feeling isolated within the process. According to Bova
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 23

(2000) although Black women have described facing the “double jeopardy” phenomenon
(marginalized race and gender) they still have managed to reach great successes in the face of
adversity (Bova, 2000, p. 6). The emerging question becomes who mentors to encourage Black
women during the stages of trying to advance professionally.
Yosso and Solorzano (2000, 2002), used the CRT framework to develop a critical
methodology which is influence by the five tenets influenced of Critical Race Theory that could
serve to inform educational practices (Yosso & Solorzano, 2002, p. 25). These tenets include:
1) the intercentricity of race and racism with other forms of subordination, 2) the challenge to
dominant ideology, 3) the commitment to social justice, 4) the centrality of experiential
knowledge, and 5) the transdisciplinary perspective. Various forms of valuing the experiential
knowledge of people color would include through methods such as “storytelling”, “family
histories”, “biographies”, “scenarios”, and “parables” (Yosso, 2005, p. 74).
There is a lack of existing literature that showcases the narratives of African American
women at the graduate school level (Robinson, 2013; Patton, 2013). Yosso and Solorzano (2000,
2002), elaborated and expanded upon the work in Critical Race Theory by developing a critical
methodology one of the discussed elements that informs this pedagogy is method to use, the
following are basic elements that inform critical methodology: valuing the experiential
knowledge of historically marginalized populations. Valuing the experiential knowledge from
communities of color, is arguably the first step towards examining the realities that African
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 24

American women face today while pursuing a Master’s degree. The opportunity to unpack these
experiences through placing the voice of the African American woman at the forefront of
research is significant and most importantly avoiding the mistake of pathologizing their
narratives through past literature.
My primary study would be carried out qualitatively, using an epistemological approach
that is concerned specifically about the mentoring experiences expressed by African American
women across disciplines pursuing Masters Degrees. I would collect my research data through
conducting field interviews. For the purposes of narrowing my research I will only be concerned
with the experiences of African American women pursuing graduate degrees at the Masters level,
as the experience of doctoral students will vary due to their workload and time in their programs.
I will describe this approach in more detail in Chapter 3.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 25

Chapter 3: Methods and Methodology

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of African American women
currently in Master’s programs. There is a special emphasis on examining the role of mentoring
in the experiences in the program from a critical race theory lens (CRT) for African American
women in Masters Programs at one institution in Southern California. Through viewing the
research question from a Critical Race Theory lens, the methodology of the study conducted
drew from phenomenon such as racism and the influence of race (Delgado, 2012). I decided to
not explicitly question participants about race or racism. As a researcher I wanted to enter the
study objectively to see what details emerged from the interview protocol questions that related
to support. At this stage in the research, “mentoring” was generally defined as “dyadic, face to
face, long term relationship between a supervisory adult and a novice student, that serves to
cultivate the mentee’s professional, academic, or personal development” (Wai-Packard, 2009, p.
443). I selected this definition provided by Wai-Packard (2009) as it represents the basic
foundational aspects of traditional mentoring. In order to better understand the experiences of
African American women in graduate school, there needs to be a closer examination of these
experiences using a more holistic lens. Essentially, how exactly are African American women
pursuing post baccalaureate degrees being supported? According to Patricia Hill Collins
(Howard-Hamilton, 2003), when Black women are invited into places where the dominant group
has assembled but they remain invisible, and they have no voice when dialogue commences—
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 26

this phenomenon is defined as “outsider-within status” (Howard-Hamilton, 2003, p. 21).

Collin’s discussion of “outside-within status” provides context for the importance of producing
ideas “by Black women that clarify a standpoint of and for Black women” (Howard-Hamilton,
2003, p. 21,).
With this purpose in mind, I conducted a qualitative study. I administered in-depth
interviews with the goal of finding participants counter-stories using Yosso and Solorzano’s
counter storytelling critical methodology (Yosso & Solorzano, 2002, p. 26). There has been very
little research that delves into the lived experiences of African American women pursuing
Masters Degrees or the ways in which they are supported within the graduate space. My overall
research goal was to study African American women and their experiences that utilized a critical
race theory lens, along with a special emphasis on mentoring.
Design of Study

My primary study was carried out qualitatively, using an epistemological approach that
was focused specifically on the experiences expressed by African American women across
disciplines pursuing Masters Degrees. I collected my research data through conducting field
interviews. To meet the intended number of participants, I conducted my one-on-one interviews
in person. For the purposes of narrowing my research I was only concerned with the experiences
of African American women pursuing graduate degrees at the Masters level, as the experience of
doctoral students will vary due to their workload and time in their programs. The purpose of the
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 27

study was to examine the role of mentorship to African American women pursuing Masters
Degrees using a Critical Race Theory lens (CRT).
Sample and Population

In this primary study participants were selected through purposeful sampling and through
utilizing a sampling strategy of homogeneous sampling (Creswell, 2013). The choice of utilizing
“purposive sampling” for this research study was to be able to apply intentional efforts to select
participants who have the characteristics and background that would serve to inform the study.
“Homogenous” sampling strategy is an effective technique towards targeting participants that
share specific characteristics (Creswell, 2013, p. 154). The criteria for the participant to meet to
be in the study included: identifying as an African American woman, and currently being
enrolled in a Master’s program at the selected university campus. Due to time and resources,
participants were selected from a single private research I institution in the West university
campus in the West. The number of participants selected for this study was six African American
women. Recruitment was conducted using snow-ball sampling. According to Robinson (2013)
snow-ball sampling involves asking participants for recommendations of acquaintances who
might qualify for participation, leading to “referral chains” (Robinson, 2013, p. 37). Each
participant was given a five-dollar Starbucks gift card for their participation at the end of
interview.
In conceptualizing potential sampling issues that may arise could potentially be in the
areas of difficulty receiving participation from those that fit the study criteria that represent
various graduate school
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 28

disciplines due to scheduling. In addition, based on the subjective nature of using a purposive
sampling method, there could be the potential for researcher bias. Essentially, my own values or
beliefs could have a subconscious effect on the selection process.
Data Collection

Through further exploration in one-on-one in-depth interviews with participants questions
asked was related to exploring whether the participant was familiar with their graduate programs’
support services, and whether it was helpful. In addition, I started a discussion with the
participants to recall back to a time in their graduate experiences thus far that they felt like they
were in a crisis- albeit academic or personal. Upon, conducting interviews, I found some rich and
powerful information. I expected to draw from the narratives from African American women in
graduate schools across different program departments, which could include from Engineering,
medical school, music, education, psychology and much more. A potential critique of this
method could include the rigor of each program will differ based on discipline and the responses
may differ based on this fact alone. However, by diversifying and being open to hear the
graduate level experiences from African American women represented in various departments,
the goal was to be able to have emerging themes that tie together their narratives.
Interview Protocol

The design of the interview questions was presented to participants in an open-ended
format. The following questions were framed in a contextual manner that allowed for the
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 29

opportunity for the participant to share their lived experiences as a graduate student. The
questions were designed to be open-ended to ensure that every participant has the chance to
share their experiences or engagement with a mentor within their time in graduate school. Upon
completion of interviews, all data was transcribed and coded using the method of “in-vivo
coding”. The use of “in-vivo coding” will allow me to draw direct phrases from participants to
find emerging themes. One of the goals of Critical Race Theorists is to highlight the counter-
stories by people of color to challenge the dominant discourses that serve to suppress people on
the margins of society (Creswell, 2013, p. 32). The central question of this primary study was to
find out “What are the mentoring experiences of African American women in graduate school?
Prologue: Role as Researcher
As an individual who identifies as an African American and woman this topic is
particularly close to me. Many of the spaces I have been in within predominantly white
institutions I have struggled to find other African American women who looked like me and
shared similar backgrounds. In some instances, feelings of loneliness would occur when I did not
identify with the majority of individuals on campus. The criteria for a participant to meet to be in
the study are that they must identify as an African American, woman, and are currently enrolled
in a graduate program on campus. The location of the research will take place at a private
research I institution in the West. Personally, as a researcher my personal background fits all the
participant eligibility requirements which positions me very close to the subject content of this
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 30

research. Overall, the number of participants selected for this study will be six African
American women. In addition, based on the subjective nature of using a purposive sampling
method, there could be the potential for researcher bias. Essentially, my own values or beliefs
could have a subconscious effect on the selection process.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 31

Chapter 4: Data Collection

This qualitative research study conducted was created to further explore the following
research question:
Using the lens of Critical Race Theory, what are the mentoring experiences of African
American women pursuing Masters degrees?”

Using purposive sampling, qualitative interviews were administered to six African American
women who are currently in Masters programs at a Western predominately white research
institution. All but one of the participants are current Masters students, and one participant is a
recent alum. The participants represented the following disciplines: Social Work, Higher
Education Counseling, Strategic Public Relations, and Student Affairs. Overall, the interviews
were administered in quiet spaces that allowed for the participant to openly express their
answers. Participant interviews ranged from fifteen to twenty-five minutes; each participant was
asked nine key questions. The duration of the interviews lasted for as short as fifteen minutes
with the longest interview lasting thirty minutes. The data is displayed by starting each section
with a subject heading in the sequential order of the interview protocol. Subsequently, I will
outline from the responses provided the emerging themes consistently presented in the
participant’s responses to the question.
Background of Participants

The participants that were selected for this qualitative interview are from a variety of
academic disciplines. To maintain the confidentiality of each participant, I will be labeling each
participant with pseudonyms. Each participant was very determined to make their families proud
by attaining their Masters degrees. Most of the participants possessed an unwavering spirit to
reach their academic goals, regardless of whether they had a mentor.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 32

Sally, Student Affairs graduate student. Sally is currently beginning her second and final year
of her Master’s program in Student Affairs. Sally completed her undergraduate degree at a small
private university in California. She noted it was a predominately white institution (PWI). Sally
is pursuing a Master’s degree in Student Affairs to create intentional spaces for other African
American college students.
Kelly, Social Work graduate student. Kelly is starting her second year and final year of her
graduate program in Social Work. She is pursuing a Master’s degree in Social Work with an
emphasis in children, youth, and families. Ultimately, she wants to work in a school setting.
Kelly expressed consistently in the interview her ability throughout college to build strong
connections with other African American women, which she attributes to positively guiding her
though college.
Leslie, recently alum Masters of Strategic Public Relations. A few weeks prior to the

interview, Leslie completed her Master’s program in Strategic Public Relations, specializing in
Civic Engagement. Leslie’s goal is to contribute towards assisting social justice based non-profit
organizations. Leslie consistently expressed that her college journey was one led by her seeking
out resources and personally researching into the best resources. She attributes being a college
student, and specifically a Masters student to possessing access to different people and
opportunities not afforded to others who are not in the collegiate space.
Molly, 2nd year Academic Counseling Master’s student. Molly is currently entering her
second year and final year of her Academic Counseling Master’s program. Molly wants to
become an academic counselor at a two-year or four-year college university. Molly completed
her undergraduate degree from a small, private all-girls university that was noted as being a
predominately white institution (PWI). Molly has always found school to be interesting and felt
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 33

her college journey was enhanced from the college friends she’s made and by her professors both
as an undergraduate and graduate student.
Roxy, 2
nd
year Masters of Strategic Public Relations student. Roxy is currently in her second
and final year of her Master’s program in Strategic Public Relations. Overall, Roxy loves being
in college because, like Leslie, she expressed that college has been a great place where she has
been able to have access to meeting new people and explore different opportunities.
Ashley, 2
nd
year Masters of Strategic Public Relations student. Ashley is currently entering
her second and final year of her Master’s program in Strategic Public Relations. Ashley
expressed the ebbs and flows of being in graduate school at a predominately white institution
(PWI) and disclosed feeling isolated and alienated in certain aspects of her graduate school
experience. In addition, this participant was the only one to highlight her choice of employment
as a source of anxiety and feelings of isolation.
Interview Questions

What are some of the highlights of your college journey, and what about your graduate
school journey was considered a highlight in particular?
The emerging themes presented consistently by the interviewees was: “sense of

belonging” and “figuring out it’s not as bad as it seems.” These two ideas emerged in variations
of ways by the participants in responding to this question. Many of the women attributed their
college highlights to connecting with other people, specifically individuals they most related to
such as African American women. Kelly explains that:
Whenever I find that cohort of strong Black women…specifically Black women, and I
find that group of women that I feel support me and I can build genuine relationships and
I feel safe in those relationships, then that’s when I am able to thrive.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 34

Similarly, Sally explains that throughout college she didn’t feel connected, so she became
involved on campus. Specifically, Sally decided to become very involved within graduate school
which is evidenced when she explains:
Grad school, I think my highlight would be able to be a part of the black graduate student
network as the communications director and it kind of got me connected with the black
community and something that I didn't realize that I craved until I got here.

Leslie explained that the highlight of her college journey was related to her high levels of
involvement:
I was able to be in the women's choir on campus; I was able to be an RA; I was able to
have my own radio show and to help work on producing a new podcast. And so, I just
had a lot of access to different things and was able to explore whatever I was interested
in.

Participants expressed feeling very connected to their college experience by their
engagement level with the campus organizations. For this reason, the emerging theme
that could be drawn from the respondents was the need for a sense of belonging
somewhere on campus.
Roxy and Ashley who are both in their second year of the Public Relations Master’s
program, identified as a highlight of: “figuring out that it’s not as bad as it seems.” Both
respondents expressed this feeling of increased confidence at the fact that they were succeeding
in graduate school despite their doubts they can make it. Ashley expressed her doubts of being
able to succeed due to not seeing many individuals of color who look like she does. As Ashley
states: “sometimes I feel like a little bit less or lower than the other people on campus, so just
knowing I could finish it and accomplish this is a highlight.” As illustrated from the participant’s
responses to this question many of their highlights stemmed from being a part of something
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 35

positive whether it was building positive friendships with other African American women on
campus or by just thriving as a graduate student.
What was the process of adjusting to your Master’s program?

The following themes surfaced from this question by the respondents which included:
“acclimating to a new environment”, “adjusting to late schedule of classes”, and the “financial
costs of graduate school.” These themes were consistently discussed by every respondent. Leslie
moved from the Pacific Northwest away from her hometown to pursue a graduate school
education. She explained the rocky period of trying to get adjusted to a new school and state.
Leslie also mentioned at the start of graduate school struggling to find her place on campus,
specifically in the Black community on campus: “Trying to find my place in the Black
community on campus was a little bit tougher of a transition for me because people were just so
much different.”
Leslie further explained that she did in fact adjust better once she got connected to the
Black Cultural Center on campus. Ultimately, this bridged the social dynamics for her and
getting to know other Black students on campus. In addition, many of the women in the
interviews expressed having a difficult time with adjusting to late classes at night. Molly
expressed sentiments many of the respondents shared by exclaiming the following: “It was kind
of weird having just, I mean, all night classes.” The respondents’ answers to this question
illustrated the rocky period they all went through towards adjusting to the new academic
environment of graduate school. Issues that the women faced ranged from basic survival issues
such as financial costs of subsidizing their housing and basic incidentals to finding their place on
campus socially. Overall, the responses in this section presents interesting data that illustrates
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 36

how the participants were able to develop in their new environment dealing with the internal and
external stressors of being a student.
What factors in your life attributed to you wanting to pursue a Master’s degree?

When the participants were asked to think about the factors that contributed in their
desire to attain a Master’s degree, their responses illustrated the following themes:
“Understanding that now days just having your Bachelor’s degree is not enough;” “Family;”
“being a first-generation college student;” and “influenced by an individual.” Nearly all the
respondents expressed a variation of these themes. Undoubtedly, many of the women felt that
deciding to complete their Master’s degree was necessary to be successful. Ashley said that it is
“very common knowledge that a Bachelor’s degree isn’t enough anymore, so I knew I was just
going to get my Masters and it just became another goal.” Leslie explained that “to do
something you want to do you need to specialize a little bit." Essentially, there is a sense of
urgency to pursue their Masters degrees to reach the professional goals they have. The other
presented theme of family consistently came up from respondents in expressing that their family
played a seminal role in encouraging them to advance their education. The theme of family is
intersectional to the theme of being a first-generation college student. Many of the respondents
connected these themes together. For instance, Kelly attributed her family as being one of the
reasons she is pursuing a Master’s degree, she continues to say that:
I am the first person in my family to go to college and then the first person to get a
Masters. I just wanted to break barriers for them…and to have my younger cousins see
that somebody in their family did it.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 37

In addition, just to note Kelly was the only respondent who heavily attributed her desire to being
in graduate school to her spiritual faith. Kelly discusses this by saying: “Okay, God wants you to
be a social worker. I would say my willingness to live a purpose-driven life and to pursue what
God’s plan is and not my own plan was the number one priority.” Kelly’s faith along with her
family attributed to her wanting to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work.
On the other hand, other respondents mentioned they were pursuing a Master’s degree
because of an individual influencing them to go after it serving as encouragement. This was the
case for Sally who upon graduating from her undergraduate institution thought she was going to
be a teacher. Instead, the work she performed after graduating from her undergrad was within the
student affairs field. Sally further explained that her supervisor at the time was the individual
who persuaded her to pursue a Master’s degree in student affairs because she worked so well
with assisting students. Sally stated that “My supervisor was telling me like you know, you love
all this student affair stuff, there’s a Master’s degree in that.” Molly describes her interest
sparked to pursue a Master’s degree after attending a breakout session at a professional
conference that discussed the benefits of graduate school. Molly discusses her path to graduate
school in the following statement:
I went to like a grad summit thing and after that, I was like "I guess I'm going to grad
school." There was nothing that my parents ever told me about –I mean, I'm first gen, so
they didn't graduate from college.
Overall, the participants were encouraged or influenced to pursue graduate school based
on their relationships with others. Many of the participants specifically expressed feeling
obligated to pursue a Master’s degree as a way to honor their family who did not have the
opportunity to go to college, and ultimately show younger generations in their family that it is
possible. The participant’s connection to their families and other embedded values they
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 38

possessed such as in the case of Kelly her strong belief in her spiritual faith was a driving force
to advancing her education.
What was the process of connecting to resources in your program? If you did, what kind of
resources?
The participants answered this question similarly in a sense, but their experiences were
different in the ways they could get connected to resources. The following themes emerged from
the participants answers as to how they expressed connecting to resources: “leaning on peers,” “I
had to do it on my own,” and “connecting with Professors.” These are the most prevalent themes
that emerged from the participant’s responses because it provided insight on their experience
trying to navigate connecting to resources and if their program assisted in that process. Sally,
explains that the “main resource would be our second years, we followed the second years in
certain things.” Roxy, describes leaning on other African American women on campus in an
organization called Sista Circle, in the following statement: “I will say in terms of connecting on
the experience of being an African American woman on this campus, I rely a lot on Sista Circle,
stuff like that and Black student government”. Other participants described the process of feeling
like they had to connect to resources on their own. Leslie by explaining: “I feel like just my own
experience as a Black woman, a lot of times we’ve gotta go and get that stuff for ourselves.
We’ve gotta go make it happen for us”.
In this response Leslie who recently graduated from her program has formulated her own
mindset about how to connect to resources as an African American woman. While Kelly
explained that: I know that this school has a lot of resources, but since I was a graduate student it
was hard for me to feel like…I felt like if I was using those resources, I was taking up space.”
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 39

Essentially, Kelly shared the same sentiments as Leslie in a sense because she explained that she
did not feel comfortable utilizing the campus wide resources as a graduate student.
All of the respondents mentioned that the one way they could connect to resources was
by connecting with the Professors in their respective programs. Ashley, expressed that the
biggest resource were the Professors, which she further explains: “really just talking to them,
being active and participating in class is a big thing…asking questions.” Ashley’s response was
consistent with many of the other participants in the sense that all their responses aligned with
the understood importance of connecting to their Professors. The data responses here illustrate
that many of the women took on an independent approach to seeking resources. In one sense
“independence” was displayed as finding resources on your own irrespective of their graduate
program. This was evidenced by Leslie who spoke on the necessity as a Black woman to get up
and get after the resources she needed. On the other instance, “independence” was displayed by
just staying to one’s self trying to manage navigating school on their own, which was evidenced
by Kelly.
When reflecting on a mentor in graduate school, please elaborate on the qualities and
actions that were most significant to you?
When participants were asked to reflect on an individual that has served as a Mentor
while in graduate school, and to explain what about their qualities did they find to be most
significant they all had varying responses. For this question one theme emerged in the
participant’s responses when discussing what they believe were great qualities of a mentor or in
some cases what they believe a good mentor should have, and the theme was “balance between
personal and professional.” Sally identified her mentor as being a second-year graduate student
in her program that she was matched with in a Peer mentoring component of her program. Sally
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 40

expressed her love for being matched with the mentor and the great qualities she admired, and
explained:
She definitely was able to be a strong example of a Black woman on this campus, and
showing that you can do it all. I also got to see like that back side of what doing it all
means, and how it actually affects a person.
In a sense Sally was expressing that she could relate to her mentor and gain insight on the right
approach to doing things and seeing the flaws of not doing certain things. Leslie, who identified
the co-director of her program as her mentor. In elaborating on the qualities that she found to be
significant she explains, “She genuinely wanted to see me succeed and genuinely cared about me
as a person”. Leslie further explains that her mentor:
“wanted to know how I was doing. After class, she’d ask me like, Oh, so how are things?
And then would ask me about not just, oh how are your classes?”
In addition, Leslie eloquently expressed that her mentor was engaging with her like she was her
friend, while also providing mentorship. Roxy, who identified her mentor as a woman she was
matched with in the Black Alumni Association. Roxy explained that “she understood the process
I was going through as a Graduate student…but also on a personal level.” On the other hand,
Molly and Ashley expressed that they did not have a mentor but could detail the ideal qualities
they would find significant in a potential mentor. The general qualities they believe a mentor
should have included positive spirit, relatability, easy to access if needed, passion, and the ability
to be encouraging. Kelly identified her mentor as her godfather. The qualities she expressed that
were significant to her as she’s been in graduate school she explains was:
“My godfather is just always there for me…he’s been my main supporter, just always
there to encourage, never judgmental.”
Many of the women who had a mentor expressed the qualities they most admired was their
mentor’s ability to be there for them. This personal investment of time appeared to be a trait that
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 41

many of the participant with mentors appreciated. In the case of Ashley and Molly who did not
have a mentor they both listed ideal qualities that they would like to see in a mentor which they
both answered very similarly to the other women which was someone who was reliable,
passionate, and encouraging. Overall, a consistent response from all the women on admirable
quality from their mentor was that personal investment of their time.
What qualities do you think a great mentor exemplifies?

When asking the participants to think on what are good qualities they believe a great
mentor exemplifies they all mentioned within their responses the following qualities: must be
relatable, accessible, invested in the mentoring relationship, passionate, good listener,
encouraging, patient, and empathetic. An overarching theme that surfaced from the participant
responses was “trust.” Many of the participants emphasized the need to trust that their mentor is
genuinely concerned about their success or failure.
Sally describes qualities of a mentor as someone who is “passionate about sharing their
experiences, honest, an actual resource, being available.” Sally emphasized the need for a mentor
to actually serve as a resource. Kelly explained she believed a mentor is “a good example, not
just tell somebody what to do, but actually live it for themselves.” Leslie says qualities of a good
mentor are: “being consistent, genuinely caring, and advocating for whatever progress means to
them.” Molly, explains that a mentor should be “a good listener, make time, and have the ability
to show empathy and sympathy.” Molly further elaborates on the quality of a mentor being a
“good listener” by explaining:
When I’m trying to express how I’m feeling or express what my people, as a Black
person, what we go through and nobody is listening, and they’re just making excuses,
“Well did you do this?” “Well how about you think of it this way?” ...It’s like, I don’t
need you to do that, I just need you to listen to me and stop making up excuses.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 42

Roxy, in referring to her own mentor mentioning that the qualities she liked most about her
mentor was the qualities of transparency and availability. Molly explains: “That transparency and
availability gave me someone I could communicate with that understood the process I was going
through as a graduate student…but also on a personal level, to be able to like connect with
someone.”
Ashley explains that qualities of a good mentor should include “being relatable, knowledgeable,
and caring.” Overall, the respondents to this question all wanted a mentor who they felt had an
invested interest in their success and most importantly someone they could count on to be there
when they need assistance. Most of responses illustrate there is a need by the women to feel a
sense of connection to their mentor that surpasses the professional contacts they could provide
for them.
What has been enjoyable about pursuing a Master’s degree, and how did you experience
those times?
In asking the participant to think about what has been enjoyable about pursuing a
Master’s degree, the following themes emerged from the responses it included: “relationships
with colleagues and peers”, “Access to networking opportunities”, and “curriculum focused on
their professional goals.” Molly, describes enjoying the “sense of community felt within her
cohort” and further elaborates by explaining that: “To know that there is 40 people and we’re all
applying to positions, and some of them are the same, but there’s no animosity or that
competition that might come with people that you don’t know.”

On the other hand, Kelly describes feeling an increase in her self-efficacy by being in her
Master’s program, this is described when she said, “showing myself that I can reach the goal.”
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 43

Leslie shared that she enjoyed having the opportunity to have access to great resources and
networks. Leslie explains:
I felt like I was in a world where people could really share ideas across power systems. I
could have a conversation with the Dean of my program and really engage on topics and
feel like I contributed to that conversation, and she respected and valued my opinion.

Like Sally, Molly explains that she enjoys being around others that are pursuing their Master’s
degree and within her program. Like Leslie, Roxy highlights the benefit of having access to
specifically the Professors in the program because many of them still are connected to their
industry of interest. Ashley describes from a practical standpoint the curriculum “actually
relating…it’s the actual work I’ll be doing at the jobs I may want.” The women’s responses to
this question illustrate their appreciation of all the benefits being in graduate school offers such
as access to opportunities. This concept of “access” was consistently brought in discussion of
this question and it graduate school was seen as a positive space for the bridging networks and
knowledge could occur.
What has been difficult about pursuing your Master’s degree, and how did you overcome
these difficult times?
When participants were asked to think on the difficulties that arose for them during their
time in their Master’s program many of the women shared related responses. Emerging themes
from the participants in this question was “financial costs”, “juggling external stressors”, and
“experiencing Imposter Syndrome.” In terms of the theme of “financial costs” Kelly, Roxy and
Ashley, all expressed in their responses that the financial cost of being in graduate school was
causing them a lot of difficulty. This is illustrated in Ashley’s response when she says:
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 44

The workload’s not bad when that’s all you have to do, but when you have to worry
about work as well, and you have the stress of bills or the stressor of where am I going to
live after school is over?
Essentially, the responses made from participants regarding the financial difficulties they
experienced in graduate school directly connected with the theme of “juggling external
stressors.” By that same token, “juggling external stressors” was discussed by Kelly who like
Ashley, explains that: “the main thing was everything outside of school or becoming an adult for
the first time and having to pay rent and be out here on your own and make wiser decisions.”
When following up with Kelly to see what she does to overcome the financial difficulty she
mentioned she attends church and surrounds herself with positive individuals. On the other hand,
the other emerging theme of “imposter syndrome,” a few of the women expressed feeling like
initially when they started graduate school feeling apprehensive when they were accepted to a
top tier graduate program. Ashley, explains how she felt alienated and isolated being at her job
working for Residential Education amongst her co-workers. Ashley describes: “I felt very much
like an outcast in the Department, just because I felt like you know, I really didn’t fit in, I felt
very colorful in a colorless workplace.”
As Sally explains: “the imposter syndrome thing is a real thing, especially when you’re a

minority or a Black student on a predominately white institution (PWI)…you start to like second
guess why you’re here… did you get here on a fluke?” Aside from the responses mentioned
Molly was the only participant to mention that she considered the subject matter to be difficult to
read due to it not being as enjoyable as her undergraduate major of English. The data responses
from this question displays that many of the women struggled with acceptance within the
institution as that they did not fully feel connected. The degrees of acceptance varied for each
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 45

participant but they all expressed this level of up and down feeling of apprehension to the
campus.
Is there anything else about your graduate school journey that you wanted to share that I
didn’t get a chance to ask you about?
To truly encapsulate the words from each participant’s last words there will be sections
to display their final thoughts. By each individual participant’s name there will be a quote in the
heading that depicts the theme of their thoughts in the section. This last portion of the data
collection is important to illustrate every respondents’ own words because what I found was that
they all felt they needed to say more.
Sally: “As a Black woman you have to be willing to let your voice be heard and stand up for
other folks.” Sally highlights that it is necessary to be conscious of the influence attending
graduate school can have on others. Sally continues by explaining that:
As a graduate student you have a different responsibility and undergraduates, regardless
if you see them or not, they are looking up to you and being able to make spaces where
there aren’t any and encourage undergrads to pursue a Master’s degree…pursue a
postsecondary degree of some kind.

Kelly: “I don’t think my program, per se provided enough resources for students.” Kelly
expressed in this portion of the interview that she felt that her program could have done a better
job at providing mental health resources within the Social work program. Kelly explains: “We all
was like ripping off band-aids of old wounds and they didn’t provide any mental health
treatment, what I’m saying is, for actual students”. Kelly, was led to pursue a graduate degree
based on her strong spiritual values that revealed to her that her purpose was to help others as a
Social Worker. However, in her program’s curriculum it was grounded in a mental health focus
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 46

which caused Kelly along with her peers to have to be “retriggered” by these incidences without
a Mental Health professional to unpack these traumatic experiences. Throughout the interview
Kelly, expressed not feeling completely comfortable using campus resources. Evidently, Kelly
not feeling comfortable using campus resources is a presumed reality of perception that she has
developed. This detail of Kelly, illustrates that her program may have done a poor job of sharing
information, however this also brings to attention that Kelly was not receiving advisement as
well from a Mentor in her program.
Leslie “Grad school can be tough because of all the systems in place.” Leslie shared how despite
the perceived obstacles in graduate school, still finding the motivation to stay focused on her
goals. When referring to the “systems” or encountered obstacles Leslie explains further that:
“trying to see past them, making the barrier more transparent rather than solid, seeing
through them, definitely made a completely different experience for me”.
Molly: “I was hoping that it would be different once I got to graduate school but unfortunately,
it is not.” Molly shares at this point of the interview that her lack of time with juggling between
working multiple internships, being a full-time graduate student, and studying she did not have
any time left in her day to go visit the Cultural Black Center on campus. She explains further in
the following statement: “I came from a very tiny, tiny, tiny undergrad institution where not only
was it tiny, but it was predominantly Latina and Filipino students. The black population was very
small, we had a Black Student Union club once again but it was small. And that was another
thing that I really couldn't connect with because I was busy and I was hoping that it would be
different once I got to grad school but unfortunately, it is not.”
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 47

Roxy: “The professors that I have interacted with so far have been supportive and
understanding.”
Roxy, shares that she was very surprised how much her Professors were supportive in her
program. Roxy explains:
“They’re usually very supportive and very open and kind of eager to help you and have your
back….and I feel weird sometimes about asking for help and just reaching out to them and
utilizing their resources and they’re like “No, contact me. Whatever you need I’ll help you.”
The apprehension expressed by Roxy to trust the support shown forth from her Professors is an
interesting phenomenon. The surprise feeling that Roxy explains she felt as an initial response to
support implicitly suggests she may have felt support usually is not provided as a result of
possibly previous experiences.
Ashley: “It’s been very difficult to adjust to...what is it, like 4% Black people here?” Ashley
shared that the small number of Black students being present at the institution still is an
adjustment period. Ashley says: “the students of color demographic at my undergrad is way
larger than it is here, and then being someone who’s Black and Mexican, by coming here, it was
just on top of all stressors...” Ashley further details experiencing the stress of feeling like the
“other” on campus and only seeing majority White people: “Or just walking around and seeing
nothing but rich, white people all over campus. That [*expletive*] adds up, so I guess that would
be my answer.” Throughout the interview, Ashley expressed anger and sadness about feeling
alienated or isolated in various spaces within the institution. This frustration stemmed from
juggling with stressors at the work level and at the financial level with juggling with the demands
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 48

of being away from the support of family. The racial disparity on campus of not seeing other
students who look like her, was just another contributing stressor in adjusting to the environment.
The overarching themes based on participant responses included sense of belonging,
becoming resourceful, trust, and developing identity in a new space. The role of mentorship
according to Wai-Packard is simply, “dyadic, face to face, long term relationship between a
supervisory adult and a novice student, that serves to cultivate the mentee’s professional,
academic, or personal development” (Wai-Packard, 2009, p. 443). The dynamics of this
“cultivation” that Wai-Packard discusses was an important component to truly understand how
this was illustrated for the participating African American women graduate students in the study.
The findings from the data collection illustrated that many of the African American women
participants represented from the disciplines of Social Work, Strategic Public Relations,
Academic Counseling, and Student Affairs, for the most part could identify a mentor during their
graduate school experience. Four of six participants could identify a mentor during their graduate
school experience. However, only one participant could identify a mentor who was a current
faculty member within her program and someone with high social capital within the institution,
which was Leslie. Leslie identified her mentor to be the Program director and mentioned the
genuine connection the two developed during her time in the program. The other three
participants Sally, Roxy, and Kelly did not quite have the same narrative as far as who they
considered their mentor in graduate school. Sally identified her mentor to be another peer in her
program, a fellow African American woman trying to navigate the same graduate school system.
On the other hand, Roxy was slightly different in the fact that she voluntarily signed up through
the Black Alumni Association on campus to participate in being matched with a Black Alumni
member that would serve as her mentor. Roxy was matched with an African American woman
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 49

alumnus who did not necessarily have the same career goals she had but, ultimately Roxy spoke
highly of the mentoring relationship during the interview. Kelly identified her mentor to be her
Godfather. Kelly’s narrative was different from the other participants with mentors because she
was the only who identified as a mentor an individual completely not associated with her
program and the overall institution. According to Patton (2009), in a study that examined the
mentoring experiences among reentry African American women, found that they all broadened
their range of potential mentors to include friends and relatives, and perceived having a mentor
as important in facilitating their growth” (Patton, 2009). Similarly, many of the women in the
study looked externally of their graduate programs to connect with a mentor. In some cases, for
the participants Molly and Ashley they could not identify experiencing having a mentor within
their program or externally.
Overall, these overarching themes will be further discussed in Chapter five to better
understand how the theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) may be applied to
inform the data. Through viewing the research question from a Critical Race Theory lens, the
methodology of my study will be drawing from the critical race methodology of “counter-
storytelling” (Yosso & Solorzano, 2002). In the next chapter, a discussion of the study’s research
question on: “Using the lens of Critical Race Theory scholarship, what are the experiences of
African American women pursuing Masters Degrees?”
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 50

Chapter 5: Conclusion

This study focuses on the role of mentoring and African American women in graduate
school. While statistically, African American women are a growing number that are deciding to
pursue post-secondary degrees (NCES, 2016). The goal of this research study was to explore
what the experiences of African American women pursuing Masters Degrees using CRT and
counter- storytelling.
Analysis of Findings

Sense of Belonging

Many of the African American women in the study grappled with finding their place at
the institution. Sally’s story highlighted her undergraduate and graduate experience with finding
a space on campus where she felt a sense of connection. However, it was not until she became
increasingly connected to organizations that were within the Black Cultural center that she began
to find that sense of belonging. The real catalyst for her being connected to these various
organizations within the Black Cultural Center was through her mentor who was a peer as well in
her program. Sally’s peer mentor informed her about the organizations that assisted in creating
that space for other African Americans on campus. Ultimately, Sally went on to become highly
involved in the Black Graduate Student Government, and even took on a leadership role as the
Communications Director. The bridged connection for Sally to find that sense of belonging
came as a direct result of her mentor and peer in the program.
Kelly found her sense of belonging through bridging genuine connections with other African
American women on campus. What is interesting about these two narratives is there was no
mention within the interview that their graduate program contributed in the process of feeling
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 51

connected to being in graduate school and the overall adjustment period. It appears the women
had to figure out other ways to find that sense of belonging they were looking for.
Becoming Resourceful

The theme of becoming resourceful presented itself throughout the interviews, whether it
was explicitly or implicitly mentioned. Leslie mentioned how as an African American woman
you must go out there and get resources yourself. Kelly, disclosed not even feeling comfortable
to utilize any of the campus resources because as she mentioned she felt she was “taking up
space.” Roxy had a similar attitude towards seeking resources from her professors stating she felt
“weird sometimes about asking for help and just reaching out to them.” Evidently, there was a
clear disconnect between the level of confidence presented by the women to confidently
participate in the graduate school space. This trend presented of not feeling comfortable utilizing
resources or with receiving assistance from the Professor illustrates this underline distance that
some of the participants were struggling to bridge. However, the participants still demonstrated a
great deal of resiliency to connect to resources on their own which included finding a mentor to
assist them in their graduate school journey which was displayed in the narratives of participants
like Leslie and Roxy.
Developing Identity in a new space.

A few of the participants discussed experiencing “imposter syndrome.” "Imposter
syndrome" refers to “individuals' feelings of not being as capable or adequate as others” (Brems
et. al,1994). Almost all the participants discussed feeling out of place. Sally encapsulated what
many of the women expressed in various ways when she stated:
“You start to second guess why you’re here. Did you get in here on a fluke, or was it
because they had extra space and they kinda just let you in?”
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 52

Sally was not alone in feeling this way other participants expressed the same sentiments in other
ways. Ashley shared the same sentiment, but it was clear that she felt angry about feeling out of
place. When referring to the stressors of college she refers to one stressor, which was seeing
majority of white people. Ashley’s voice raises when she states:” Or just walking around and
seeing nothing but rich, white people all over campus. That [*expletive*] adds up, so I guess that
would be my answer.”
What I found through conducting the interviews was the path to developing their identity
within the graduate school space varied for all of them. Out of all the participants Leslie
appeared to be the most comfortable with her identity at the institution. Leslie was also the only
participant who had a mentor that was a faculty member within her program. The anger Ashley
was experiencing from the “alienation” she was experiencing, in her response stems from the
racial and cultural differences that were creating this disconnect from her and others on campus.
In these instances, to see Ashley who’s hurt clearly turn into anger from just feeling alienated at
the campus was difficult to watch. However, cases such as Ashley, begs the question on if there
was a faculty member within her program that took her under their wing as Leslie experienced
would that have changed her feeling so “out of place”? As Wai- Packard defines the term
“mentor,” who essentially is an individual of a higher influential status who serves to cultivate

the mentee’s professional, academic, and personal development (Wai-Packard, 2009, p. 443). In
the case of Ashley who expressed her continuous struggle of adjusting to the institution the
opportunity to have access to a mentor within the institution to assist in the adjustment period
may have possibly had positive implications. For example, Leslie when expressing the one thing
she loved most about her mentor who was the current co-director of her program was that she
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 53

felt she was “engaging with her like she was her friend, while also providing mentorship.” The
implications of the African American women who do not have mentors appear to be suffering
from a disconnection to the institution or lingering feelings of hurt that if left bottled in could
evolve into anger. An example of this would be in the case of Kelly who was in the Social Work
program, explained that her program could have done a better job of providing mental health
counseling to students. Kelly expressed great frustration of not being connected to the mental
health resources stating that the nature of the classes in her program caused her to have to unpack
traumatic experiences without any form of counseling provided to assist her in processing.
Using “Counter-storytelling” as Critical Race Methodology

Yosso and Solorzano (2005) value the centrality of experiential knowledge as a key part
of counter storytelling. This approach necessitates acknowledging the lived experiences and
stories of individuals from marginalized communities, while highlighting the strengths from
specifically people of color. Through this scope of Critical Race Theory “counter-storytelling”
challenges color-blind and meritocracy ideology. The findings from this study show that the
lived experiences of many of the African American women is one that is guided upon by self-
advocating towards actively seeking out resources that align with their professional and personal
goals. For most of the ladies’ opportunities are not just easily presented to them they all had to as
Leslie said, “as a Black woman you gotta go out there and get your own resources”. These
resources were found by the women actively researching and asking around to their peers. While
this raises the question of why is it that African American women are not being properly
supported or do not in fact feel comfortable reaching out to faculty, like in the case of Roxy. The
strengths of this group of women, according to Yosso and Solorzano (2005) who would
character this group of women as possessing strong “navigational capital.” Navigational capital
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 54

is defined as “the skills to maneuver through social institutions” (Yosso & Solorzano, pg 80,
2005). These social institutions, according to Yosso and Solorzano (2005) do not have people of
color in mind. While all of the participants shared experiencing ebbs and flows to adjusting to
graduate school they all successfully figured out ways to navigate the landscape.
Critical Race Theory lens: Five Tenets

Counter-storytelling
Overall, the participants’ responses directly dismantled any form of deficit lens
knowledge regarding African American women. By each participant taking a “front seat” role of
being able to tell their own story of their lived experiences, only further advances the goal of
critical race theory. CRT is based on challenging the embedded racialized forms of subordination
in society that only serves to silence and distort the real narratives of people of color.
Participants’ engagement in the study provides insight on how their views of the world are from
their positioning within society.
Permanence of Racism

Not all participants explicitly discussed racism in their responses. Ashley expressed
feeling very frustrated about experiencing alienation and isolation at work and on campus. In
addition, she describes the external stressor of seeing White students walk around, which she
explains “or just walking around and seeing nothing but rich, white people all over campus.” As
a researcher, I could observe the resentment and hurt that Ashley was expressing in that one
statement. Ashley was viewing the world around her that she could see was racially different and
connecting the historical implications of the privileges many of the White students were
experiencing that was distinctively different from her narrative. In addition, many of the women
expressed feeling Imposter Syndrome, which was second guessing if they truly belonged at the
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 55

campus. Many of the women described in their response to adjusting to graduate school as a
process of also adjusting to the cultural differences, which attributed to not seeing many people
who looked like them. The connection between the permanence of racism illustrates an implicit
awareness from the women of their racial differences and the historical implications of American
society that marginalizes people of color.
Whiteness as Property

The participants’ level of engagement with mentorship varied or in the case of two of the
participants was non-existent. The opportunity to have a mentor undoubtedly provides a higher
level of knowledge of how to advance. There are still looming questions that is in need of more
time and attention in understanding the lack of connection of resources for African American
women. Is the issue lie within the rocky history of our country and the psychosocial effects of it
on African Americans overall, and African American women specifically? Whiteness can be
considered a property interest (Hiraldo, 2010) that can continue to perpetuate the disparities in
income, educational attainment, and much more if not dismantled. The women in this study, who
are continuing to journey through a culture of Whiteness as part of participating in their
programs at a Predominantly white institution. Most likely a part of being enrolled at PWI the
curriculum within the women’s respective programs may be steeped in a Westernized approach,
which essentially is another way of ensuring “Whiteness as property” is embedded in society.
Unfortunately, this aspect of the tenet is not one that cannot be answered at this level of research.

Interest Convergence

This tenet of CRT that argues that White people have been the sole beneficiaries of
United States Civil Rights legislation. Ultimately, the landscape statistically that illustrates the
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 56

low numbers of African Americans represented in higher education classes can be traced to
systemic policies that result in these numbers. Most of the women in this study have identified
mentors who are external from their programs. For this reason, the emerging question is what
does this mean for students, specifically students of color to be admitted but not being mentored
in their programs. For example, both Sally and Leslie explained that it was not until they sought
after the resources at the Black Cultural Center that they truly began to feel connected to the
campus. The concept of “interest convergence” is illustrated when the dominant culture White
people allow people of color to do things because it benefits them. Essentially, by the African
American women feeling more comfortable to seek resources at the Black Cultural center, a
resource outside of their programs does not necessarily effectively serve them explicitly within
their own graduate program.
Critique of Liberalism

The last tenet of CRT challenges the idea of colorblindness, the neutrality of law, and
equal opportunity for all was evidenced by one participant Molly in her responses. Molly, who
was one of the participants who did not have a mentor, when asked what she believed are great
qualities one quality she mentioned was an individual who is a “good listener.” Molly
vehemently explains further:
When I’m trying to express how I’m feeling or express what my people, as a Black
person, what we go through and nobody is listening, and they’re just making excuses,
“Well did you do this?” “Well how about you think of it this way?” ...It’s like, I don’t
need you to do that, I just need you to listen to me and stop making up excuses.

In Molly’s explanation of when she is trying to express what it means to be a Black person in
society she refutes an individual brushing her off and saying, “Well how about you think of it
this way?” This scenario in the interviews align with the CRT tenet that critiques colorblind
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 57

rhetoric that serves to silence the real-life stories presented by people of color such as Molly. In
Molly’s explanation of dispelling individuals who brush off what she says, especially in terms of
culturally shows Molly’s frustration with her real-life narrative being silenced.
Implications of Research Study

The implications of my findings from this research study illustrates that the fact remains
that African American women at the postsecondary level are still not receiving support at the
institution. Many of the women in the study had to seek out external sources to be able to cope
with their lived experience of alienation and isolation as mention by more than half of the
participants. The implications of the findings that most of the participants did not receive
mentorship from a faculty member in their graduate program illustrates there needs to be more
scholarship that can further explore the support or lack of support towards African American
women at the graduate school level. However, the individuals who did receive mentorship
whether it was an individual associated with the institution or outside connection, their presence
still was beneficial in assisting those participants through their graduate process.
The work of conducting this type of scholarship can only further contribute to the
discussion on African American women in higher education and developing best practices for
this population. Future research could be conducted as well on this topic that explores the
experiences of African American women enrolled in graduate programs where women are not
generally represented, programs like these usually relate to the STEM field. In addition, my
recommendations for future research should be to include understanding the psychosocial
development of African American women while in graduate school. It became increasingly clear
within administering qualitative interviews that many of the African American women disclosed
feeling isolated and alienated at the institution at times. For this reason, exploring the
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 58

psychosocial development of the African American woman in graduate school could inform
educators on best ways to support African American women and ultimately serving to empower
building a healthy self-image.
Implications for Institutional Practice

Based on the findings, many of the African American women participants described
feeling distant from fully engaging in the graduate school process (i.e. interacting with
Professors, using campus resources, etc.). This phenomenon of African American women
experiencing the feeling distant from the institution and not fully trusting the institution’s
resources shows there needs to be improvements made to better engage with this subpopulation.
In addition, there is a notion that at the graduate school level classroom sizes are smaller, there is
a smaller cohort model of peers, and that the possibility of receiving guidance from a mentor
may occur. However, as illustrated by the women’s responses, most of the participants could not
identify a mentor within their program or overall at the institution. For this reason, there needs to
be strategic efforts to build within graduate programs mentorship component, where faculty
members are paired with students as a direct resource. As a recommendation for future
consideration for educators and educational faculty is to take time to try to have intentional
interactions with all students. One of the top highlighted traits that many of the women believed
made a mentor great was being genuine and showing they had a personal investment in their
success or failure. In a practical sense, checking in with your students, while also being
cognizant that we do not live in a color-blind society and that each student is going to interact or
understand the campus space differently. In addition, being open to mentoring students from
historically marginalized backgrounds, but also avoiding the mistake of victimizing minority
students. Overall, the consistent trend in the interviews, illustrate that there is a need for African
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 59

American women to have influential mentors within the graduate school space to assist in
navigating the campus successfully.
Recommendations for Future Research

African American women at the postsecondary level are still not receiving support at the
institution. Most of the participants did not receive mentorship from a faculty member in their
graduate program, which illustrates there needs to be more scholarship that can further explore
the support or lack of support towards African American women at the graduate school level. In
addition, one of the participants Ashley who consistently mentioned feeling alienated both in the
classroom and at her job working on campus, expressed a strong level of frustration with feeling
isolated. Research needs to be conducted that can look further into what are the mental health
implications for a student such as Ashley and how is other African American women developing
psychosocially? Further development of scholarship exploring the experiences of African
American women at the graduate school level is the step in the right direction towards change,
there also a need for specialized research on the graduate level experiences of African American
women in STEM programs, where women overall are disproportionately represented. Any
further research on this studies’ question should be also understood by using a comparison group
of other races of women to analyze the intersections of experiences and potential differences.
Epilogue: Role as Researcher

After concluding my findings from the study of the African American women what I found was
that I could see my own self within many of their narratives. Every woman that participated in
the study spoke on their experiences; many of the women felt they had to navigate graduate
school on their own. While collecting the data, I sought to remain objective, and hearing the hurt
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 60

some of the participants felt by expressing feeling alienated was a real emotion that I could
identify with. As an individual who is the first in my family to attend college, there is a high
level of pressure to complete college. However, the unanticipated experience of “fitting in” was a
constant reminder of what I felt attributed to my “otherness” at a predominately white institution.
It was unfortunate to hear that many of the women did not have a mentor they could identify
within their graduate program shows that there is definitely more research that needs to be
conducted to understanding why so many African American women do not feel connected or
engaged with on a personal level at the graduate level.
Mentoring experiences of African American Women 61

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Appendix 1

Interview Protocol

1. Tell me a little about your college journey.

2. What was the process of adjusting to your Master’s program?

3. What factors in your life attributed to you wanting to pursue a Master’s degree?

4. What was the process of connecting to resources in your program? What kind of
resources?
5. When reflecting on a mentor in graduate school, please elaborate on the qualities and
actions that were most significant to you?
6. What qualities do you think a great mentor exemplifies?

7. What has been enjoyable about pursuing your Master’s degree, and how did you
experience those times?
8. What has been difficult about pursuing your Master’s degree and how did you overcome
these difficult times?
9. Is there anything else about your graduate school journey that you wanted to share that I
didn’t get a chance to ask you about?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract To better understand the graduate school experiences of African American women in Masters programs, qualitative interviews were conducted to six interviewees to explore their experiences of receiving mentorship in their respective graduate programs. The application of the scholarship of Critical Race Theory is used, as well as Yosso and Solorzano’s counter storytelling methodology to examine study participants experiences. Findings from the study suggest that many of the women did not receive mentorship within their program and instead found external sources of mentorship such as from family and friends. The following themes emerged from interview data, which included the following: Sense of Belonging, Becoming Resourceful, and Developing Identity in a new space.

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Creator Hall-Carr, Dominique Alexandra (author)

Core Title The mentoring experiences of African American women in masters programs

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Master of Education

Degree Program Educational Counseling

Publication Date 08/09/2018

Defense Date 08/07/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag African American women,critical race theory,mentoring,OAI-PMH Harvest,Relationships

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Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA