Strategies for Mentoring and Advising Evaluation Graduate Students of Colour
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.69574Keywords:
advising, culture, students of colour, teaching evaluationAbstract
While evaluators have many intersecting identities, ethnicity remains the most salient identity for evaluators of colour. As formal graduate training in evaluation continues to expand, so too does the number of students from ethnic minoritized populations, who are in need of specialized mentoring and advising. Drawing from previous research on evaluation, higher education literature, and personal reflections from the author, an Afro-Latina faculty member, this practice note outlines five strategies for mentoring and advising evaluation graduate students of colour. These include considering the impact of vicarious trauma; assisting with the facilitation of peer and mentor “squads”; respecting, honouring, and celebrating students’ culture, religion, and families; being vigilant of microaggressions and practicing microvalidations; and developing mentoring competence. Each strategy is presented along with reflections and practical examples for implementation.
References
American Evaluation Association (AEA). (2019). AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program (GEDI). https://www.eval.org/p/cm/ld/fid=183
Auguste, E., Packard, B. W.- L., & Keep, A. (2018). Nontraditional women students’ experiences of identity recognition and marginalization during advising. NACADA Journal, 38(2), 45 – 60. https://doi.org/10.12930/nacada-17-046
Bell, D. (1999). The civil rights chronicles: The chronicle of the DeVine Gift. In R. Delgado & J. Stefancic (Eds.), Critical race theory: The cutting edge (2nd ed., pp. 468 – 478). Temple University Press.
Biaggio, M., Paget, T. L., & Chenoweth, M. S. (1997). A model for ethical management of faculty–student dual relationships. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28(2), 184 – 189. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.28.2.184
Blake-Beard, S. D. (2001a). Mentoring relationships through the lens of race and gender. Centre for Gender in Organizations (CGO) Simmons School of Management, 10, 1 – 4.
Blake-Beard, S. D. (2001b). Taking a hard look at formal mentoring programs: A consideration of potential challenges facing women. Journal of Management Development, 20(4), 331 – 345. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710110388983
Bolton, R., & Bolton, D. G. (2009). People styles at work—and beyond: Making bad relationships good and good relationships better. Amacom Books.
Boyce, A. S., & Chouinard, J. A. (2017). Moving beyond the buzzword: A framework for teaching culturally responsive approaches to evaluation. The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 32(2), 266 – 279. https://doi.org/10.3138/10.3138/cjpe.31132
Boyce, A. S., Reid, A., Avent, C., Adetogun, A., & Moller, J. (2017). Say their names: Lived experiences of prominent and emerging black evaluators. Panel presented at the meeting for the American Evaluation Association, Washington, DC.
Brown, R. M. (1984). Unexpected news: Reading the Bible with third world eyes. John Knox Press.
Christie, C. A., & Vo, A. T. (2011). Promoting diversity in the field of evaluation: Reflections on the first year of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evaluation Fellowship Program. American Journal of Evaluation, 32(4), 547 – 564. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214011399644
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of anti-discrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago, Legal Forum, 139.
Crenshaw, K., Gotanda, N., Peller, G., & Kendall, T. (Eds.). (1995). Critical race theory: The key writings that formed the movement. The New Press.
Dean-Coffey, J. (2018). What’s race got to do with it? Equity and philanthropic evaluation practice. American Journal of Evaluation, 39(4), 527 – 542. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214018778533
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. NYU Press.
Ellis, E. (2000). Race, gender, and the graduate student experience: Recent research. Diversity Digest. http://www.diversityweb.org/Digest/F00/graduate.html
Erickson, F., & Mohatt, G. (1982). Cultural organization and participation structures in two classrooms of Indian students. In G. Spindler (Ed.), Doing the ethnography of schooling (pp. 131 – 174). Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Everitt, A. (1996). Developing critical evaluation. Evaluation, 2(2), 173 – 188. https://doi.org/10.1177/135638909600200204
Fay, B. (1987). Critical social science. Polity.
Figley, C. R. (1995). Systemic traumatization: Secondary traumatic stress disorder in family therapists. In R. H. Mikesell & D. Lusterman (Eds.), Integrating family therapy: Handbook of family psychology and systems theory (pp. 571 – 581). American Psychological Association.
Gildersleeve, R. E., Croom, N. N., & Vasquez, P. L. (2011). “Am I going crazy?!”: A critical race analysis of doctoral education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(1), 93 – 114. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2011.539472
Girves, J. E., Zepeda, Y., & Gwathmey, J. K. (2005). Mentoring in a post -affirmative action world. Journal of Social Issues, 61(3), 449 – 479. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00416.x
The counted: People killed in the US by police. (n.d.). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database
Hampton, E. (1995). Towards a redefinition of Indian education. In M. Battiste & J. Barman (Eds.), First Nations education in Canada: The circle unfolds (pp. 5 – 46). University of British Columbia Press.
Johnson, W. B., & Huwe, J. M. (2002). Toward a typology of mentorship dysfunction in graduate school. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 39(1), 44 – 55. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.39.1.44
Kendi, I. X. ( 2019 ). How to be an antiracist. One World.
Kohli, R., & Solórzano, D. G. (2012). Teachers, please learn our names!: Racial microagressions and the K-12 classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(4), 441 – 462.
Kram, K. (1985). Mentoring at work. Scott Foresman and Company.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2013). Critical race theory—What it is not! In Handbook of critical race theory in education (pp. 54 – 67). Routledge.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465 – 491.
Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47 – 68. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315709796-2
Lankau, M. J., Riordan, C. M., & Thomas, C. H. (2005). The effects of similarity and liking in formal mentoring relationships between mentors and protégés . Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67, 252 – 265.
LaVelle, J. M. (2018). 2018 directory of evaluator education programs in the United States. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. http://hdl.handle.net/11299/200790
LaVelle, J. M., & Donaldson, S. I. (2010). University-based evaluation training programs in the United States 1980 –2008: An empirical examination. American Journal of Evaluation, 31(1), 9 – 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214009356022
Lewis, C., Ginsberg, R., Davies, T., & Smith, K. (2004). The experiences of African-American Ph.D. students at a predominately white Carnegie I-Research institution. College Student Journal, 38(2), 231 – 245.
Mallinckrodt, B., & Leong, F. T. (1992). Social support in academic programs and family environments: Sex differences and role conflicts for graduate students. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70(6), 716 – 723.
Matthew, P. A. (2016 , November 23). What is faculty diversity worth to a university? Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/what-is-faculty-diversity-worth-to-a-university/508334/
McCabe, J. (2009). Racial and gender microaggressions on a predominantly-White campus: Experiences of Black, Latina/o and White undergraduates. Race, Gender & Class,16(1/2), 133 – 151.
McGowan, B. L., Boyce, A. S., & Jones, C. T. (2019 , November). Black faculty engaging controversial topics in the college classroom: An interdisciplinary response to education violence. Paper presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) conference, Portland, OR.
Morales, A. (1988). Barriers, critical events, and support systems affecting Chicanas in their pursuit of an academic doctorate (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). East Texas State University.
Mustaffa, J. B. (2017). Mapping violence, naming life: A history of anti-Black oppression in the higher education system. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(8), 711 – 727.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2010). Status and trends in the education of ethnic and racial minorities. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015/indicator6_24.asp
Packard, B. W.-L., Gagnon, J. L., LaBelle, O., Jeffers, K., & Lynn, E. (2011). Women’s experiences in the STEM community college transfer pathway. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 17(2), 129 – 147. https://doi.org/10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2011002470
Pearlman, L., & MacIan, P. S. (1995). Vicarious traumatization: An empirical study of the effects of trauma work on trauma therapists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 26, 558 – 565.
Pierce, C., Carew, J., Pierce-Gonzalez, D., & Willis, D. (1978). An experiment in racism: TV commercials. In C. Pierce (Ed.), Television and education (pp. 62 – 88). Sage.
Reid, A., Boyce, A. S., Adetogun, A., Moller, J., & Avent, C. (2020). If not us, then who?: Evaluators of color and social change. In L. C. Neubauer, D. McBride, A. D. Guajardo, W. D. Casillas, & M. E. Hall (Eds.), Examining issues facing communities of color today: The role of evaluation to incite change. New Directions for Evaluation, 166, 7 – 11.
Rockquemore, K., & Laszloffy, T. A. (2008). The black academic’s guide to winning tenure—Without losing your soul. Lynne Rienner.
Shahjahan, R. A., & Barker, L. (2009). Negotiating academic learning and research: The spiritual praxis of graduate students of color. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42(4), 456 – 472. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680903212201
Stamm, B. H. (Ed.). (1995). Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, re-searchers, and educators. Sidran Press.
Suárez-Orozco, C., Casanova, S., Martin, M., Katsiaficas, D., Cuellar, V., Smith, N. A., & Dias, S. I. (2015). Toxic rain in class: Classroom interpersonal microaggressions. Educational Researcher, 44(3), 151 – 160. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x15580314
Sullivan, K. (2019). Here are the 4 congresswomen known as ‘The Squad’ targeted by Trump’s racist tweets. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/15/politics/who-are-the-squad/index.html
Symonette, H. (2004). Walking pathways toward becoming a culturally competent evaluator: Boundaries, borderlands, and border crossings. New Directions for Evaluation, 2004(102), 95 – 109.
Thomas, K. M., Willis, L. A. , & Davis, J. (2007). Mentoring minority graduate students: Issues and strategies for institutions, faculty, and students . Equal Opportunities International, 26(3), 178 – 192. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610150710735471
Thomas, V. G., & Madison, A. (2010). Integration of social justice into the teaching of evaluation. American Journal of Evaluation, 31(4), 570 – 583. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214010368426
Toews, J. A., Lockyer, J. M., Dobson, D. J., & Brownell, A. K. (1993). Stress among residents, medical students, and graduate science (MSc/PhD) students. Academic Medicine, 68(10), S46 - S48.
Williams, M., & DeLapp, R. C. T. (2016 , July 14). Tuning out: Repeated exposure to racial violence can trigger the same symptoms as PTSD. Give yourself a break. Slate . http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2016/07/when_racial_violence_happens_it_s_just_as_important_to_tune_out_as_it_is.htm
Williams, M. S. , Burnett, T. J. B., Carroll, T. K., & Harris, C. J. (2016). Mentoring, managing, and helping: A critical race analysis of socialization in doctoral education. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 20(2), 253 – 278. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025116657834
Williams, M. T. (2015). The link between racism and PTSD. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culturally-speaking/201509/the-link-between-racism-and-ptsd
Williams, M. T. (2016, October 6). Column: White people don’t understand the trauma of viral police-killing videos. PBS News Hour. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/column-trauma-police-dont-post-videos/2
Zachary, L. J. (2000). The mentor’s guide—Facilitating effective learning relationships. Jossey-Bass .
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Ayesha S. Boyce

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 (CC-BY-NC) license. This licence allows this work to be copied, distributed, remixed, transformed, and built upon for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given, a link is provided to the license, and changes made were indicated.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.





