- Access to academia is difficult in the US, more so for those who think they are not worthy.
- Changing this requires tackling a history of inequity and underrepresentation in academia.
- Senior educator Dr Carolyn Walker Hopp of the University of Central Florida is an advocate of building communities of learning.
- Dr Hopp has shared her own experiences as an underrepresented scholar transitioning into a professional role.
- In the process, she has helped create a legacy of mentoring.
To the uninitiated, life within the hallowed halls of academia can seem cultured and untroublesome; the only hard work is being allowed in. Such a perception is only partially accurate: the path to becoming an academic is indeed arduous. Some may argue this is to keep out all but the academically committed, but it can be a perceptual bulwark for students who believe – perhaps because they have been told – that they are not worthy. Changing those perceptions requires more than a kind word and a guiding hand. It demands significant intellectual and emotional involvement by committed educators with a proper understanding of the value of mentoring. One senior academic within education has helped build a legacy of mentoring by drawing on her own troubled path to those hallowed halls.
Dr Carolyn Walker Hopp is a retired associate lecturer from the University of Central Florida College of Community Innovation and Education. She has dedicated much of her research to issues of diversity in education, equity and inclusion, curriculum design, and developing mentoring skills. Dr Hopp has added her voice to a recent publication, From Student to Scholar – Mentoring Underrepresented Scholars in the Academy, edited by DeShawn Chapman and Amanda Wilkerson, both mentees of Dr Hopp and currently academic professionals at the University of Central Florida, which shares the lived experiences of underrepresented scholars as they transitioned into their professional roles.
For Dr Hopp, mentoring is critical for helping diverse students overcome the barriers to entering academia, and it is more than being ‘someone who looks like them.’ Mentor influence and impact depend on the mentor’s understanding that they are not sages on a stage but part of a ‘community of learning’ that starts with the mentors first understanding their intellectual and emotional selves.
From segregation to excellence
Dr Hopp admits that growing up on a university campus with highly supportive academic parents – in her words, her ‘normal’ – her path may have seemed destined for academia. However, significant barriers stood in her way. The campus that was her home was North Carolina College – formerly North Carolina College for Negroes – in Durham. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was a time and place of deep racial segregation, perceptual and real. Her father, Dr Leroy T Walker, was a college professor, but his path to academic seniority had taken a tortuous route.
For Dr Hopp, mentoring is critical for helping diverse students overcome the barriers to entering academia, and it is more than being ‘someone who looks like them’.
Dr Hopp was only to learn much later that after completing his master’s degree at Columbia University in New York and most of his credits towards his doctorate, the university told her father it would not allow a Black man to earn a doctorate. Changing to nearby NYU, he could only transfer six of his 106 credits, effectively forcing him to start his doctorate all over again. He never complained and went on to become not only a highly respected senior academic but also President of the United States Olympic Committee, instilling in his daughter a mantra she would pass on to those she herself mentored: ‘excellence without excuse.’ His influence was fundamental in shaping Dr Hopp; she says, ‘My father was my inspiration, my first mentor, and my great love.’
Expectations of excellence were all around her. Another mentor – a third-grade teacher, Miss Betty Foster – underscored the path, telling her, ‘There is no shortcut to excellence.’ But excellence alone is not a gateway to academia for those marked by the legacy of oppression.
To guide her approach to mentoring doctoral students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, Dr Hopp was inspired by the work of Parker Palmer, an American educator, author, and activist known for his work in education and spirituality. Palmer emphasised the importance of an educator’s self-awareness, integrity, and authenticity. For Dr Hopp, this is reflected in her willingness to allow a student to also be a teacher and understanding that mentoring is a mutuality – a reciprocal, two-way process demanding mutual respect for each other’s identity. The resultant combination of self-awareness, integrity, and authenticity is critical to what she calls principled mentoring.
Not if, but how
In her transition from a student in the Holmes Scholars programme – a mentorship process that supports graduate students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in pursuing doctoral degrees in education, to one of their principal mentors – Dr Hopp has been guided by the words of her mother: know who you are and be guided by your strength of convictions, your strength of character, and what will drive you to be the best you can be.
The resultant combination of self-awareness, integrity, and authenticity is critical to what Dr Hopp calls principled mentoring.
Such words are the difference between standard considerations of mentoring and the approach of principled mentoring. For Dr Hopp, the question for those guiding young people towards academia is not if they are mentoring but how.
By motivating those she has mentored to strive for excellence while respecting their emotional and intellectual journeys, and encouraging them to remain true to their self-identity, she has not only helped them become doctoral graduates in education themselves but inspired them to follow in her footsteps to mentor others. Dr Hopp’s path from student to teacher has left a legacy of principled mentoring.
Correcting educational inequities inherited from history will take time in the United States.
However, with input from teachers committed to a community of learning, the requisite shifts in administration and attitude are more than possible; they are inevitable. Dr Hopp and her fellow mentors, including those who are part of her legacy, are showing how significant intellectual and emotional involvement can make a difference in guiding those who previously thought academia was beyond their reach that they are indeed worthy.
Much has changed in academia since you started your own academic career, but what hasn’t changed that needs urgently addressing?
Many of my students from historically underrepresented populations refer to the lack of access to research or teaching assistanceship opportunities, or working with faculty on grants in academia both during and after they complete their degrees. In the late 1960s (when I entered college), during the time of integration of large predominately white (PWI) universities, integration resulted in the admission of underrepresented students to heretofore segregated PWIs. The caveat was that the students were deemed as not meeting university admission standards. The policy of affirmative action followed the necessity to integrate, which only exacerbated the general opinion of faculty that the students were not prepared for the rigours of undergraduate and graduate studies. As a graduate student, there were few offers of opportunities for teaching or research assistantships or to pursue grant funding. Unfortunately, I have witnessed this condition. Ironically, I have had faculty say to me, ‘These positions require strong scholarship and potential for research.’ My response was to ask if a faculty member really knew about the underrepresented students. Responses were always heresay.
As a mentor, what gives you the most encouragement?
Mentoring requires asking hard questions. In my mentoring practice, I always ask my mentees to define what they feel they do well (in terms of academic work), what they need to work on, and their plans for improvement. Further, we discuss how they define their strengths, and what drives them to excellence. During this process, we also address self-care and self-advocacy. Their responses to this work revealed they never considered the process of self-reflection. Several students have shared that they have been more proactive in pursuing opportunities for teaching or research assistantships. More importantly, they feel more prepared to achieve excellence in their own work.
In contrast, what do you find the most frustrating?
There has been an interesting reversal in attitudes of underrepresented students, particularly the African American students. As I addressed in my work, during the times in which I was raised, the lack of some basic rights and segregation only increased our resolve to use our strengths to gain access and equity. What has seemed to be forgotten is that resolve, hard work, self-identity and awareness led to success. Students have given way to feeling victimised, discriminated against, or calling for action against ’perpetrators of discrimination who OWE us…’ My frustration is that many of our African American students do not recall those points in our difficult history in the US that changed because of that resolve. It has strengthened my resolve to share my story and experiences.
What is the most important characteristic in a mentor, and why?
Truthful, honest, highly principled. In one word, I think the most important characteristic of a mentor is that of integrity, which includes truth, honesty, and strong principles. In Greek mythology, Mentor was the wise old friend of Telemachus, whom he sent with Odysseus on his travels to teach him to be a trusted advisor, teacher, and to be brave in the face of adversity. Mentoring is a continuing process; the lessons we teach our students serve them for a lifetime. Principled mentoring is essential.
What makes a community of learning impactful?
Working in community is a strong concept. To commune with others means sharing thoughts or experiences. One of the most powerful aspects of mentoring is bringing mentees together to share experiences that can lead to revealing commonality within a group. Learning from each other is key. As a mentor, I often bring my doctoral students together to share their research, provide feedback, share experiences – both positive and negative, for which they work together to problem solve. The goal is to emphasise the importance of learning and sharing in community with others. My students tell me that they have continued this practice with students or employees they are currently mentoring in their professions.
Of all that I have done as an educational professional, the successes of those I have mentored are my greatest accomplishments.
