When Dr. Shireen Lewis in 1997 founded Sister Mentors, a dissertation writing support group, her goal was simple: to empower more women of color to get doctoral degrees, a seemingly impossible task in the realm of graduate education dominated by White men and women.
Ten years later, the Washington, D.C.-based group has helped 28 women of color get their doctoral degrees, and, currently, 20 doctoral students are waiting to join their ranks.
Lewis’ desire to create Sister Mentors stemmed from her own sense of alienation while writing her dissertation as a Ph.D. candidate at Duke University. Lewis, who earned her doctorate in 1998, is executive director of Eduseed, a nonprofit group that promotes education among historically disadvantaged groups, and author of Race, Culture and Identity in Francophone West African and Caribbean Literature and Theory: From Négritude to Créolité.
Studies show that 50 percent of all people who begin the doctoral process drop out at the dissertation writing stage. Evidence suggests that the numbers are higher for women of color.
To address a perpetual feeling of isolation that some women of color encounter in the academy, Sister Mentors brings women of different nationalities together so they can help each other. In an effort to stimulate a sentiment of peer mentorship among members, participants read each other’s work, often lend constructive criticism, and discuss among themselves obstacles that they encounter. Alumni members also offer guidance to those going through the process.
Dr. Koritha Mitchell, an assistant professor of English at Ohio State University, almost succumbed to the pressures of the dissertation writing process and nearly dropped out of the doctoral race. After a six-month writing slump, she wanted to give up.
Overly stressed and thoroughly exhausted, Mitchell, who is African American, turned to Sister Mentors in 2005. There, she found a group of women struggling with the same issues she was: a lack of funding, feelings of isolation and alienation, and disgruntled dissertation advisors.
