To mentor is to guide or to provide counsel. I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept in recent weeks while working on a paper to be delivered today at the 2013Virginia Network of Women in Higher Education’s Conference in Roanoke.
In keeping with this year’s theme, Linked In: Connecting Generations, my topic is “From Locked Out to Linked In: Mentoring (Her) Stories from the Ivory Tower.” Therein I present the mentoring experiences of several high-achieving Virginia women in higher education.
I had not intended to include my own story, but as fate would have it, one of my closest friends and mentors, Dr. Barbara Eleanor Adams, transitioned early last week at the age of 74. She had just retired, last year, from her post as campus director of the Rosa Parks Campus of the College of New Rochelle’s (CNR) School of New Resources (SNR). Because of her love for the students, she remained in the classroom as an adjunct until her passing.
I love Barbara. We first met while we were both doctoral students at Temple University’s storied Department of African American Studies. Our paths had crossed on numerous occasions previously, including shared classes, but it was during the Temple-in-Ghana study abroad program that our lifelong friendship was forged.
For six whole weeks, that summer of 1997, we were inseparable.
From Accra to Cape Coast to Kumasi, we walked in the footsteps of our ancestors, Barbara quite literally. For while researching her Ghanaian father at the University of Legon, not only did she discover that he was a contemporary of President Kwame Nkrumah, but she later connected with her family. We were amazed at the ease with which she found them.
It was like a fairytale. We had soooooooo much fun. And that was only the beginning.
