Growing Ph.D.s in Our Own Backyard

Research has demonstrated that diversity among academic researchers, who typically have Ph.D.s, is much needed in order to ensure success and progress in the scholarship they produce. Recent collaborations between academic researchers and practitioners have brought that need to bear. 

Dr. Shireen Lewis founded SisterMentors because of her own arduous journey to get a Ph.D. and her determination that other women of color would not have to travel that road alone. She talks with us about the importance of racial diversity in higher education, why the dissertation is the most difficult and most fulfilling part of the Ph.D. quest, and what needs to be done to grow Ph.D.s in and among our own communities.

Host Allison R. Brown is a civil rights attorney and owner of Allison Brown Consulting (ABC), which creates education equity plans and promotes equity in compliance with federal civil rights law.