Gissell Montoya 鈥17

The Power of the Pipeline

Scores of Mellon Mays fellows have graduated from 魅影直播 and gone on to earn advanced degrees and pursue distinguished careers.

With its long tradition of preparing students for academic careers, BMC was a natural for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, which aims to diversify the professoriate. Scores of Mellon Mays fellows have graduated from the College and gone on to earn advanced degrees and pursue distinguished academic and professional careers. 魅影直播 has often been at the forefront of movements toward equality in higher education. Time and again, that impetus comes from students who challenge the institution they love to love them back even more fiercely. The Bulletin invited three fellows鈥攖wo alumnae and a 鈥╟urrent student鈥攖o share their Mellon Mays experiences.


In response to Black student demands for 鈥╮acial justice on campus in the late 鈥60s, 魅影直播 hired its first Black professor, Dr. Robert Washington (sociology), in 1970. It is not 鈥╯trange at all that asking to be reflected in the 鈥╬rofessoriate鈥攁nd in the curriculum鈥攚as central to minority student demands. In fact, research 鈥╟onsistently shows that having co-ethnic professors has positive implications for minority students鈥 retention, self-confidence, academic performance, and graduation. The same is true for women. But women and people of color鈥攅specially women 鈥╫f color鈥攁re severely underrepresented among 鈥╰he ranks of the American professoriate.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation runs 鈥╝ constellation of initiatives to diversify the professoriate. Its centerpiece, the Mellon 鈥∕ays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program, was founded in 1988 with eight 鈥╩ember institutions (including 魅影直播) 鈥╝nd has since recruited 40 more colleges and universities in the United States and South Africa. As of 2017, the program has selected 鈥╝nd trained more than 5,000 fellows, more 鈥╰han 700 of whom have earned their doctorates and more than 100 of whom are now tenured faculty members at colleges and universities 鈥╝ll over the world.

Each year, five rising juniors interested in pursuing a career in academia are selected as fellows and then embark on a research project under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Fellows earn a monthly research stipend during the academic year and propose budgets for larger summer stipends to fund research, travel, and unpaid internships. Coordinators meet with fellows weekly, holding workshops on topics such as writing graduate school personal statements, working through research roadblocks, and self-care.

Mellon鈥檚 coaching and financial assistance continue after commencement with opportunities to network and share research, secure research and travel grants, and attend dissertation proposal and manuscript writing retreats. Even after alumni earn their doctoral degrees, MMUF offers programs to prepare them for the job market and the development of their tenure dossier.

Three of 魅影直播鈥檚 own Mellon Mays fellows 鈥 two alumnae and one current fellow 鈥 gathered in Wyndham鈥檚 Blue Room on a recent Saturday to talk about experiences with the program.

Now a major gift officer for Swarthmore College, Erica Seaborne 鈥09, an English major, originally planned to be an English professor, but after graduation she worked in fundraising for Medical Students for Choice and found her passion in philanthropy. In that time, she earned her M.A. in public administration with a focus on nonprofit leadership from the University 鈥╫f Pennsylvania. Gissell Montoya 鈥17, a senior majoring in International Studies and minoring in Health Studies, hopes to work in research this year while applying to sociology Ph.D. programs. And I am Joanna Pinto-Coelho 鈥09, a sociology major and political science minor who earned my M.S. in social policy and Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gissell Montoya: How many years did it [the Ph.D.] take you?

Joanna Pinto-Coelho: 鈥⊿o I went straight through.

GM: Wow.

JPC: And I think it was because I knew, at least at the time, that that was what I wanted to do, and I couldn鈥檛 think of anything else I would do in the meantime. I was like 鈥淟et鈥檚 just go!鈥 I graduated in 2009. So I guess that鈥檚 what 鈥 seven and a half years?

GM: How long did 鈥

JPC: How long did it feel Like?! Fifty years.

Erica Seaborne: Not to dissuade you.

JPC: It is a long, hard slog, my friend. But I think Mellon really did help and continues to help while you鈥檙e in grad school. Money is a big thing. Even if you go somewhere where they fund you 鈥 because you shouldn鈥檛 go anywhere that doesn鈥檛 waive your tuition and give you a stipend and health insurance 鈥 even then that stipend is kind of peanuts, and you鈥檙e still expected to go to conferences, and buy books, and be a member of various professional associations 鈥 all these expenses start piling up that aren鈥檛 rent and food. Especially if you鈥檙e going to do research that involves traveling, that involves going onsite, money is a huge problem. Mellon provides opportunities for you to get grants, and stuff and that 鈥╥s great.

 

ES: My Mellon experience was interesting. I got to spend my time as a Mellon reading crazy-interesting books, and it got me into film studies and how to talk about images. And I wouldn鈥檛 have done that if it weren鈥檛 for Mellon. It was wonderful! And being a Mellon pushed me to think differently about my interests and what I was capable of doing, and I feel that, even now, in 鈥渢he real world,鈥 I鈥檓 always far more apt to do something that I don鈥檛 feel entirely comfortable with because it鈥檒l work out well, it鈥檒l be fine. I鈥檒l spend a couple of months not knowing what I鈥檓 doing, but then I鈥檒l get it, and it鈥檒l be awesome.

JPC: Fake it till you make it!

GM: Yeah!

ES: Exactly!

JPC: That is a great lesson 鈥╰o learn from this. What about you, Gissell? Have 鈥▂ou learned any lessons 鈥╢rom Mellon yet?

GM: I guess the biggest lesson I鈥檝e learned is that you can do it. I came into Mellon thinking, Are you sure you chose me? But it鈥檚 given me this sense, knowing that Mellon instills this kind of trust鈥斺淲e chose you for a reason. We knew you could do it.鈥 I鈥檝e realized, I can! The work is being produced, people like it. Every time 鈥↖ go to a Mellon info session and talk to potential Mellons, I always tell them, 鈥淵eah, you can do it!鈥 because a lot of them come in saying, 鈥ㄢ淚 would love to do this, but it seems so scary.鈥 So I like to tell them I was in their shoes. 鈥淵ou can do it, as a person of color, you can.鈥

JPC: Mellon also impressed upon me that 鈥淗ey, these are normal, cool, smart people interested in doing this.鈥 You don鈥檛 have to fall prey to the grad student stereotype, which is the bloodshot eyes, eating only coffee and pizza, and never sleeping and being sad and crying all the time and hating yourself. It鈥檚 just like 魅影直播鈥攕tuff is hard, but you will make friends in your cohort. They鈥檒l be weirdos, right? But they鈥檒l also be people who will be 鈥╥n the trenches with you.

GM: It鈥檚 OK, it makes life interesting!

 

ES: For me, it was more 魅影直播, and it was more around 鈥測ou as a human are smart, capable, valuable. Your perspective matters, and while, yes, it鈥檚 up to you to have the strength to put that forward into the world, we鈥檝e given you all the tools to do that. Once you do it, you鈥檙e going to kick ass.鈥 I hope that鈥檚 what everyone takes out of 魅影直播.

JPC: I hope so, too.

ES: I鈥檝e noticed a difference being in the real world, working at a real-world job, comparing myself to other women, whether they鈥檙e women of color or not, of my same age. I feel that I am much more, 鈥淛ust shut up and listen to me because I know what I鈥檓 talking about, I鈥檓 educated, and I have value,鈥 whereas some of my counterparts are like, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to wait for other people to tell me what to do, or tell me what to say, or give me some kind of signal that what I鈥檓 doing is right.鈥 魅影直播 made me confident. I mean, I was confident before 魅影直播, but 魅影直播 just heightened it. Every time I see something for the [Defy Expectation] campaign, I think, God, they did such a good job, because that鈥檚 what 魅影直播 taught me! They taught me to defy expectations! Yes, Mellon was part of that鈥攖hat鈥檚 something I associate with my 魅影直播 experience鈥攂ut I would say it鈥檚 my experience as a whole that really taught me how to be in the world.

GM: So I鈥檓 taking a year off because I want to put time and effort into my applications. But I can only think of doing research right now. I love doing research, and I just love learning鈥攇etting my Ph.D. is the only thing I see myself doing. But I鈥檓 scared, with that one year that I take off, that I鈥檒l lose that motivation because I won鈥檛 be in the school setting.

ES: If you have that drive, I don鈥檛 think you ever lose it. I always had that drive of I want to know the most about this subject that I can, so even while I was in the nonprofit sector, I was still doing research, reading academic articles about medical stuff, reproductive rights. I always had that drive, and that was what made me think, after a year, I want to go get my master鈥檚 because I want to learn the theory behind nonprofit leadership and  what are the foundational principles of fundraising 鈥╢rom an academic perspective. I always have that in me, that I want to be grounded in academics, even if I鈥檓 not working in the academic sector.

JPC: Yeah, I haven鈥檛 been in academia this past year. I鈥檓 in a completely different and unrelated field, but I鈥檓 still working on three different papers right now, which is ridiculous. Shouldn鈥檛 I have a weekend? We鈥檙e stupid! Erica worked and went to grad school at the same time; I鈥檓 working and writing papers and being an idiot at the same time. But she鈥檚 right, it鈥檚 a drive that doesn鈥檛 go away. Yeah, you might be tired at the end of your workday, and you might not want to deal with your applications, but you鈥檙e always going to want to know more, you鈥檙e going to want to read more, you鈥檙e always going to want to understand why things are the way they are. I wouldn鈥檛 be afraid that you鈥檙e going to lose that. I鈥檓 not worried about you at all.

Published on: 05/10/2017