Employing a Black Feminist Approach to Doctoral Advising: Preparing Black Women for the Professoriate

Advising has been identified as a strategy that influences the retention and graduation of many underrepresented populations in higher education including, students of color and women. For Black women, multiple identities, including race and gender, intersect in ways that need acknowledgement during the socialization process. Given the growing numbers of Black women earning doctoral degrees, the authors propose a renewed focus on advising using a Black Feminist approach for advising process Black women. This conceptual essay will outline the differences between mentoring and advising, identifying the tasks and features of the advising relationship potentially needed to ensure the success of Black women graduate students who aspire to enter the professoriate.