Testimonials

Happy 20th Anniversary to SisterMentors! You have so much to celebrate! I have so much to be grateful for because of my participation in SisterMentors. It was really the relationships in my life that got me through the dissertation. I count Dr. Lewis, and the women in...

I knew Dr. Lewis and her passion for education so when I was getting ready for my dissertation Dr. Lewis and I reconnected. I was experiencing major writer's block, feeling overwhelmed, and had not made any progress on the proposal for several months. I had no...

I write this statement regarding SisterMentors from the vantage point of an original member of the program and one of the second set of graduates. In 1997 when I attended the first meeting, my situation was unique. Not only was I a graduate student enrolled in a...

I am delighted to write this letter on behalf of the SisterMentors Dissertation Support Groups for Women of Color ("SisterMentors"). Dr. Shireen Lewis' efforts, in founding and guiding the growth and development of an expanding circle of SisterMentors groups, reflect...

I am extremely pleased to write this letter about my experience with SisterMentors. I am very happy to say that in May 17, 2002, I successfully defended my dissertation, thus, becoming SisterMentors' fourteenth Ph.D. I was awarded my doctorate with highest honors in...

I joined SisterMentors soon after I began working on my dissertation in October 2002. A co-worker gave me an article about the program and I was immediately interested. What appealed to me most was the opportunity to be around other women of color who were in the...

The way I found out about SisterMentors was through my oldest sister, Caroline. It was December 2001 and it had been six months since I had relocated back to Maryland, after living and schooling in California for three years. I was literally, "burnt out" in every...

When I joined SisterMentors in September 2002, it was in anticipation of the dreadful isolation of dissertation writing. I was looking for a supportive environment that would allow me to complete my dissertation in a reasonable timeframe. SisterMentors filled that...

Now that I have successfully defended the dissertation, been awarded the degree that has been framed appropriately, been affirmed as SisterMentors 20th Ph.D. with a very special celebration and have been honored by family and friends in a culminating social gathering,...

The process of completing the dissertation is a singular solitary task. One is incredibly alone on this intense journey towards the mountain top. Because of our humanness we carry the old familiar doubts and insecurities that sometimes threaten to block the path or...

After completing my course work for my doctorate at Stanford University, I relocated from California to the Washington, D.C. area. A few months later I returned to campus to defend my dissertation proposal. After a successful defense, I assumed that it would be a...

When I joined SisterMentors, I had been in a 6-month writing slump. I was depressed and desperate for a way to end my writer's block so that I could free myself from graduate school and earn a decent living. I knew that the group would help me with goal-setting, and I...

I am deeply grateful to SisterMentors for creating a wonderful cohort that helped me to complete my doctorate. As one of the few Tibetan women in the West, and the first in my family, to earn a doctorate, I am honored to have been a part of this wonderful program. I...

Dr. Floyd on SisterMentors: I was blessed to find SisterMentors by happenstance. It was one day while I was researching literature for my dissertation that I fell upon a dissertation abstract written by a SisterMentors graduate. I searched her name on the Internet,...

Dr. Williams on SisterMentors: When I heard the word "congratulations" come out of my advisor's mouth after my dissertation defense, I paused in disbelief. I actually asked him if he was joking. I could not believe that this journey was almost over. I had successfully...

Dr. Tate on SisterMentors: There is a saying that some things may not happen when you want them to but that they come right on time. As contradictory as this may seem, it happens to be true much more often than not. That was certainly the case for my happenstance...

Dr. Berger on SisterMentors: Although my writing group at Duke focused on helping each of us complete our dissertation through written feedback, SisterMentors was a different kind of group. Its focus on helping women to set realistic yet attainable goals based on a...

Dr. Jackson on SisterMentors: As a retired Air Force Colonel, I was accustomed to setting and meeting goals that led to success and personal achievement. Achieving my doctorate degree was one of my life-long goals. Yet, I soon learned that this goal was like no other....

Dr. Lewis on SisterMentors: In 2006, I came back to the Washington, D.C. area to start anew. Just shy of completing the first part of my comprehensive examinations, I was unmotivated, lacked determination, and was distraught over the idea of people who were suggesting...