"He didn’t set out to be a dean, or, before that, a department head, or earn a Ph.D., or even go into education. Actually, he never even set out to attend college himself”
Dr. James ”Doc” Anderson’s mentoring experience and his journey to becoming a Dean of Education is such an inspiration. "He didn’t set out to be a dean, or, before that, a department head, or earn a Ph.D., or even go into education. Actually, he never even set out to attend college himself” (Hanlon, 2017). The resemblance of Dr. James Anderson’s journey reminded me of my experience graduating from Central High School in Carrollton, Georgia, where I, personally, never envisioned myself furthering postsecondary education at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia where I received a degree in Sport Management. As I revisited my memories during my undergraduate years, from 2007 - 2013, I could hardly fathom numerous obstacles that I overcame without a mentor.
Through an undaunted journey — with the accumulation of mentoring, sub teaching at the deaf school, and scholarship at the Gallaudet University — I was inspired by Dr. Glenn Anderson’s activism and support for the Black deaf community to become the first chairman ever to award undergraduate or graduate students under his program. The history: ”The [Dr. Glenn B. Anderson] scholarship program aims to provide financial support for Black deaf students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs” (NBDA, 2020).
While on the surface, the minimal diversity is shown when I became the first Black deaf faculty under the Deaf Studies program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, I noticed a seed of opportunity for growth internally and externally.
References:
Hanlon, T. (2017). Dream Keeper. Champaign, IL. https://education.illinois.edu/about/news-events/news/article/2017/10/16/dream-keeper?fbclid=IwAR3uu4fS49LJPwUf0rSOmBsYMzIm0DHpMqiokHnoj6w12LhOGpVOQqiBLTU
NBDA. (2020). Scholarships. https://www.nbda.org/content/scholarships
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