Speaker 1: Hello, my name is Dr. Nichelle Bowes, and I'm excited to welcome you to my Essay Speaks presentation on culturally responsive academic advisement. Culturally responsive academic advisement emerged out of my work with graduate students at Relay Graduate School of Education. I was searching for an advisement model that allowed me to honor the experiences, communication styles, and needs of students who are traditionally marginalized at institutions of higher education. At the time, I couldn't find one. So after a few years of researching and refining, I created one. And I'm proud to say that this advisement model has been adopted by advisors at all 19 of our Relay campuses. As student services professionals, we know that it is not enough to tell students that we care about them. We actually have to show them in tangible ways that we care about them and are invested in their success. I would argue that we must do so even more for the students who are traditionally marginalized. To that end, culturally responsive academic advisement is intended to be a framework that can be customized depending on the students' needs at your campus. So there are no prescriptive activities included in this model. There are, however, seven tenets and tons of room for creativity and customization in your implementation of each of those tenets. The model is based on the research that shows that traditionally marginalized students often feel alienated or othered at institutions of higher education. That is why building relationships with students and getting to know the assets they are bringing with them is so critical. In addition to getting to know the students, figuring out how to help them use those assets they bring and skill build to mitigate for any gaps they may have is crucial to helping each one navigate the institution successfully. To help folks access the model, I broke it down into seven tenets. To make it even more memorable, the first letter of each of the tenets spells the word reaches as shown above. The first tenet of the model is relationships. In order for any of the other six tenets to work, this one must be the foundation. You will want to work intentionally to build relationships with students. That means like everything else that is important to us, we have to schedule and plan for it. You want to do this early in the semester or term. Make the effort early and do it in an authentic way so it doesn't feel forced to students. Maybe it's a meeting in small groups for a Zoom chat or one-on-one. I used to do life maps with my students in small groups over a pizza lunch. Of course, I provided the pizza, but the point is I took the time to get to know who they were, how they identified, what was important to them, and what they hoped to gain from this experience. You can be as creative as you want, but the point is to make the effort. And don't stop after the initial effort. If you notice that a student is missing deadlines or meetings, initiate contact. Don't wait for them to reach out to you. If you come across a resource or an event that you think would be of interest, share it with them. In our current COVID-19 climate, students could be facing many challenges. I would suggest that we prioritize the students who are not logging in or submitting assignments because the digital divide is real. We should be anticipating the needs of our students and sharing resources with them, not just telling them how to access services, but offering to assist them in getting it done. And then checking in on them and sharing resources because they are facing food insecurity, employment opportunities, they're managing grief, and so we can share resources related to those things. But building those relationships early gives us the entry point to knowing how to best support each of our students. The next tenet is demonstrating empathy. So often students who are traditionally marginalized don't reach out for help because they worry that they will be judged or stereotyped. If a student doesn't show up or submit, don't automatically assume that they are slacking off. Assume the best and seek to decrease any potential anxiety they may be feeling about disappointing you. I used to shoot a quick email over to students who missed class or a deadline with the subject line, how can I help? When students came to talk to me, I practiced reflective listening. That is, listening to understand as opposed to listening to respond. Another thing that is super helpful is not asking students why or why not. Chances are they may not know or they may not be comfortable sharing it with you. So instead of why didn't you submit the assignment, which, let's face it, no matter how sweetly we say that, it can put someone on the defensive. I might say something like, I noticed that you were not able to meet this deadline. What can we do to help you get this done? That changes the tone from judgment to support and can put the student at ease. When I asked questions that way, students shared way more information with me and we were often able to get to the root of the problem much quicker. To be clear, I am not asking you to be a therapist. Just borrow some of their interview skills to help our students meet with success. The next tenet is advocate. If we're being honest, most IHE systems were not built to be inclusive of students from a variety of backgrounds. For example, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, students who do not identify as white, students who have disabilities, students who identify as LGBTQIA. Those are just a small subset of the folks on our campuses who may feel marginalized. When we have the opportunity to advocate on their behalf, it is important that we speak up. Don't get me wrong. I am not asking you to take responsibility that the student should have. But there are spaces where students do not have access, but we do. In those spaces, I encourage us to advocate for our students. Marginalization is painful. And when we have the opportunity, my hope is that we will be upstanders to correct systems that are not inclusive. The next tenet is increase your cultural awareness. It is important that we educate ourselves about our students' cultures. We can't build authentic relationships if we skip this step. It's also important to remember, as Geneva Gay states, culture is enacted individually, so don't make assumptions about students' cultural practice. That's not only disrespectful, but it further alienates and marginalizes the students. Instead, ask questions and ask them respectfully. And when the student answers, accept the answer they're comfortable giving. Don't pry to satisfy your own curiosity. And if you sense that you have blundered or you're told that you've blundered, apologize. Often our reflex is to explain what we meant. Don't do that. Because the bottom line is, it sounds defensive, and it's inconsequential. Because no matter what you meant, that was not your impact. And what you want to apologize for is the impact you had. In our current climate, we know that systemic oppression is compounding the impacts of COVID-19 on Black and brown people. We know that bias is at an all-time high, and it's simultaneously compounding the systemic oppression faced by Black and brown people. So when you're sharing resources with students, push for them to be culturally aware. Make sure that your staff is trained in culturally responsive practices. One simple thing to do is make sure that your Zoom backgrounds are welcoming and affirming. Another thing is, if you notice microaggressions happening in your sessions or in your classes, be an upstander, not a bystander. Address it and shut it down as quickly as you can. The next tenet is maintain high expectations. Oftentimes, when working with traditionally marginalized students, a tendency can be to lower the bar for the student. While this can be well-intentioned, what it is really communicating to the student is a lack of belief in their ability to meet the expectation. If the expectation is, in fact, attainable, then a better solution would be to create supports or shared resources to help the student meet the expectation. To be clear, I'm not referring to students who have a documented accommodation or modification that they must receive in order to access their academic program. I'm talking about things like asking students who are perfectly capable of meeting a deadline not to meet it because you think it might be too hard. Instead, try asking the student how you can best support them in meeting it. If you can't provide the necessary supports yourself, have a list of resources available that the student can access and offer to help them access those resources. But don't change the expectation. What ultimately happens is that it makes the students feel othered, not special. The next tenet is empower. Many times on college and university campuses, students are navigating a system independently for the first time. Sometimes when they meet with a challenge that with the right skill set they could successfully handle, students avoid dealing with the situation because they're either unfamiliar or they're afraid. In instances like this, we have the opportunity to help them to feel more empowered to overcome their challenge. If, for example, a student is uncomfortable advocating on their own behalf or speaking up to an authority figure, we can offer to practice the conversation with them. That could work wonders to boost both their confidence and their skill set with managing difficult conversations, which, if we're being honest, is a skill set that many people struggle with. The key here is not to jump in to fix it as if the student can't do it independently. If the student is able to manage it independently, it is better for us to help them hone their skills and solve their own problems, because that's incredibly empowering, and it will serve them for a lifetime. The final tenet is support. When dealing with our students, especially those who are traditionally marginalized, we have to be ready to support with both academic and nonacademic challenges. In our current climate, many students are facing a myriad of challenges that could negatively impact their ability to focus on academics. A few of those are the disproportionate health risks from COVID-19, inadequate digital access, anxieties about their health or the health of their extended families, or coping with loss or grief. We can be supportive by familiarizing ourselves with both university-based and community-based supports. We can be supportive by being flexible. We can be supportive by offering actual help, not just telling our students that we are thinking about them. For example, if they have to sign up for something, offer to walk them through it, or to just be available by phone or video conference if they run into a problem. Many of us would not have gotten through our academic programs were it not for support that we received from family, friends, mentors, or other advocates. How much more so do our students who are traditionally marginalized need those supports? Ultimately, the point of culturally responsive academic advisement is to create a just educational experience for students on our campus. While this model specifically benefits traditionally marginalized students, it can and has been successfully used with a variety of populations. Each of our students is unique, and the more we build relationships, the more we demonstrate empathy, advocate for them, increase our own cultural awareness, maintain high expectations, empower and support them, the better an experience they will have at our individual institutions. I want to thank you for your time. I hope you can find this model useful in your work. Again, I am Dr. Nichelle Bose, and I can be reached at nbose at relay.edu. Please reach out to me. I love talking about this model. I love hearing about the new ways that people are using it at their individual institutions. I would love to hear from you. Thank you again.