Home
Folder Name
In These Turbulent Times

In These Turbulent Times

A message from the director in these turbulent times:

Dear Graduate Mentoring Community:

In a departure from how we have responded to crisis in the past, The Graduate Mentoring Center (GMC) has been quiet. Not silent. Just quiet. We break our quiet with this extended contemplation on the historical moments in which we are currently existing. We are contemplating not only the struggle; we are also contemplating how so many people from all parts of the world have joined this struggle to bring global attention to health disparities and police brutality due to racism.

Of course, the more we focus on this, the more we will discover the complex intersectionality of our histories and politics. If you have not read Octavia Butler’s Kindred, now might be a good time to do so. If we are paying attention to the point of becoming aware we can begin to see how we are connected.

But, contemplation without engagement with what one has learned results in no action, no possibility of change. While it would be nice to talk about all this and dream, we want to avoid the inertia that comes with believing that because one has discussed a series of ideas that one has nothing more to do. We, like you, want to be the change – or at least offer what we can to be part of the solution. To this end, we have also included some concrete ways in which we can return to original programs and expand new ones that already invited the IU community into these discussions.

I invite you to breathe between each segment, each line even; to stop and sit with what you have read, and to breathe again. I invite you to be aware – to be mindful – of how we are alive together.

In These Turbulent Times
-A message from the director in these turbulent times
-After Whereas (2017, Graywolf Press) by Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier

WHEREAS, as a result of the global pandemic known as COVID-19 the world was brought to a standstill and will never return to its previous state; and that this pandemic has forced all human beings to contemplate – become mindful of - our relationships with the Earth and other species, to ourselves and to each other;

WHEREAS, this pandemic has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands worldwide, and has caused all human beings to be aware of – become mindful of – their breaths and breathing, one of the essential things that indicate that we are alive as humans,

and WHEREAS the pandemic has resulted in our own illnesses and near-deaths, the illnesses and deaths of members of our families, friends, communities, society, and has prevented many of us from grieving and mourning full or at all, resulting in feelings of helplessness, depression, anger, isolation, and fear,

We are disheartened and despondent, disappointed and distressed, disgusted, even, that we must simultaneously grieve and mourn, alone in some cases, the brutal and public murders of Ahmaud Arbery (February 23, 2020), Breonna Taylor (March 13, 2020), and George Floyd (May 25, 2020).

WHEREAS, these deaths are the ones that have been brought to the general public's attention, in some cases after much effort by families and social justice activists, and they and other deaths unknown cannot be un-seen, un-heard, un-felt, or forgotten,

WHEREAS, all these deaths re-open personal, familial, community, national, international, and transgenerational traumas that re-call the deaths of, for example, Laura Nelson (May 25, 1911), Lawrence Nelson (May 25, 2011), Emmett Till (August 28, 1955), Amadou Diallo (February 4, 1999), Trayvon Martin (February 26, 2012), Eric Garner (July 17, 2014), Michael Brown, Jr. (August 9, 2014), Tamir Rice (November 22, 2014), Sandra Bland (July 13, 2015), Philando Castile (July 6, 2016), Botham Jean (October 1, 2019), Atatiana Jefferson (October 12, 2019), Dreasjon Reed (May 6, 2020), Tony McDade (May 27, 2020), and, and, and, … and that these deaths and others unknown are reminders of the consequences of 1619 and 1640, and events of more recent centuries,

WHEREAS, the global responses to these deaths remind us, again, that Black Lives Matter, we know they also remind us of 1791, 1822, 1831, 1835, 1859, 1968, 1992, 2014, 2016, and have birthed a global movement in which young people of all identities have chosen to be in solidarity with each other, and with older generations who remember not only the Holy Week Uprising but also May 31-June 1, 1921, September 15, 1963, June 16, 1976, and other dates too numerous to name here,

WHEREAS institutions of higher education find themselves in the midst of inevitable and necessary change, demanded by students who believe that change is possible within their lifetimes; demanded by faculty, staff, and community who, though tired, are hopeful that “a change is gonna come” sooner than later,

and, WHEREAS our hearts and bodies have no more space for such grief, our tears are dry, our throats hoarse, and the relevancy of our research challenged and, therefore, the meaning of our very identities,

The Graduate Mentoring Center (GMC) of IU Bloomington remains a refuge where breathing is encouraged and honored for all sentient beings. We believe that change and transformation are possible now. This belief undergirds our mission and vision. We, therefore, recommit to the work we envisioned and began “bit by bit” when we were founded in 2014 to serve the mentoring needs of underrepresented minority students or marginalized students.

The Graduate Mentoring Center will:

be an intentional and engaged collaborator in the fight against injustice and oppression of all sentient beings, especially those subjected to anti-Black racism, at IU and in parts of the world where our students, faculty, staff, and alumni breathe and live, work and love.

The GMC will continue its collaboration with other departments/units on campus. We invite and welcome suggestions for work that asks us all to dig deep and often into our own histories to better understand the core values that we were taught and that we learned, and that guide our interactions and mentoring with/of each other.

support members of the IU community who are actively and intentionally – mindfully - working to end injustice and oppression of all kinds, especially, that of anti-Black racism, which intersects with and is sometimes the foundation of other forms of racism and other systemic oppressions.

The GMC will continue our mentoring cohort, which brings together faculty and graduate students in dialogues about research, life, and living. From its inception, cohort members have explored difficult topics such as how systemic racism shapes their research, teaching, and mentoring. We also explore the importance of rest to our research. Cohort members create solutions by learning from each other, re-imagining their futures, and finding good in each other and IU’s resources.
We will re-activate Let’s Talk about Mentoring, an additional mentoring cohort that introduces faculty and students to The GMC’s contemplative approach to mentoring. Topics will include: how contexts and culture shape mentoring; mentoring as contemplative practice; stages of mentoring; mentoring across disciplines, race, gender, nationality; how to have difficult dialogues; and finding relevancy and meaning in research during crises.
In acknowledgement that First Nations, LatinX, Asian, and Asian-American, and other groups continue to engage in dialogues about anti-Black racism in their own communities, we will re-activate the Tough Topicsin the Academy series as an invitation to members of those communities to discuss the impact of racism on mentoring.
In acknowledgement that international students are subjected to anti-Black racism, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination, we will continue to support international students as they pursue their degrees.

help students, faculty, and staff reflect on and understand – become mindful of – how our historical lineages, different cultures, and personal experiences shape our relationships with each other, the communities we serve, and the research we create and produce.

We will re-activate the Being at the Table series to explore what it means to have a seat, have a table (or not), make your own table, and/or to bring your own chair (or sit on the floor) in the academy.
We will continue to offer Sitting for Peace, an interactive contemplative practice and space for rest, to help the IU community care for itself and to develop self-guided ways to center, access practices that can benefit them personally and professionally, respond to ongoing life/world changes in practical and creative ways, and engage those practices regularly.
We will continue to host our annual Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde Drop In and Read for A While birthday reading.
We will continue to work with the cultural centers to ensure we provide mentoring that is culturally diverse and relevant to the populations we serve.

develop and offer programs that are grounded in contemplative practices, mindful strategies that deepen our attention to research and the sentient beings on whom we rely; help us develop mentoring relationships that intentionally dismantle systemic oppression; and that encourage and support the growth, liberation, and joy of graduate students in ways that do not demean or devalue them or their mentors.

We will offer a new reading and dialogue series entitled The Academy as a Contemplative Practice: A Whole/Holistic Approach to Research, Teaching, and Service, based on the work of Dr. Laura Rendon. This series is made possible through the IAS Provocations Grant program and is an extension of the closing keynote Dr. Abegunde offered at the inaugural Women of IU conference. It will introduce participants to scholars who implement contemplative practices at institutional levels.

deepen our vision to develop and help graduate an intentional community of scholars who are culturally diverse, mindful, and who consistently produce innovative research and creative works that have viable and sustainable impact on their communities.

We will offer fall and spring retreats to introduce students to The GMC reflective practices that can help them re/ acclimate to graduate life and living.
We will continue Tales from the Field, a roundtable that invites graduate students to share their experiences of fieldwork: preparation, acculturation, research, and return.
We will continue to offer Drop In, Write On, two weekly writing group(s).
We will activate the Sankofa Alumni Dialogues to connect graduate students and GMC alumni.

And, finally, WE at The Graduate Mentoring Center will:

co-create with you – yes you –a community of scholars who are dedicated to the full breath and breathing - life and living – justice and peace - for all human beings.

Maria Hamilton Bispo de Jesus Abegunde

Founding Director, The Graduate Mentoring Center

Visiting Lecturer, African American and African Diaspora Studies

Nana Abena Amoah-Ramey

African American and African Diaspora Studies

Visiting Assistant Professor

GMC Mentee Alumna 2015-2016

Cara Cadoo

History, Associate Professor

Media School, Associate Professor

GMC Mentor Alumna 2015-2017

Kefaya Diab

English

Culbertson Post-Doctoral Fellow

Taylor Duckett

African American Studies

Doctoral Student

Lekeah Durden

Biology

Evolution, Ecology and Behavior, Doctoral Student

Charlene J. Fletcher

History

Doctoral Candidate

Dionne Cross Francis

School of Education

Associate Professor, Mathematics Education

GMC Mentor Alumna 2017-2020

Lucia Guerra-Reyes

Public Health, Associate Professor

and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Carmen Henne-Ochoa

College of Arts and Sciences

Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion

Nicole Horsley

Women’s and Gender Studies, Ithaca College

Assistant Professor

GMC Mentee Alumna 2015-2016

Laura Hurley

Biology

Professor

Marvin Q. Jones, Jr.

Physics

Astrophysics, Doctoral Student

Maurisa Li-A-Ping

Brown University

Coordinator, First Year and Sophomore Programs

GMC Mentee Alumni 2017-2018

Mintzi Martinez-Rivera

Anthropology, Providence College

Assistant Professor

GMC Mentor Alumna 2015-2016

Emily Meanwell

Social Science Research Commons

Director

Michelle Moyd

History, Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor

Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society (CRRES), Associate Director

American Historical Review, Associate Director

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers

History, Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor

Gender Studies

GMC Mentor Alumna 2016-2017

Fernando Orejuela

Folklore and Musicology

Senior Lecturer

Solimar Otero

Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Professor

Katrina Overby

Rochester Institute of Technology

Post Doctoral Researcher

GMC Mentee Alumna 2015-2016

Jennifer J. Park

School of Education

Instructional Systems Technology Doctoral Student

The Graduate Mentoring Center, Graduate Assistant

Tiffany Monique Quash

School of Public Health

Health & Wellness Design

GMC Mentee Alumna 2019-2020

Shruti Rana

Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies

Assistant Dean for Curricular and Undergraduate Affairs

Diversity Officer

Candis Smith

African American and African Diaspora Studies

Lecturer

Andrea Marie Sterling

African American and African Diaspora Studies

Doctoral Student

Breon Tyler

African American and African Diaspora Studies

Masters Student

The Graduate Mentoring Center offers its condolences and support to members of the IU community who have been affected by recent tragedies throughout the world – from Orlando to St. Paul; Baton Rouge to Dallas; Nice to Juba.

The first three tenets on which we are structured – balance, community, culture – mean that we strive to create and maintain a safe space in which all are welcomed into a community of mentors and scholars, where all cultures are respected, and where balance through contemplative practices and intentional mentoring can be achieved.

Last academic year, undergraduate and graduate students invited me to attend meetings that addressed the attacks on minority students in Bloomington and on campus. As director of the center and a faculty member in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, I accepted as many of those that I could: if one of the center’s primary objectives is to serve historically underrepresented minority students, the decision was an easy one to make. At stake was and is the welfare, cohesion, and growth of those students and our IU communities.

All graduate students face challenges in completing their degrees, some more than others and some with more serious circumstances than others (e.g., funding, family, health). Minority students face those challenges and those that are connected to, for example, their racial, ethnic, gender, socio-economic, and/or religious identities and their histories (and perceptions about them).

The Graduate Mentoring Center exists to help all students understand the contexts that shape their lives and to help them develop tools and strategies that will guide and sustain them through the graduate process. As part of the President’s Diversity Initiatives, we also exist to ensure that Indiana University remains a site where historically underrepresented minority students can attend Indiana University and thrive. This also ensures that all students at IU thrive. The University is a place where knowledge and experience, evidence and lived experiences permit each of us to learn from each other in order to create a “community of scholars” who can be the change we want in the world.

One of my dissertation committee members asked me: what good will you do with this education? The center wants to make certain that through all this that we see that there is good to be received, done, and shared.

Based on the events of the summer, this academic year promises to be one of deep contemplation and struggle. However, it also promises to be one of profound epiphanies, ones that can lead us to a community that is willing to work together to make change that will lead to healing.

Last academic year, I had opportunity to work in Juba, South Sudan in March 2016 and June 2016. Two of my IU colleagues had to be evacuated in July. I spent my time in June teaching students about trauma, skills and knowledge they could use when faced – once again – when under attack. Since the new conflict in Juba on the eve of their independence, students have been emailing me their assignments from under their beds, in the midst of shelling, from refugee camps. The point is that this moment in time offers a myriad of chances to a true community of scholars not only at IU but in the world, a community in which we support the success of others while working towards a society in which we honor each other and work to make and keep peace.

If you are a graduate student who wants to discuss these issues further, or simply want a place where you can talk about the work you do in the world and learn about contemplative strategies you can use to live fully in the world AND complete your thesis in a supportive community, join our Tough Topics/Safe Spaces series. In it, we learn about mindfulness and contemplative practices that help us be present and also help us recognize the importance of self-care. Also, feel free to join our Sitting for Peace meditations. Check our calendar for more information on both.

Please: If in these turbulent times you need to talk to someone confidentially, contact Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).

Thank you for all the work you continue to do.

Thank you for your dedication to learning and teaching.

Thank you for being willing to be present during these times of change and transformation.

Truly, YOU are the ones we have been waiting for.

Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde, PhD

Director

In These Turbulent Times

A message from the director in these turbulent times:

Archived post

The Graduate Mentoring Center resources and social media channels