Moving Forward Together: Spartan Women Share Stories of Mentorship in Honor of Women’s History Month

There are a number of women who have influenced and supported me on my journey here at SJSU. Beginning at my arrival at SJSU, and continuing as a great source of support to me on  campus, was [SJSU employee engagement specialist] Ms. Willie Simon. She took this brand-new professor and gave me direction regarding how to navigate my way around campus;  she continues to be a source of support and encouragement. Administrative staff and faculty rarely get a chance to interact socially, but whenever the opportunity arises for me to spend even a bit of time with Willie Simon, I always feel like I am informed, enriched and supported.

In addition to Ms. Simon, there was the late [assistant director for faculty development] Dr. Amy Strage — I still feel her loss. As she might have done for many folks on this campus, Amy introduced me to the process of navigating the professorate. I thought I knew what was what — the way a new PhD might feel after finishing the rigor of a challenging academic program. But there was always so much more to know, and Amy was always glad to share.

Dr. Pam Stacks was a very important administrator. Within my first month or so of being on campus, Dr. Stacks asked if I had time for a cup of coffee, so we sat down and talked. It was so interesting to me that she took time out of what was certainly a busy day to engage me in a brief conversation.I felt that Dr. Stacks always had my back, and she did. She always provided me with wise counsel.  

In addition to these women, one of the sweetest and most honest people  I have had the great fortune to meet at SJSU is Deanna Peck, senior director for educational programs and academic support. I don’t know how to explain how Deanna has influenced me, except that she is warm, supportive and honest, providing me with straight feedback to my inquiries. We have a great deal in common including our respective approaches to our concern for the students and our desire that they benefit sufficiently from their time at SJSU, getting what they need academically, socially and ultimately professionally.  

I am wrapping up my review of just a few of the women who have influenced me during my time here at SJSU, by including my sister, Dr. Monica Allen, chair of the Department of Public Health and Recreation. She is a generous professor,  an insightful researcher, a calm leader in her department and  college and she is a great friend. 

Along the way during my career towards being a professor, I was always surprised that there was such a lack of women in the fields that I was interested in. I didn’t know that I needed their mentorship until we were deep into conversations discussing shared experiences and brainstorming on work-arounds for common hurdles. 

Professor Martha Nell Smith was my first hero, even before I knew it. We travel in the same subject area specialties, with Martha forging the way very early on in history of the book and digital humanities fields to highlight the importance of women’s authorship. She fought for my dissertation project to receive a prestigious fellowship because mine was one of the very few projects that completely embraced being a digital as well as a written project. I didn’t find that out until much later when we met at a conference on textual studies, after which she continued mentoring me on how to surmount the patriarchal hurdles of academia. 

Much of my career has been uplifted by colleagues and peers who were also on a similar journey to have their voices heard. I’m incredibly grateful for the support provided by Professor Elizabeth Losh and Professor Kathi Inman Berens. They let me borrow courage from them, especially for things that seemed out of reach, including my recent submission for a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar award to spend six months in Kolkata, India, working with history of the book and digital humanities scholars. I’m a current semi-finalist for the award and awaiting the decision. 

The final person who has recently generously offered massive amounts of space and time later in my career has been Dean Shannon Miller. She came on the scene in my world as the chair of my department, spent three years  convincing me to trust her, listened to my concerns, and took the time to get to know me and my professional strengths. When she became the dean of the College of Humanities and the Arts, she recognized a strength in my professional skill set that could help the college’s strategic mission. 

Then, quite frankly, she got out of the way to see what I could do. That kind of trust in my abilities is very difficult to find in academia. I’m ever grateful for the space to explore and develop in my current position. She has helped me transform my academic experience at SJSU from a difficult journey into a daily joyful celebration of the brilliant ongoings in our college. I’ve never worked harder and been so compelled to continue making space for my colleagues and students. That trust in my ideas has also led me to expand my expertise into leading Public Humanities and Arts initiatives as well as the ongoing conversations about all things digital, especially in the space of AI. 

There are two mentors I’d like to highlight as key figures in my professional career: Dr. Susan Coutin at UC Irvine and Dr. Caitlin Patler at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Coutin was my PhD advisor, and her mentoring style represented a clear commitment to student success. As I achieved each milestone in the program, she adjusted herto best fit my needs. Whenever I raised concerns about my progress, Dr. Coutin quickly highlighted the qualities I possess and found ways to showcase my talents — sitting in on my lectures so that she could speak to my teaching abilities, recommending me for funding opportunities and connecting me with colleagues based on shared research interests. She was instrumental to my success as a PhD candidate. 

Dr. Patler was a key mentor both during my PhD student years and early in my tenure track career. Like Dr. Coutin, she created opportunities for me. For example, she helped enable me to lead the development of a research project and later co-publish a series of papers based on said project, which focused on the consequences of parental immigrant detention. Dr. Patler was also instrumental in finding ways to build my publication portfolio for the job market. Beyond this material form of mentorship, she also found ways to remind me of my unique skill set as a woman of color in academia. 

Together, both women inspire me to support students in their own professional journeys. My goal as a mentor is to replicate the best of the mentoring I’ve received. I’ve prioritized mentoring first-gen students, women and students of color. I encourage students to apply for graduate school or scholarships because sometimes educators see something in students that they haven’t yet recognized in themselves. I also write quality letters of recommendation for graduate programs with particular attention to students’ specific academics as opposed to boilerplate language. 

I help my mentees further by supporting completion of their research projects, preparing them academic presentations and exposing them to career opportunities and other activities. In any mentorship situation, whether as a class or one-on-one, my goal is to help students identify their own skill sets. I hope ultimately to be a tool that helps students become agents of social change in their own way. 

When I first started at SJSU there were a few key women I met who I realized became my idols. I thought,  “Wow, they’re doing it all: they’re in leadership positions, they’re mothers juggling the work/life balance, they unapologetically stand up for what they believe in and they are highly respected specialists in their fields.” 

I wanted to learn from them, to be like them and figure out how they were doing it all. These women shared their successes, struggles, insights, career paths and aspirations with me, and I learned so much from them. Namely: Be passionate and sincere about what you’re doing and the rest will follow. 

I really don’t think I would’ve made it past my first year at SJSU if it weren’t for these women encouraging me, guiding me, showing me their authenticity, being available to answer questions and forming the small tribe I know I could lean on when needed — that is what helped me settle in.  

In the dedication of “Reframing Community Engagement in Higher Education,” the book I co-edited with Drs. Elena Klaw and Elaine Ikeda, I wrote, “I am thankful for the strong female mentors I have had throughout my life, two of whom I had the honor of co-editing this book with.” I meant every word. Every step of my career has been influenced by the informal mentorship of women who provided me with opportunities to grow and pursue interests I am passionate about. 

In a proclamation recognizing March 8, 2025 as International Women’s Day, San José Vice Mayor Pam Foley said, “In San José, we see the power of strong women every day: women who lead, who advocate, and who uplift those around them.” 

Her words ring very true and I am grateful that my position at SJSU enables me to witness it within the Center for Community Learning and Leadership team (including Office Analyst Peggy Arana,  SJSU College Corps Program Manager Joanna Solis, and SJSU College Corps Program Coordinator Ariza Ali), the students we support, the faculty we work with, and the community organizations with whom we partner.

Mentorship has been at the core of my professional journey — both as a mentee and a mentor. As a mentee, I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who saw potential in me before I fully recognized it in myself. Their guidance has shaped how I navigate my identities as a first-generation Filipina from a working-class family in higher education, leadership and community work. They’ve challenged me to step outside my comfort zone, affirmed and helped me make sense of my experiences, and inspired me to use my voice to advocate for myself and others.

Because of this, I know firsthand how transformative mentorship can be — not just on an individual level, but on a community level. When you uplift one person, you create a ripple effect that extends far beyond them. With this in mind, I’m intentional about cultivating spaces where people feel supported, seen and empowered. 

So many people have supported and guided me throughout my journey. But if I had to start somewhere, I’d say my first mentors were the women in my family — my grandmothers, mom, sisters, aunts and cousins. They have shaped me in ways that go beyond professional guidance, as they have instilled values of resilience, care and community in me. Their strength, wisdom and unwavering support have been the foundation for why I do what I do. 

 

Mentorship has made a huge impact in my professional life. I have been fortunate to meet and work with many people who have shaped me into the person I am today! I started my career as an educator for toddlers, then for infants and preschool. There are two people in particular who  really influenced the direction of my career and how I show up in my role every day. 

Teresa O’Donnell-Johnson was one of my first professors in child and adolescent development when I transferred to San José State, and she’s  the reason I chose to work in early education instead of elementary school. 

Three months after I graduated from SJSU with my degrees in child development and psychology, I began working as a teacher of toddlers under the mentorship of Rosie Flores. She modeled the type of educator I aspired to be. 

As I fast forward to my new role as director of the Associated Students Child Development Center, I find myself with numerous opportunities to mentor my educators and student staff as they grow in their roles. I strive to provide the same guidance, patience, and support to the staff that I was given, so they can feel the same sense of belonging and support that I felt when I was going through my journey in the field of early childhood education.