Summary: This beautiful conversation was so rich we have split it into two episodes. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Join us for a conversation between a recently retired mentor, Dr. Bevlee Watford and their recently promoted mentee, Dr. Walter Lee. While their faculty careers at Virginia Tech started decades apart, their stories are woven together by a shared interest in developing the systems and programs that support engineering students who hold marginalized identities. In this episode, they share what led them to careers that center student support and their unique approaches to decision making while leading CEED. Their enviable mentoring relationship includes strategies anyone can adopt; and their wisdom on navigating the shifting landscape is timeless.

Name Drop:

Center for Engineering Excellence and Discovery (CEED)

Susan Lasser

Hassan Aref

Malcolm McPherson

Lynn Nystrom

Kamyar Haghighi

Rising Scholars and their scholarship:

Carol Geary

      Peer Mentoring Programs Survivability: How Programs React When Bad Things Happen

Tasha Zephirin

      Persistence through community: An exploratory study of student support in Purdue University's

NSBE chapter

Malini Josiam

      An Investigation of the Perspectives of Women of Color on the Cultures of Undergraduate

Engineering

Taylor Johnson

      "You Have to Focus on School...You Can't Focus on Getting Paid": A Multi-Study

      Exploration of Perspectives on and Experiences of Engineering Students Who Work

Article mention:

Su, L. K. (2010). Quantification of diversity in engineering higher education in the United States. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 16(2).

https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,69ab3d9d13586e06,0e19b121603f0805.html

Department of Education degree reclassification (referenced in Part 2) -

https://azat.tv/en/degrees-redefined-nursing-engineering-and-more-lose-professional-status-under-new-federal-rules/