Julie Aromi is a fifth year doctoral candidate in library and information science. She studies archives and race, and is writing her dissertation about the 1991 riot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and the way archives and archivists help create certain historical narratives while silencing others. On campus, Julie has taught “Social Informatics” in the ITI major, participated in the grad workers’ union, and now works with the GradFund office, where she helps other graduate students to apply for funding. Julie is a mixed race Afro-Puerto Rican, and is passionate about helping other women of color learn to navigate and excel in academia. She attended Princeton University as a first-generation college student, earned two masters degrees at Queens College CUNY, and is excited to have the opportunity to connect with and learn from the students of Douglass College.
Julie’s Mentoring Project
Academia comes with a lot of “hidden curriculum,” the things we’re not told that we need to know, and often don’t learn until it’s too late. Especially for first generation students and women of color, this hidden curriculum can hold people back from doing the work they’re capable of, as they spend their energy on survival instead of scholarship. This mentorship group is an opportunity for women of color who are considering going on to graduate school to learn about how to navigate academia, how to advocate for themselves, and how to make positive changes in higher education while weathering difficult situations. We will set goals together, encourage each other towards those goals, and check in along the way. We’ll learn skills together, plan and work through graduate school searches and applications, and learn about where to find examples, role models, and answers to questions in the process. And we will talk about the realities of being a woman of color in these sometimes hostile institutions and the world at large, share our experiences, and consider ways that we can build solidarities to effect positive change for our communities and others. This group is a community where students will prepare for this next phase in their lives, and keep moving toward their goals with the support of a community.