NACAC - Spring 2020 - 15

WOMEN OF COLOR IN ADMISSION
Tips and Advice from Four of the Profession's Leaders

After last year's Guiding the Way to Inclusion
(GWI) conference, four admission leaders got
together to talk about what it means to be a
woman of color (WOC) in the field.
Stephanie Gonzalez, associate director
for diversity recruitment at Williams College
(MA); Suzi Nam, executive director of
Lenfest Scholars Foundation (PA); Ashley
Pallie, director of recruitment at Pomona
College (CA); and Beverly Henry Wheeler,
regional director of admission at Hendrix
College (AR), discussed how they've been
supported by the profession and the ways
in which the field of college admission
counseling can better support women
of color.

HERE'S A GLIMPSE INTO THEIR
CONVERSATION:
Gonzalez: One of the topics we touched on
at GWI was the intersectionality of being a
woman and a person of color. It can often
be the case that you are the only WOC in an
office. I'm lucky to be in a place now where
I'm one of five WOC in the admission office,
including our director. Williams has also built
in some structural support to connect faculty
and staff who identify as WOC through a
network. The Williams' Women of Color
Network (WOCN) receives funding for a few
events each semester where we do things
as simple as taking over the local coffee

shop and as complex as offering a workshop
about finances. It's been a great way to meet
people outside of our office that I would not
have otherwise found on campus, especially
considering the faculty/staff divide that
often exists on college campuses. The
WOCN has been a nice support, especially
when I was new to Williams. I think there
are ways that institutions can take steps like
these to better to support WOC, especially
as they transition to a new place.
Henry Wheeler: Oftentimes as women of
color we quickly take on everyone's burdens
and actually try to be Wonder Woman instead
of taking care of ourselves. It's okay to give

SPRING 2020

15
NACAC - Spring 2020

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