This Prof Life Podcast: Women of Color in Higher Education

This Prof Life Podcast: Women of Color in Higher Education

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This Prof Life Podcast focuses on Women of Color (WOC) in higher education and empowering their voices. The experience can be enlightening and different at the same time. You will hear the challenges, successes and strategies women use to navigate academia. Join Dr. Pat Sanders, a Full Professor of Communications, as she talks to women who work in the academy. A former broadcast journalist, Dr. Pat now wants to tell the stories of BIPOC in higher education. She talks to women engaged in...
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Episode List

Workplace Trauma, Tone-Policing, and Racial Bias - What to Do?

Feb 17th, 2026 6:05 PM

Have you ever been tone-policed as a Black woman or woman of color? Or appointed to a role only to be removed when someone's discomfort outweighs your credentials? In academia, experiences and patterns like these that shape professional identity, leadership access, and psychological safety are not isolated incidents.  In this This Prof Life episode, I sit down with Ms. Ruth Abban, an integrative psychotherapist based in London, for Part 1 of a critical conversation on workplace trauma, racial identity, and bias in academic spaces.  In the episode, we discuss:  Tone-policing and respectability politics in higher education. The emotional and professional impact of racial bias.  How workplace trauma manifests for Back women and women of color.  Deconstruct identity-based stressors in institutional environments.  Join me for an honest and necessary discussion about navigating academia while protecting your mental health and sense of self.  To learn more about Ms. Ruth Abban follow her on LinkedIn.  To find out more about me and my journey, visit drpatsanders.com Listen to This Prof Life Women of Color Podcast on any of your favorite platforms. Please be sure to subscribe, download, share and leave a five-star rating.  If you are so inclinded to financially support the podcast, click the Buy Me a Coffee tab.   

Mentorship and Meaning in Higher Education

Jan 31st, 2026 8:56 PM

Relaunch of This Prof Life: Women of Color in Higher Education Podcast! In this episode, Dr. Pat Sanders, offers a candid discussion on mentorship and sponsorship in higher education, with a particular focus on the lived experiences of Black women and women of color. Drawing from personal insight and professional observations, the episode examines the assumption that mentorship is inherently neutral or universally beneficial.  This episode explores how mentoring relationships for Black women and other women of color are often shaped by racialized and gendered labor expectations, requiring emotional, intellectual, and political work that is rarely acknowledged or rewarded.  The episode also assesses the limits of mentorship without sponsorship, highlighting how guidance and support do not always translate into structural change or career advancement.  Listeners are invited to consider how insitutions rely on mentorship as a symbolic solution, while failing to adress inequities in power, access and promotion.  Find other episodes of This Prof Life on Apple  Spotify Amazon  Pod News    Instagram  or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! Be sure to leave a 5-star rating and to share.  Find out more about Dr. Pat here Dr.Pat Sanders or on LinkedIn Dr. Pat is approaching 30-years as an experienced academic administrator, college director, mentor and full, merited professor whose passions center around equity, inclusion and equality. She can be reached at hellodrpat@gmail.com where she invites recommendations for guests and topics for the podcast.  Thank you for listening. If you enjoy this podcast, you can enhance your support here:  Buy Me a Coffee Dr. Pat

One Woman's Story: Reaching the Executive Suite in Academic Leadership

Aug 1st, 2023 5:00 AM

Great food, fine wines and higher education are three of Dr. Yvonne Friedman's loves. Better known as Dr. Y, she shares her passion for all three and her climb up the executive ladder to become a vice president in the student affairs arena. While her story is very similar to other women of color who work in the academy, this petite, Mexican American, latina says after several moves, she is very content where she is at Coastal Carolina University, but is always looking towards the future.  In addition to leading well, she wants to coach and mentor other women and women of color in who are in higher education. Listen in to find out what got her to the "E-Suite" of academia. "Leader and advocate for nurturing underrepresented women in the workplace by creating communities of practice and pipelines for success" is her motto.  You can read more about Dr. Friedman on LinkedIn. There, she writes about helping women and trauma0nformed pedagogy and leadership: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonneh Find more information about This Prof Life Podcast here: https://tinyurl.com/5y7tyj27 Or, you can find more episodes on Apple, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon Music, and all major podcast listening platforms.  Email me at hellodrpat@gmail.com for feedback, information or to suggest other guests.  I do appreciate you!

Bringing Cultural Talks to the Table: Black Studies and Experiences in Cuba

Jul 18th, 2023 8:07 PM

  Living and studying as a Black woman in Cuba led Dr. Kaifa Roland to write not only one book but two about her experiences.  She is currently Director of Global Black Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Clemson University. Join this delightfully intellectual conversation that centers around her cultural research which focuses on Cuba and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean. She has penned a variety of articles and chapters describing the black experience. You won't be disappointed as she speaks about the tourism industry, entrepreneurshp, national identity, racial and gender constructions, higher education and other topics. I appreciate your support through five-star ratings on Apple podcasts and other platforms. You can find Dr. Roland at https://www.kaifaroland.com/ Find more episodes on my website: https://www.drpatsanders.com/podcast

It is Time For Rebellion: Planning Your Next Career Move

Apr 10th, 2023 3:16 AM

Have you felt stuck lately? Are you looking for inspiration and motivation to make your next move? Dr. Carol Parker Walsh has experienced it all from being a corporate attorney, to higher education administrator, and now as her own boss. On this episode of This Prof Life, Dr. Parker Walsh shares her journey of being authentically true to herself and living out her values, through autonomy and creativity.  She shares ways to get unstuck from indecision along with some very important pieces of advice: Do an internal audit - ask what else can I do?  Make sure you decide how you want to work and show up - what legacy do you want to leave?  Start building a bridge  - see the vision of where you want to go next.  Listen in to hear more personal lessons and takeaways from this dynamic executive coach, brand strategist and leader.  I definitely left inspired by the conversation!  Find her here: https://www.carolparkerwalsh.com/ Visit my website for more episodes:  https://www.drpatsanders.com/ Be sure to visit and leave a positive review and 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.  Support This Prof Life on https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpatsanders Your listener-ship is appreciated. 

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