Social problems debilitate our country and I believe that resilience might be an important component of social healing. While browsing through books on resilience, I chose to read Emma’s story because it was written in the context of education and academia. After I completed reading the book, I felt that empathizing with the lives of other people must also be an essential part of societal wellness.
One of the book’s story lines is about the growing pains of an African-American girl as she developed into the person that she is today. I am impressed by Emma’s relationships with the people that supported and nurtured her, and how she nurtured others in turn. This book will inspire young adults to become the people that they wish to be and maybe how they should be.
The other theme relates to her struggles in academia to bring about a more diverse faculty. Emma’s application of good trouble to social inertia eventually resulted in change but not without personal costs. I empathize with Emma because this book takes a critical look at her profession.
Like many people, I was raised by non-college-educated parents to view higher education as the way to a better life. My parents could not provide me with financial support, advice on study methods, or professional contacts. With a moral foundation and work ethic, off I went.
After receiving my BS in biology from the University of Hawai’i and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, I was an immunology graduate student on the “mainland.” I remember my major professor coming to the laboratory to discuss a manuscript that I wrote. He did not expect me to write as well as I did. This manuscript became my first scientific publication.
The next part of my journey was post-doctoral scholarship. I recall the medical center department chairman who would not credit me for three years of post-doctoral work that I performed in his laboratory. I was his department’s first recipient of a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. After my work was done, the chairman instructed me to write two manuscripts that detailed my work and he was a co-author. He would then submit the manuscripts to an immunology journal for publication.
After I left his department, I learned that the chairman verbally denied any knowledge of my manuscripts while he was on a phone call to another professor. His denial implied that I accomplished nothing but he could still use the information in the manuscripts to further his own projects. His behavior cost me a professorship interview at a state university on the west coast. During my phone conversation with a member of this university’s search committee, she called the department chairman a racist.
Higher education was my path to learning and growing. Unexpectedly, my university experience provided lessons on what not to do and how not to treat other people. This is why I empathize with Emma and her struggles.
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