Caddie Alford, Mellon Pathways Program faculty mentor
Caddie Alford, an assistant professor in the Department of English, currently serves as faculty mentor. “I was a first generation, homeless college student myself, so I am intimately aware of how much mentoring can impact someone's trajectory.” Learn more about her involvement in the program and why mentoring is so important.
Caddie Alford, an assistant professor in the Department of English, currently serves as a Mellon Pathways Program faculty mentor. Learn more about her involvement in the program and why mentoring is so important.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Mellon Pathways Program?
I'm passionate about mentoring generally, but I am especially invested in mentoring as a way of addressing inequities or gaps of access or information. I was a first generation, homeless college student myself, so I am intimately aware of how much mentoring can impact someone's trajectory. On top of this being a passion project, faculty mentors for the Mellon Pathways Program are compensated for their time with research funds, which most of us desperately need.
What types of things do you do for the students and/or program?
As a VCU faculty mentor for the program, we are kind of the student's hype person: as we are in dialogue with the student about their research project and how that process is going, we are also cheering them on, validating their interests, getting them excited about their transition to a big R1 environment, and generally building infrastructure for them by way of unpacking some of the implicit expectations that go along with finishing out an undergraduate degree while pursuing professionalizing opportunities.
Why do you like working with Mellon Pathways students?
By the time VCU faculty mentors enter the picture, Mellon Pathways students are already halfway through their research projects, which means that they have already spent a good amount of time and labor examining their topic – getting to witness someone following their own interests and authorizing themselves along the way is inspiring, fun and a reminder of how research and inquiry is best when it is grounded in some kind of curiosity.
Why is the Mellon Pathways Program important for VCU?
Everyone benefits from these students' transition into VCU: With every cohort, we get people who are accountable for their learning, hungry for more and whose experiences will only add to the plurality that makes VCU so special and alive.
If you are interested in serving as a faculty mentor, please contact Janelle Marshall, director, or Peter Henry, assistant director, of the Mellon Pathways Program.