Dr. Sharon Holmes is one of the four scholars brought to IU’s Educational Leadership and Policy Studies division of the School of Education during second summer session.  When considering the progression of her career, she said it seems like she has been directed towards issues of education and its administration since very early in her life. From high school through her undergraduate business programs she was employed in student financial aid.

 Eventually, Holmes decided to enter the M.S. program at Iowa State University, and  initially worked with Professor Larry Ebbers in Student Personnel Services in Higher Education. Her thesis quantitatively examines a community college, and considers how to expand its curriculum in line with comprehensive schools.  Her work in this phase moves towards qualitative research in the way it defines the regional market, specifically young mothers of pre-school children.  Holmes went out into the community and heard what they wanted out of their college educations.      

This kind of research–working with people’s stories and listening to their needs–became more important in the next phase of Holmes’ research.  Her dissertation, entitled “Black Academics Speak Out: Narratives on Race, Class, and Gender,” is rooted in personal experiences of female academics of color in predominantly white institutions.  Holmes interviewed women, broadly ranging in age, who worked at both two and four year institutions.  Her research considers the extent to which race, class, gender, or the interaction of these qualities, impacts their sense of identity both inside the classroom and out.  Indeed, the theoretical grounding of Holmes work speaks to identity development; as such, the cultural gap between self within a childhood or home community and that characterized by the academic milieu in which the women now worked often surfaced in the stories they told. Interestingly, those women returning home often read their sense of dislocation as an issue of class.

 In the graduate seminar Holmes taught for the School of Education this summer, she called upon her women’s studies background in U550/C750, “Our Gendered Lives: Women in Society.”  Of her teaching philosophy, she said: “As an educator, I feel it is my responsibility to prepare students to become critical thinkers and open-minded individuals who are not afraid to have serious dialogue on topics that are not always politically correct.  Issues . . . that set people apart are infused into discussion at every opportunity.”  Holmes added that students are assured from the start that they are free to raise their topics for discussion, “as long as they remain respectful of the opinions of others.”  As a result, she said, discussions were quite lively, and that she “enjoyed the class tremendously.” 

 Holmes equally enjoyed her time in Bloomington as an MFFP fellow.  She said she “met some wonderful people here,” and that she was glad she had the opportunity to participate in the program.  At the session’s end, she was heading towards the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, to begin her tenure track appointment in their Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program.