Valerie Joseph

Valerie Joseph

Valerie Joseph received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in cultural anthropology where she researched the enduring legacies of British colonialism and African heritage memory among the members of the African diaspora in Carriacou Grenada.  In specific, she mapped how Black girls’ musical play reflected both the detrimental internalization of colonial ideology and the restorative nature of African retentions in the girls’ words and movements, beliefs and attitudes.

In her position as Smith College’s AEMES (Achieving Excellence in Math Engineering and Science) Mentoring Coordinator, Valerie is tasked with managing – along with faculty members of the AEMES Mentoring Team – various programs supporting students pursuing study in STEM fields, especially students from underrepresented and marginalized populations.

One of the most meaningful parts of her position involves coaching students, many of whom have contended with (among other things) racism and classism, as they confront additional stressors of re-racialization shock, imposter syndrome and stereotype threat.  These last phenomena rear their ugly heads in an extremely stressful academic context in which some students experience – in very personal terms – wide disparities in wealth and cultural capital. Some of the students of color also experience racial entitlement and disparagement. Informed by her work as a movement therapist, mediator, social justice educator and anthropologist, Valerie works individually and with others in the Smith community to craft and facilitate meaningful interventions to assist talented, hard-working and deserving students to understand and fully know their worth and the rightfulness of their place at Smith and in the sciences.

Finding and Engaging with Mentors, Sponsors and Advisors