“In my view, mentorship is reaching one hand back as you step forward,” says Sasha DuBois ’08BSN, Nurse Director at Spaulding Rehabilitation of Mass General Brigham (the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the United States) and President of the New England Regional Black Nurses Association, Inc. (NERBNA). She considers openness, trust, and wisdom to be the most important qualities of a mentor.
Since its inception in Fall 2009, DuBois has served as a Mentor for Simmons’ Dotson Bridge and Mentoring Program, and was instrumental in its formation. This customized program pairs first-generation and other underrepresented nursing student mentees — called Scholars — with experienced Mentors (typically School of Nursing alumnae/i) in an effort to address barriers. In 2010, Associate Professor of Practice LaDonna Christian ’16PhD became director of the Dotson program.
From Confidantes to Confidence
While a BSN student at Simmons, DuBois noticed that several students, including a friend of hers, were struggling with a required pharmacology course. Although students were allowed to retake the class, DuBois observed that first-generation and other underrepresented students had inequitable access to academic support — namely “mentoring, tutoring, and meaningful guidance for underrepresented students to navigate academia,” she says.
In 2007, DuBois initiated a conversation with Dean (now Emerita) Judy Beal about this troubling issue. “I told Dean Beal that the nursing students need more guidance and equal access to resources … I was advocating for my friend, but I was also advocating for myself,” DuBois explains.
“While intellectually and professionally I have always been committed to the goals of the [Dotson] program, Sasha brought it all alive for me,” Beal remarks. DuBois shared with Beal how difficult it was having been raised by a single mom, having friends impacted by gun violence, and being a first-generation college student. “I was struck by the many hurdles that she and people in her community faced,” Beal recalls. “Being a student was far from easy. I was profoundly inspired by Sasha’s perseverance and tenacity.”
Incidentally, around the time Beal spoke with Sasha, the former dean was already exploring ways to create a new Simmons program designed to support underrepresented nursing students. In 2008, Beal secured funding from Phyllis Nickerson Dotson ’62 and George S. Dotson to inaugurate a customized mentoring program focused on increasing representation within nursing. Reverend Dr. Gloria Harris Cater, formerly an Associate Professor of Practice and currently the Dean of Nursing at Roxbury Community College, became the Dotson program’s first director and continues to serve as a Mentor.
When serving as the inaugural program director, Cater — who has now served as a Registered Nurse for 57 years and as an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church Minister for 20 years — brought rich experience and philosophical depth that shaped the Dotson mentorship model. Influenced by Florence Nightingale, Cater embraces presence, mindfulness, love, and service.
“These attributes strengthen my philosophy of nursing, which I have shared with many Dotson Scholars over my several years in the program,” she says.
One of the first initiatives of its kind, the Dotson program has several signature elements, starting with the application process. As a BSN student, Public Health minor, and current Dotson Scholar Mahathi Kosaraju ’27 explains, “The application for the Dotson program is very holistic.”
Instead of evaluating potential students on quantifiable measures such as grades, test scores, or extra-curricular experiences, the approach is less focused on measurable accomplishments and more so on intrinsic qualities.
“They ask you what type of learner you are — visual, tactile, or auditory — and in what areas you wish to improve,” she recalls. “They wanted to know about your personal confidence, self-esteem, self-care, and mental health … This was the first application I ever encountered that asked me if I have family support.”
Through this comprehensive process, Director Christian pairs Dotson Scholars with the most appropriate Mentors. Saby [Jean-Pierre] Volmar ’12, a critical care nurse practitioner at Tufts Medical Center, mentors Kosaraju. “I love my Mentor,” Kosaraju says. “When I met her as a first-year student, I straight up told her, ‘I want to be like you.’”
The relationship between [Jean-Pierre] Volmar and Kosaraju is uplifting and humanizing. “Saby is never discouraging … She remains honest and open. Our relationship is very much an open-door policy — I can ask her anything about the profession, health, family, and so forth,” Kosaraju explains. “Dotson Mentors see us as humans first, then nursing students. You need to cater to both aspects of an individual, especially for students from historically disenfranchised backgrounds and cultures.”
In addition to enriching Mentor-Scholar relationships, the Dotson program offers many academic and communal resources. Kosaraju enjoys time spent in the Dotson Lounge (a.k.a. the Dotson Room), a study space for participants that is conveniently located near Nursing faculty offices. Scholars benefit especially from customized tutoring. Scholar Hayden Lee ’24, a BSN graduate who double minored in Public Health and Psychology, was a mentee of Professor Christian. Lee appreciated the extra help preparing for her nursing exams, as well as the opportunity to meet with hiring directors from other hospitals.
Christian first remembers Lee struggling with one of her early courses. “Hayden had lost her self-confidence because of this, and needed mentoring and coaching to make some adjustments in her activity and work schedules — given her robust volunteering on campus — and to encourage her.” To Christian’s point, the mentees are intentionally called Scholars to elevate their confidence.
As a result of this customized support, Christian recounts, “Hayden began to succeed on her exams and manage her time effectively to complete her work … Seeing Hayden walk into my office with a smile on her face is the reason I keep doing this DEI work.”
In Lee’s experience, “Meeting with a Mentor is amazing. It gives you accountability and helps you make sure that you are on the right track … Receiving wisdom from others who have already gone through the nursing process is so helpful … I meet with Professor Christian frequently and we talk about everything under the sun.”
Kosaraju values the program’s ethos of encouragement. She refers to Dotson participants as a “tight-knit community” in which “everyone helps each other.” She also enjoys attending the various Dotson events featuring guest speakers advancing the nursing profession. “There is always a ‘next level’ in nursing. Seeing accomplished women who look like me excel and expand the horizons of what nurses can do is very inspiring.”
Equity and belonging are guiding principles undergirding the Dotson program’s design and success. Lee comes from a long line of Chinese-American female nurses, but she observes that “there are not many nurses of Asian descent in New England.” Meeting other people of color generated systems of support and camaraderie.
Born in India, Kosaraju is aware of the cultural stereotype regarding educated Indians becoming doctors. “I love science, but I prefer the patient-centered care that nurses provide,” she explains. As the only aspiring nurse in her family, Kosaraju realized that she needed personalized guidance. While still in high school, she heard about the Dotson program during a Simmons event for prospective students. This program, along with Simmons’ proximity to the Longwood Medical Area, convinced her that Simmons was the ideal place to study nursing.
Moreover, Kosaraju understands the high stakes that underpin the Dotson mission. “Nursing is one of the few social-mobility professions to which people of color have access … However, immigrants who may not have yet mastered English do not have equitable access to professional and educational resources,” she explains. “The Dotson Mentors understand this … Professor Christian will not give up on you.”
Forming an Inter-experiential, Intergenerational Community
The Dotson program’s communal composition mirrors many ALANA (African American, Latinx, Asian, and Native American) cultures. DuBois, who is from a large family with Haitian and Bermudian ancestry, says, “We are very centered around family and community.” Similarly, Kosaraju notes, “Nothing brings women of color together more than intergenerational gatherings.”
During her teens, DuBois spent formative years as a congregant at the historic Twelfth Baptist Church (located in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood), which she recalls being “a village mentality” that is “big on community.” Parishioners also supported the education of youth by creating scholarship funds.
Moreover, Cater considers the nursing profession a type of ministry. As she elaborates, “Nurses are present when infants are born, throughout the lifespan helping individuals achieve their best health, and when a patient dies. Nurses are there at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of [a patient’s] life.” Although the Dotson program is decidedly secular, it retains comparable inter-generational and inter-experiential networks of support.
With the rise of secularization, individualism, and capitalism, spaces dedicated to these kinds of gatherings are eroding. For example, recent scholarship traces the dwindling of religious affiliation in the United States in general, and the decline of attendance in the Black Church in particular. This trend is a concern among minority communities, as the Black Church has historically fostered community-building and civil rights leadership.
In light of these cultural shifts, the Dotson program is a beacon of community and uplift. Allowing Scholars to learn from their more experienced, and oftentimes older, Mentors, helps them navigate issues of diversity and visibility in their future workplaces. “Racialized medicine is real,” notes DuBois on the hidden inequities within healthcare. (Congruent with DuBois’ observation, guest speaker Dr. Ena Williams, during her 2024 Dotson Lectureship Event, discussed systemic biases against racial minority nurses and patients). In these contexts, DuBois uses her “Simmons voice” to advocate for those under her care and mentorship.
Theorizing the issue of healthcare inequity further, Cater derives inspiration from a civil rights icon. “The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ‘Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.’ I certainly agree and understand that one way to mitigate this injustice and inequality is to make sure that RNs of color are represented at all levels and in all types of health care facilities. The Dotson program [addresses] this problem.”
Reflecting on the last 15 years of the program, DuBois says, “We have amazing outcomes [including increased NCLEX and Simmons courses pass rates, improved attrition rates, and increasing numbers of applicants], and our students have a place to belong.” Moreover, “the Dotson program has never wavered in its core principles of supporting the academics and work-life balance of BIPOC students,” she observes.
“For over 15 years the Dotson Bridge and Mentoring Program has afforded over 500 graduates of color the opportunity to view nursing through the lens(es)of presence, mindfulness, love, and service,” says Cater. “We know about health disparities and the burden of disease that people of color in the United States are enduring. We also know that these patients can enjoy better health outcomes when they are cared for by a nurse of color. During this season of political, social, economic, and organizational change when the words diversity, equity, and inclusion are losing their luster, there must be nurses of color at all levels who will stand in the gap to ensure comprehensive health care for all. The mindset of presence, mindfulness, love, and service makes Dotson Scholars the perfect choice.”
Nowadays, Dotson events are so well-attended that they require larger spaces, and the program has garnered external grant funding. In 2021, Christian, Cater, and former Professor of Practice Colette Dieujuste co-authored an article in Nursing Education that provides evidence for the Dotson program as a “diversity success story.” As they write, “The key to this flourishing success is that the [mentoring program] offers flexibility, caring, cultural humility, and the assurance that every student has a pathway to succeed in the nursing program.”
For DuBois, “A big testament to the program is that former Scholars are now Mentors.” For example, Kosaraju’s Mentor, [Jean-Pierre] Volmar, was once a Scholar who received mentorship from DuBois.
“Overall, the Dotson program is great, and other schools should emulate it,” Lee says. “I am so grateful for the people of color in the same boat as I am who have helped me … And in the future, I would be happy to pay it forward as a Dotson Mentor.”
The Spirit of Generosity
During the 15th anniversary Dotson Gala held on October 25, 2024, attendees viewed a video interview with the program’s inaugural donors.
Speaking from the couple’s home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ms. Dotson said, “George and I have always felt that we want to help anyone who has a burden or may be underserved.” Furthermore, she noted that, given the nation’s nursing shortage, their gift is even more needed today.
Over the years, program participants have sent the Dotsons deeply moving letters. The Dotsons also had the pleasure of meeting the Mentees and visiting their classes on campus. During the filmed interview, Mr. Dotson held up a photo of the couple with the Dotson community. This image “is very prominent in our home,” and “gives us so much satisfaction,” he said.
The Dotsons are especially pleased with the vitality and duration of the program. “All of us know of programs that had wonderful visions of success, but something happened, and they never quite achieved the longevity that they wanted. And yet this program — because of the attention that you [Mentors and Scholars] and the staff put into it — you are refreshing it all the time. You’re making it more appropriate for all of your students. And this is something that is alive. And things that are alive continue,” Mr. Dotson reflected.
The vibrant atmosphere that animates the Dotson program circles back to the centrality of community. In her aforementioned conversation with Beal, DuBois explained that her nursing degree is “a collective achievement … I have younger people looking up to me, and I have family [elders] waiting for me to excel and for me to start my new career … Essentially, this degree is not just my own.”
By mentoring Simmons students, DuBois instills in future nurses hope and inspiration. “It makes me proud to pass something on to the next generation of nurses,” she says. “It fills my proverbial cup, knowing that my mentees understand that the sky’s the limit … Like a gardener, I just water, and I see them grow.”