Evelyn Simien
Field:  Political Science
SR-EIP:  Cornell University (1995)
Undergrad:  Xavier University of Louisiana (1997)
Graduate School:  Purdue University (2001)
Current:  Associate Professor, University of Connecticut, Political Science
Email: evelyn.simien@uconn.edu

• Could you talk about any memorable experiences from your summer research at Brown?
  
  The thing I was most impressed with was that I think they had fourteen libraries at Cornell.  Coming from a historically black college that didn’t have those resources, it was overwhelming, but in a good way.  I felt humbled and blessed.
  
  I participated in a different program the previous summer, and the Leadership Alliance was more intimate, there was much more one-on-one attention from my mentor.  Looking back on it, I’m awed by having had the experience of working with Anna Marie Smith.  She was a very hands-on mentor.  We met every week and she made arrangements for me to meet with other faculty and graduate students.  She reviewed drafts of my statement of purpose and she wrote a letter of recommendation for me when I applied to graduate school.  I’ve remained in touch with her and I still see her at professional conferences.  She really took care of me.  She was very forward thinking in that she helped me look beyond the 8-10 week program to the application process and what graduate school would actually be like.
  
• Can you talk about the role of mentorship in your career?
  
  Anytime you represent a group that is underrepresented, you’re going to draw lots of students.  I naively thought it would just be students of color, but it has also been women across races.  I initially thought I would return to teach at an HBC, but I was on a panel at Purdue and an undergraduate stood up and said “what about us?”  I realized that there are students at all schools who need positive mentorship.
  
• What advice would you give to this year’s Leadership Alliance participants?
  
  First and foremost take the GRE-prep very seriously.  In this day and age, don’t take anything for granted.
  
• Is there anything else that you would like to mention?
  
  Don’t doubt yourself.  Enough people will give you a lot of reasons to think that you can’t do it, but you can’t be guilty of that sort of self talk.