In recognition of Black History Month, we sat down with two members of the College of Engineering, Sam Graham and Melody Foster, to talk about their experiences both personally and professionally as first-generation African American college graduates. Both share their thoughts on how we can continue to better champion the importance of diversity at Georgia Tech and in our personal lives. Melody Foster is a unit administrative officer in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Samuel Graham is the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. School Chair and professor for the Woodruff school.
Can you tell us about an early experience that influenced you personally or professionally?
Graham:
My parents didn’t go to college, so I am a first-generation college student. My parents grew up in South Carolina, and their way out of the rural south was my dad joining the military. As we grew up moving around the world as a military family, my parents instilled in us hard work and a lot of core values that stick with me today. So, a lot of the things that you see me do and how I behave are a result of what I learned from my parents. And I think that has served me well — the discipline that I have in terms of how to approach things.
My parents gave me opportunities that they didn’t have growing up in the rural south. There were things that my siblings and I had to do growing up that probably most other kids had to do in terms of work around the house, but I had the time to focus on school in a way that my parents probably didn’t have growing up on a farm. And with my dad serving in the military, I got a chance to see a lot of high-tech equipment, which sparked this curiosity for mechanical things. In high school, I attended a summer camp at the University of South Carolina, and two summer camps at Clemson University that introduced me to this thing called ‘engineering.’ I didn’t even really know what engineering was, but I did know that they covered some topics that I was curious about, and it was a way to visit a college campus for a couple of weeks while in high school. By the time I did the second summer camp at Clemson, I knew engineering was what I wanted to do, and I knew that it was going to be mechanical engineering. I have four siblings, and luckily, all of us were able to go to college and do quite well. All of us were instilled with the same work ethic by my parents, even though they did not go to college.
Once I got into college, I continued to do internships — partially because my parents didn’t have a lot of money to send me to school, so I had to make money, and internships are a great way to do it. I did two internships at Pratt and Whitney, and then went to a few other companies, and I just really began to understand what was going on in various sectors of engineering. I also worked in a research lab as an undergrad because it was fun doing a lot of experimental testing and learning more about ME. I think those were early influences for really grounding me.
Foster:
When I was in high school, I wanted to be a teacher. But my counselor was like, ‘No, you’re more business oriented. You should go into the field of business or accounting or something like that.’ So, I listened to what he had to say and enrolled into college as a business major. While in college, I worked at a company where they allowed me to restructure the office. My office manager was awesome. She told me that I had a knack for organizing and getting people to do what I needed them to do. She allowed me to use the skills I was learning in school. We also streamlined how tasks were handled. She helped me understand that I’m good at leading people. She also helped me to understand that accounting really wasn’t for me, and that I needed to find out what I wanted to do. So, I kind of fell into my field that way.
Is there someone you view as a major role model in your life?
Graham:
Dr. Namas Chandra, the faculty member I worked for at FAMU-FSU in undergrad would definitely be one of my role models. And then when I got to Tech for graduate school, my advisor, David McDowell was phenomenal in terms of believing in me, teaching me, and giving me guidance to grow professionally. In terms of being African American, coming to grad school where there weren’t many people like me, I would say Gary May had a tremendous influence on me. Learning from Dr. May was inspiring and made me want to emulate the way he did things with excellence. As a faculty member, Seth Marder and Bernard Kippelen were excellent early role models that helped me to expand my research into new areas. At various stages along my journey, these people made me believe that as a young African American, being an engineer and a faculty member was something that I could do and be successful.
I would also say that peer-to-peer mentoring was just as significant for me during my graduate studies at Tech. Calvin Mackie, Johnny Green, Stacey Dixon, and Angela Birkes all were influential during my time at Georgia Tech. Their successes would influence me, and I would turn around and influence them. I think these cohorts of fellow students that you develop are so important, because the faculty can’t always be there for every step that you take.
Foster:
My parents were my first and strongest role models. They taught me everything I know. They taught me the importance of keeping my word, being faithful to who I am, no matter what comes at me in life, and remembering who I am. My parents were not able to go to college. But they made it their business that my siblings and I, graduate from high school and attend college or trade school in whatever field we wanted to do. They’ve always encouraged us and continue to this day (my father passed away, but my mom is still here).
I’ve also had three people that have served as professional role models for me at Georgia Tech. The first one is Melinda Wilson. She used to be over our admin team in the Woodruff School. Melinda had worked at Georgia Tech for about 20 years at the time and retired with 36 years of service. She took me in from the day I started working as a front desk person, and she trained me to do things the Georgia Tech way. She showed me how things were done. If I had questions, she would answer them. And she was my biggest supporter. She’s retired now, but we still keep in touch and she continues to support me.
My second one is Ward Winer. He was my former supervisor as ME school chair. He was the one who told me that I no longer was going to work at the front desk, that I needed to move out of that comfort zone and move into something that was challenging and would make me more active in the school. He didn’t take no for an answer. I laugh about this now because I said ‘no’ several times. He said, ‘Go apply for the job!’ He mentored me and pushed me to be better. Although he’s been retired for 14 years now, we still keep in touch, and he still checks on me to make sure that everything is going well.
And my final role model is LaJauna Ellis. She has encouraged me to pursue job opportunities and to grow in my position. And even now, if I need anything such as advice or encouragement, I can always call her. She’s always been there. I think it’s important that you have people like that around you when you’re working. Because you need that, from time to time…no questions, they’re just there to encourage you and support you.
What types of personal and professional obstacles have you faced and how have you overcome them?
Foster:
I don’t dwell on other people’s negativity. So, a lot of times when people aim their racism at me, I subtly correct them, or I ignore them.
But there have been a few times that I’ve been treated differently because of my skin color. For example, while attending Georgia State University in 1986, I took a job there; I was going to school part-time and working full-time. I received a call one day from the VP of finance, asking for a particular report. And I said, ‘Okay, I’ll prepare it, and I’ll bring it up.’ When I walked in his office, he said, ‘You’re not the person I just spoke to.’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ And he said, ‘I asked her to bring me this report.’ And I said, ‘You did speak to me.’ So I gave him the report, and I went back downstairs. Later that day, I overheard him in my supervisor’s office, and he said, someone was playing tricks on him. He said, ‘I talked to a white girl, not a black one. And when I ask people to do something, I expect them to do it.’ When he came back out of the office, I politely said, in a professional tone, ‘Please tell me exactly what a black woman sounds like, should I be talking like this or something,’ and I changed the tone of my voice. He couldn’t respond. He just walked away. My supervisor was livid with him. But I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me! In this day and age, are you really telling me that he expects me to behave a certain way because of the color of my skin? So that pushed me to remember that no matter who I’m with, and what I do, I have to always be professional, because more is expected of me than my counterpart who may have the same experiences and the same lifestyle. Because of the color of my skin, I have to be on top of my game, and I have to stay there. There’s no room for failure sometimes and no room for forgiveness.
Personally, I think there’s a lot of work that we need to do in America, and I don’t know how to change it. I wish I had an answer. But I know that if we start to look at each other as people and not as ethnicities, like black or white, we’ll get along a whole lot better.
Graham:
It ties back to growing up in a family where we were first-generation college students. We were all doing well, but we could have easily fallen into a trap of not making it. As a first-generation college student, you may have great talent, but the fact that you don’t have the money, and you don’t have someone there to guide you on how to go to college, how to make certain decisions, and how to get through it makes it that much more difficult. I am thankful that I had good mentors, and that’s why I have a desire to always reach back and help talented first-generation college students.
I’d say the biggest hurdle was not knowing the opportunities, not knowing what was really out there, and not knowing what you could really become. It’s hard to believe in something that you haven’t envisioned. So, at some point, you have to believe in people’s encouragement of you to keep pushing, and you have to seek out the truth, and find out what’s really inside of you. And eventually you grab ahold of that dream and you run with it.
What are your thoughts on how we can continue to better champion the importance of diversity at Georgia Tech and in our personal lives?
Foster:
I think Georgia Tech from top to bottom need to continue to communicate the importance of managing bias through seminars, classes, training programs, etc. Not everyone is going to attend it but if you put it out there and enough people start to change, they’ll bring people with them. I feel you must lead by example. Titles matter as far as how you get promoted, but they shouldn’t matter on how we treat people. I don’t know that it can be done across the board, but Georgia Tech needs to train people, and then generally promote diversity when hiring in the higher-level positions. I’m not saying hire just because of the color of their skin, but hire because of the quality of work and skills that person brings to that position, and what they’ve shown that they can do.
Diversity can’t just be at work, your personal life has to reflect that in order for it to be meaningful. If we only practice diversity at work and we don’t do it at home, I don’t think the full transformation is going to happen.
Diversity is about reading and learning about other people. Learning different cultures, learning what makes people who they are. If you want to know something, read, study, and then ask questions. I think if you learn about things and you’re educated about something, then you can do something about it. So, if I could say anything to encourage diversity, it would be: educate yourself, and then be active in making a change.
Graham:
We have to continue building the community to improve diversity — championing how to bring more people into a great place like Georgia Tech, expanding access for a broader pool. In addition to bringing more people in, you need the right environment once they get here. Otherwise, they won’t grow and reach their potential. So, I think we have to do a great job in terms of attracting the talent, but we also have to continue working on the environment that students, staff, and faculty have to operate in. That is probably the biggest thing we can do. And if we don’t do that, we’re going to continue to have the problems that we see in terms of the underlying climate and divisions working against our goals of making this truly a place that champions diversity, equity, and inclusion.
At Georgia Tech, we talk about improving the human condition. And the question I have is, ‘How are you going to impact society, if you don’t understand society? How are you going to improve the human condition if you don’t understand the human condition?’ By bringing diverse groups of people in, you’re bringing in bits and pieces of those stories and an understanding of the challenges faced in society. And that is what gets you to the point of better understanding the human condition, and better understanding the problems in society. You have to do it through diversity. It is truly about bringing in the right voices, so we can come up with the best solutions.