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Black Women Matter: Providing Intentional Space for Black Undergraduate

Black Women Matter: Providing Intentional Space for Black Undergraduate

Katie Dalton, PhD

Director of the Boston College Women’s Center

Boston College

Katie Dalton is the Director of the Boston College Women’s Center. Katie received her undergraduate degree in psychology, her master’s degree in higher education administration, and her PhD in higher education administration from Boston College. Katie’s doctoral research investigated the role that mentors in woman-to-woman mentoring of undergraduate students play in addressing undergraduate women’s declining self-esteem. Katie explored mentors’ motivation for serving as mentors, their level of critical consciousness of undergraduate women’s experiences, and whether they believed they had the power to enact structural change. 

Christie Louis

President of HA, South Africa Arrupe Leader and SAP panelist

Boston College

Christie Louis is originally from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti but currently resides in Wrentham MA. She is a senior currently studying Biology and minoring in Public Health in hopes of pursuing a career as a provider in women's Health (specifically focused on Black maternal health). On campus, Christie splits her time working in the Women's Center and Academic Advising Center. She currently serves as the President of HA, South Africa Arrupe Leader, and SAP panelist. Off campus, Christie works as an intern for Harvard's Ariadne Labs Delivery Decisions Initiative focusing on improving a birthing person's labor experience and postpartum care through the implementation of a patient-centered model of care. She was the 2022 and 2023 student director of the Boston College Black Women Matter Retreat. 


A student served as the catalyst for the Black Women Matter Retreat by proactively sharing her need for a space where she could hold and attend to the intersection of two of her identities - that of a Black person and a woman – with the Boston College Women’s Center (WC) staff. Up to this point, she felt that she needed to attend to these aspects of her identity separately by accessing discussions and programs related to her blackness at the Boston College Thea Bowman AHANA Intercultural Center and attending the Women’s Center to discuss her identity as a woman. In response, the WC conducted focus groups with Black women in staff and faculty positions who were in touch with students in order to begin to understand their perceptions of Black women's undergraduate needs. 

 The WC then invited Black undergraduate women to participate in interviews to share their experiences as Black women at Boston College. Eight Black undergraduate women, ranging in year from freshmen to seniors, participated in the interviews. 

After coding the interview data, the staff identified a number of themes, which fell into the following categories: Emotional Labor, Absence of Identity Recognition, Desire for a Sense of Belonging, and Institutional Support. 

Learning Outcomes: 

  • Understand information and data on the unique needs of undergraduate Black women at predominantly white institutions.
  • Interpret the intervention (retreat) the presenter developed to address those needs.
  • Articulate assessment tools and processes to verify the effectiveness of the intervention. 
  • Interpret and identify the unique needs of undergraduate Black women at predominately white institutions. 
  • Address intervention for the unique needs of undergraduate Black women at their institution
  • Create assessment tools and processes to verify the effectiveness of the interventions developed to support the student success of Black women at predominantly white institutions.

Continuing Education Credits

Participants who complete the course will be eligible for Continuing Education (CE) credits in either the Core Student Affairs Educator Certification (CSAEd™) or Social Justice and Inclusion (SJI) continuing education. 

NASPA has been approved by the Higher Education Consortium for Student Affairs Certification to provide CE credit for Certified Student Affairs Educators (CSAEd). NASPA is solely responsible for all aspects of this program.

Guidelines for earning CE credit: 

1 CE is awarded for attending this live session OR watching it on-demand for ONE category of Continuing Education. You can not receive more than 1 credit hour total. 

No partial credit will be rewarded. 

Participants must also complete the feedback survey in the Online Learning Community.

Reach out to virtuallearning@naspa.org for the continuing education certificate for Social Justice and Inclusion. 

To receive CSAEd credit, attendees must complete the Feedback Survey in the online event offering the certification. Once the survey is completed, your Certificate will be available in the event modules. The Certificate of Completion, which will show the event and credit earnings, is available for download and/or print from the event in your Online Learning Community.

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