Interview with Christina Smiley

Interviewed by Maya Phelps

Christina Smiley is a fi rst-year Ph.D. student at Washington University in St. Louis in the Department of Musicology and also our Mellon Graduate Mentor for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Christina and I sat down to talk about how her personal background and experiences in the academy influence both her research interests and how she approaches her position in the Fellowship. She oriented herself around mentorship and relationships, stating that her relationships paved the way for her to reach the position she is in now. Contrary to my prior belief, Christina was not a Mellon Fellow in her undergraduate studies, she stated, “There was no Mellon program at the University of Miami… one of my [current] professors, Lauren Eldridge Stewart (shoutout to her!) was a Mellon at Spelman… she pitched me to Professor Fenderson… Through all of that, [the Graduate Mentor position] has shown me the value of community. Even though she [Dr. Stewart] was on leave, she took the initiative to make sure I was taken care of. That was huge.” Christina emphasized how important her mentors and professors continue to be to her career, and that it is her goal as a mentor now to create connections similar to those who invested in her success.

Christina being freshly out of her undergrad program gives her a unique positionality to the Mellon Fellows because she can so easily recall the experiences her mentees go through, she explains, “When I came to Mellon in the fall, I was in y’all’s shoes just the previous semester… In some ways, this puts me in a good position perhaps, or at least I would like to think so, in that I am ahead, but in terms of what is going on in my life and my experiences, I am not so far removed from the undergrad experience. I even went through COVID and had school on Zoom. I can hopefully empathize with you all in a way that senior faculty can’t.” When I asked Christina to reflect on both her position as a younger Ph.D. student and the mentorship that guided her to this position, she emphasized that she would not be here without the connections and relationships she made, stressing the intentionality behind these relationships that she committed to. Her commitment to the future of the academy is mentorship and guidance, she states, “I’m big on trying to be the mentor that my professors were to me to other people. There are folks that are stingy with information, but that is not me. I want to share my experiences because I realize how hard it is to navigate alone and how important it is to have a community. My philosophy is to keep the energy going. The love and support I received from others, it is important that I give that back into the world and into those around me.” That is the work Christina does for our Mellon Program. Her dedication to mentorship shines through in how she offers her time and resources to our Fellows, and we could not be more grateful for this commitment she chose with us!