Liz Kay: 00:01

Hello, and welcome to the Providence College podcast. I'm your host, Liz Kay, and I'm joined by producer, Chris Judge, of the class of 2005. Here on the Providence College podcast, we bring you interesting stories from the Friar family. This week, we're talking with doctor Wanda Ingram, the senior associate dean for undergraduate studies, the freshman and sophomore class dean, and cochair of the MLK Convocation Committee. This is a special year to talk with doctor Ingram as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of women enrolling as undergrads.

Liz Kay: 00:27

Doctor Ingram was a member of the inaugural class to include women in 1971. Doctor Ingram, thanks so much for joining us.

Wanda Ingram: 00:33

Thank you.

Liz Kay: 00:35

Well, Providence College was definitely undergoing some changes when you joined the community in 1971. Can you tell us what led you to to come to Providence College? What led you to choose to be part of that, that innovative pioneering class of women?

Wanda Ingram: 00:51

I was going to be a science major and was. I am from I'm a military brat and in Newport, I would say the majority of male teachers that I had in my high school, Rogers, were all graduates of Providence College, it seemed like. And the school was about to go coed and, it was strongly recommended by just about everybody in the city that I go ahead and apply to that institution. Although I was I had my heart set set on a couple of other places at first, but when I came to visit the institution and I kept hearing, well, this is the 1st year of women, but this is what we're planning on doing, this what we're looking for. This is what we're striving for.

Wanda Ingram: 01:30

We want you to be one of those individuals that makes a difference and and makes a change. It it it caught me and I I realized, okay, let let me go ahead even though there were, what, maybe 270 women and a good 2,000 plus males that were on the campus. I mean, that's something that some people would say would be also good information as well from that perspective. But in reference to just the challenges that were there, I was very happy with the fact that being a chemistry major and they had masters and doctoral degrees in reference to it, I I felt, okay, you know what? If I do well in this particular major, I can go far with regards to it.

Wanda Ingram: 02:08

So it just it just checked off all the right boxes at the time.

Liz Kay: 02:12

So you were a chemistry major and they were graduate and doctoral students, But how many of the students, in the sciences were women?

Wanda Ingram: 02:22

2 of us.

Liz Kay: 02:24

So 2 of 200, almost 300 students.

Wanda Ingram: 02:27

Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, everybody knew where you were in the building. Nope, no problem there. I never felt unsafe. You always had the chivalry that was going on all the time with folks looking out for you, which was great too.

Wanda Ingram: 02:38

So as being a novelty as it was, and then as a as a woman, a black woman, in an institution like this where there were very few of us, there were, like, I think maybe 12 women total out of that group that came that 1st year with us, there were some transitions that occurred for obvious reasons, just after the civil rights movements and etcetera, etcetera. But, there were a lot of teaching moments, let's put it that way.

Liz Kay: 03:04

So let's dig into this a little bit more, please. There were about 280 women that enrolled that 1st year, and only 12 of them were women of color. How did the college help you with that transition to college life?

Wanda Ingram: 03:21

Well, we started off with us coming in the summer prior to school beginning. And to be honest with you with with father Morris and and doctor McKay who were running the program itself for the Martin Luther King scholarship program, which is what that was part of, I was quite insulted at first because I kept thinking, well, I'm I'm I'm really all straight a student. Why why do I need to come? Because I'm thinking of it as being remedial work with regards to my academics. Not realizing that there's a whole process that one goes through with regards to just, you know, relating to an institution from other ways.

Wanda Ingram: 03:55

So it turned out to be one of the best things that could have possibly happened. We developed a sense of community. We got to know people on campus and off campus, not only, you know, folks of color because the majority of us were African Americans at that time, but just to feel connected as a part of a strong community because remember, we didn't have cell phones and and and the media and whatever to be able to make connections with one another in social media, etcetera. So you needed to make those connections 1 on 1 and it gave us an opportunity to do that during the summer so that by the time school started, we realized there were a lot of students that felt, you know, that they were really at a disadvantage because they didn't know anyone, they didn't know their way around, and here we are actually feeling like the experts in reference to being able to show folks where to go, who to see, how to talk with different individuals, etcetera. So it really did help us to to make that transition a lot better.

Liz Kay: 04:50

Could so you mentioned father Morris and and doctor doctor McKay. Could you tell us more about them and some of the other people helped you succeed at PC?

Wanda Ingram: 05:01

Well, those were the 2 that, even when I came to visit in this, before even school began and I was looking at different colleges, those were the 2 that convinced me that this was a good place to come. Father Morris, of course, he had a handshake that would break your hand, but other than that, he was kind of, we all kinda considered him our adopted father because he he knew and and was aware of everything. If we had problems or questions or whatever, we would always find our way to him. Doctor McKay, who was my other mentor, he was a chemistry professor on top of it even though I did not have him for class, but he was always there and and convinced me to serve on the MLK, scholarship committee as a student representative as well. So he helped me with all of my different leadership types of skills and when I learned, father Morris was just there for everybody in reference to he was considered our adopted father.

Liz Kay: 05:51

And father Morris and doctor McCabe were 2 of the 4 people who really got the MLK scholarship program Yes. Going Yes. That have been honored as vision award recipients themselves Mhmm. Which is which is phenomenal. Do you have any I'm curious how you feel about if at MLK Day or if you reflect on this connection I mean, it was there.

Liz Kay: 06:12

They were inspired by doctor King so inspired by doctor King to start this program at Providence College. I feel like there's gotta be a connection there for you or a special way to, remember doctor King. If it were not for that scholarship program, would you have come to Providence College?

Wanda Ingram: 06:28

Probably not. Probably not. And it's funny that you asked me that question. I never really had thought of it that way, but the the answer came out quick enough. Yeah.

Liz Kay: 06:37

So what brought you back to Providence College many years later?

Wanda Ingram: 06:41

It's the 75th anniversary committee. I served on that one because father Quigley, who, was our chaplain back then, so he was another one that was very close to, our population of of students while I was a student here. He convinced me to at least think about the possibility of coming back to PC. I was working and I mean, commuting to Massachusetts, living in Rhode Island. I had a a young family, baby, and he he just said all the right things and and kept talking about, well, we don't have a real academic dean for freshman students and I understand you you all of your work is about that whole aspect of transitions as a therapist, as one who oversees, student organizations, and so on and so forth.

Wanda Ingram: 07:27

Would you be interested in this position that we're we're developing? And I said, what does it look like? And next thing I know we're having conversations about what it should look like. And now I'm realizing, okay, I think I'm hoping to write my own job description here. But needless to say, came in, applied for it, interviewed doctor McKay and all the other individuals I already knew among others and realized it was gonna be a good fit.

Wanda Ingram: 07:51

There was plenty to be done here.

Liz Kay: 07:53

And I'm sure that job has evolved considerably. It's ballooned. Ballooned is probably the best way to describe it. So if just thinking about your own work in the last 2 years, you've been doing this work since you arrived. And forgive me.

Liz Kay: 08:12

When when did you arrive at return to Providence College?

Wanda Ingram: 08:15

1990.

Liz Kay: 08:18

It's been a minute. Yes. It's been a minute.

Wanda Ingram: 08:20

A while. I said I'd be here maybe about 5 years. I lied.

Liz Kay: 08:26

You know, we we were talking, about how your job has evolved and ballooned, but I'm sure these last 2 years particularly have been challenged being the understatement, of course. How has your work helping 1st year students and their families get adjusted to college life changed as a result of the pandemic? What were some of the biggest challenges, and what have been some of the it couldn't all have been bad. Were there any things that, you you think going forward you might change for the for the that might change for the better?

Wanda Ingram: 09:00

Because it's it's still evolving, it's kind of a hard question to answer right now. I mean, I think we're kind of making this up as we go along. Folks had said when the pandemic hit that, to come up with the vaccine in this shorter turnaround time was virtually impossible and yet here we are and we're talking about boosters and and understanding how that particular, you know, virus has evolved even again. So I see this as a work in progress. There's a lot of things that we haven't really realized yet in reference to the fallout from what students have gone through being sequestered during high school and then being sequestered while being here on the campus.

Wanda Ingram: 09:42

The whole aspect of becoming a community is a little bit different because I think that with cell phones and and being up on social media and the whole digital identity, that it's a different kind of animal than what I was accustomed to when I arrived at college. And, we're not quite sure, at least when as as I teach in student development theory in at the graduate level and I speak with my students, we're not quite sure yet exactly what the it is that we're going to have to kind of work on because it is still definitely evolving, it's because it's not over yet.

Liz Kay: 10:19

Everything is still in flux.

Wanda Ingram: 10:21

It's still in flux and the lack of control, I think for everybody, I think it's getting to even the adults and the grown ups, the old folks as well, including yours truly, in reference to trying to cope with because they're so much beyond our control. It just makes you uncomfortable. And trying to explain that to students when we don't have the answers for ourselves, not always it's not always easy.

Liz Kay: 10:41

In 2001, you and your colleague, Jackie McKay, published a guide for families called Let the Journey Begin, a parent's guide monthly guide for to the college experience. What are some of the the bits of advice that you shared in that book that you feel remain true today for today's families?

Wanda Ingram: 10:59

Well, having families understand that there is a process that students go through and that they can't solve everything for their their sons and daughters, I think has always been that common message that still rings true. And, even with COVID and even with, our our parents that are trying to trying to plow the road a little bit more in reference to the I I think of them sometimes as the snowplows because they're trying to clear all the snow and ice off the ground before their child walks through. And that's not necessarily gonna be the thing that's gonna help them benefit the most from this growth and and and the whole process. Sometimes you have to kind of slip and slide a little bit and that was the case back then when we wrote the book and it's still the case right now. It's just more biblical proportions I would say in reference to some of the things that they're trying to cope with.

Wanda Ingram: 11:48

But it's still, I mean, I think it's pretty much, pretty consistent. But as, of the parents are not quite sure how best to deal with these kinds of things right now even for themselves. So I I tell parents be as honest as you possibly can. Don't speak for Johnny or Susie or whomever. Let them talk and we'll try to work on it together and we'll pull you in but we need to, 1st and foremost, have those kinds of difficult conversations and dialogues with your child and then help them kind of figure it out and they can bounce those kinds of things off of you.

Wanda Ingram: 12:23

And that's part of the whole value system that I think we have to kind of reinforce with the parents too.

Liz Kay: 12:28

That the parents are support, but not they're not speaking on behalf of their children.

Wanda Ingram: 12:33

Exactly. Yeah. And with COVID and whatever, I found that, parents were kind of getting back to that. Well, I'm and I will ask, well, where's Johnny or where's Susie or Amanda who or whomever it is. Well, they're they're busy right now.

Wanda Ingram: 12:46

Well, I'm glad they're busy, but, we need I need to have that conversation with the student. And we can talk with you afterwards, but we need to have that conversation together because yeah. It and it's it's getting back to even 911 once again, which I think kinda started a lot of this in reference to protecting your child. And as a parent and a grandparent, I understand that fully, but we have to allow them to to grow. And the only way that that's gonna happen is with some some challenges in development.

Liz Kay: 13:15

But each one of those challenges is practice for when they go off to be, you know, full grown adults themselves one day. Right?

Wanda Ingram: 13:21

Right. Exactly. And you're not always gonna have all the right answers, and that's we'll be fine with that. It's gonna take some time.

Liz Kay: 13:27

So, Wanda, before you I let you go, I can't resist asking you about your creative side. I'm sure many people, many alumni have come through your office and had may not have even known, about all the work you do on your own, and I'm hoping that you can tell us how, that helped you through the pandemic as well. Can you tell us about some of your creative endeavors?

Wanda Ingram: 13:48

I have an art background. And originally, when I started talking about college, I was thinking about going to art school instead of a regular liberal arts institution or, science institution as well. Even though I could do the chemistry and whatever, I've always done artwork as well. But my mother, I think, made it very clear and she was absolutely right, especially as a military wife where, you know, they're just the facts man kind of kind of way of of raising your child as well. You only like to do your artwork when you want to do it, So you're probably not gonna eat a whole lot because you're not gonna get, you're not gonna get paid because there are certain times when you don't wanna do anything artistic at all.

Wanda Ingram: 14:31

And she was absolutely right. So I tell my students all the time, we have a lot of abilities, but some things we're going to find that they're going to go down the path of being extracurriculars instead. And that's fine because that's what keeps you keeps you level in reference to dealing with all the other negative things at times. And I'm a perfect example of that. I mean, I do a little bit of this and that all the time.

Wanda Ingram: 14:53

I I do a lot of sewing. I've made many costumes for my granddaughter, and anyone who walks in my office will see all of the different outfits that she's I mean, Disney has nothing on me in reference to some of the things that I have been able to make, and it's wonderful. I make a lot of jewelry, a lot of folks are wearing a lot of the things that I have made. I make a lot of cards, especially pop up cards because the the science of physics and how they pop up, the angles, I'm fascinated by that so I make a lot of three-dimensional types of cards. I do a lot of glass etching.

Wanda Ingram: 15:24

I do a lot of wood burning. So those are the kinds of things that have really kept me level in reference to just coping with things and watching less TV and doing more artistic activities. I have a studio in my house which has moved from not one bedroom, but now 2. So it has started to take over.

Liz Kay: 15:44

But, but I'm glad to hear that your passions have so much real estate in your home.

Wanda Ingram: 15:50

That's fantastic. They do.

Liz Kay: 15:54

Wanda, it's been wonderful chatting with you today. Thank you so much for joining us.

Wanda Ingram: 15:58

Thank you for your patience and your time. You take care.

Liz Kay: 16:01

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