Dr. Naber’s workshop is a profound experience for marginalized scholars seeking to explore complex questions that often affect our populations. Although I’ve gone to conferences and academic workshops previously, none of them seemed to address the root struggles I and other marginalized scholars experience in academia and the world at large, nor how to adequately address such struggles. Dr. Naber’s workshop was dramatically different from these previous experiences. Not only does she guide participants through the process of analyzing where and how imposter syndrome manifests and how to combat it, she takes the time to candidly address and acknowledge how institutionalized racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia are key factors in contributing to feelings of imposter syndrome and burnout. Her keen understanding and experience of marginalization was evident to all participants, as we all felt very comfortable and open in discussing our personal struggles in academia. Dr. Naber’s seamless ability to guide and hear her participants during these discussions, with deep empathy and desire to understand, is something any scholar addressing social justice issues aspires to do in their lifetime. I entered her workshop completely uncertain if I could adequately write a page of my dissertation and left her workshop feeling a sense of place and purpose in my research. I particularly enjoyed that this was an active workshop where we practiced strategies Dr. Naber discussed within the context of our individual research goals.

~ Natalie Santiago, PhD student, Northern Illinois University