Attending Jackson State University provided graduating doctoral student Amber Spears a nurturing and enlightening academic experience. The Detroit native said her captivation with the HBCU’s culture and environment paved the way for her to make history as the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the institution.
“I told myself I would only come back if I wanted to become a professor,” Spears said.
During her undergraduate and graduate studies, she recalled suffering from imposter syndrome after receiving low exam scores. Spears and some of her professors realized a disconnect between her in-class participation, assignments, and testing performance. However, she remained determined to earn her degrees.
“Not only was there a desire to combat any prejudices that my peers or professors may have had but a responsibility for me to continue to excel as I had done in my high school and pre-requisite collegiate courses before entering my major,” she explained.
Making use of her professors’ office hours and peer-to-peer tutoring, Spears went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She was the only Black woman in her graduating class at both universities to receive a civil/geotechnical engineering degree.
After attaining her master’s, Spears worked in the engineering industry for seven years, where she said she gained confidence, technical knowledge, and, most of all, insight.
“It showed me that the lack of diversity [in the profession] was even worse than in academia,” she shared.
This realization motivated Spears to become an adjunct professor at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, while working as a staff engineer at CTI and Associates, Inc., an environmental, remediation, engineering, and construction firm. She also advised geotechnical engineering students.
Spears’ desire to train the next generation of engineers and learn about advances in her field to become a better researcher led her to apply for a doctoral program. At the time, she only had one school in mind due to a former classmate’s recommendation.
“I applied to that university, but the resurgence of Black Lives Matter and other movements for Black life in 2020 challenged me to look at HBCUs that had my program,” Spears said. “That ultimately led me to JSU.”
Attending JSU was Spears’s first time coming to Mississippi, allowing her to connect with her southern roots.
“This is the home state of my great-grandmother, who was one of my strongest supporters growing up,” Spears shared. “It was truly an experience of a lifetime to be here.”
As she delved deeper into Jackson State’s culture, she found solace in meeting her first Black female classmate in a postgraduate program. Spears praises the university for offering her a host of support through several channels, including her mentor, her therapist, and the administrative assistants in her doctoral program.
“I was mentored by the first woman, [Kejun Wen, Ph.D, assistant professor of civil engineering], to ever graduate with a Ph.D. in civil engineering from JSU,” said Spears. “My experience also brought a higher cultural awareness to my quest for authenticity amidst upward mobility.”
Spears purposely relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, while earning her Ph.D. Upon graduating with her master’s in 2014, she was unable to find an engineering job in her hometown. After moving from Detroit, to Warren, Michigan where she was a minority— and working as a minority in her career– this inspired Spears to relocate to Jackson, Mississippi, while she completed her studies.
“The City of Jackson and Jackson State University have a tremendous opportunity to retain talent from students born and/or raised here and from all over the world, yet the infrastructure disparity is causing many people to leave,” Spears explained. “I recently learned from a friend’s MPP capstone presentation that Mississippi has the highest percentage of Black homeowners of the 16 southern states. I know that JSU will continue to experience significant growth over the next few years, and I want to see JSU get the infrastructure it deserves as the only public urban research institution in the state.”
She shared that she saw value in moving to a place with a sense of community and, as a civil engineer, hopes to see infrastructural improvements in similar cities throughout the nation. She thanks JSU for giving her the knowledge to push towards that future.
“I look forward to becoming an alumna of the esteemed JSUNAA and continuing to hold the torch for others as it was held before me,” Spears declared. “My HBCU made me a doctor (of philosophy)!”