Is there a faculty or staff member who has made a significant impact on you? Dr. Rona Frederick, Dr. Katryna Andrusik, and Professor Chy McGhee truly have supported me as a student leader, future educator, and a human being. As a first generation, low-income, Black student, it takes a lot of work finding faculty and staff who support you simply because they see what you are capable of. I will always be grateful for them and tell people how much they have lifted and supported me.
Proudest accomplishment: While it was not my work, but my advocacy that helped SGA Senator Sophia Marsden pass legislation for the University to create an Africana Studies program, I am extremely proud of that collaboration. Education is formative and every student needs mechanisms to be able to explore their identity and ancestors in an academic context. I felt that ÃÛÌÒÉç ought to engage in the uncomfortable topics regarding race, race relations, and the history of the oppressed in our nation and beyond with compassion and understanding. Dr. Gregory Carr, Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, wrote that, "Africana Studies seeks to theorize on the basis of long-view genealogies of African intellectual work." This specific discipline aims to discover, understand, and connect the lives and experiences of those who are of the African Diaspora. We are excited to see this program grow and know that all students in our community would benefit from that program.
