[BFASA] Invitation to join Dr. Shardé Davis, Creator of #BlackintheIvory

[Rhiannon E Little]

Keynote Address and Meet-n-Greets by Dr. Shardé M. Davis:
#BlackintheIvory: Amplifying the Voices of Blackademic TruthTellers About Anti-Black Racism

Keynote Address: Wednesday, Nov 18th, 10-11:20am (Visit https://gsrc.ucr.edu/aftergrad/apw to register)
Meet-n-greet 1: Wednesday, Nov 18th, 12-12:50pm
Meet-n-greet 2: Wednesday, Nov 18th, 2-2:50pm

Fill out the form to register for one of the meet-n-greets: https://form.jotform.com/202388032800043

Dr. Shardé Davis, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication in University of Connecticut and the creator of #BlackintheIvory, will be joining us during the After Grad: Academic Pathways Week for a keynote address titled "#BlackintheIvory: Amplifying the Voices of Blackademic TruthTellers About Anti-Black Racism."

A Black professor is walking down the hallway and mistaken for a custodial staff person. A Black student is told that she only received her medical scholarship because of her race. A Black research scientist is physically blocked from the university mail room, and the police are called, even though she has her university ID on her. In June 2020, Dr. Shardé Davis created a Twitter hashtag #BlackintheIvory to document the racism experienced by Blackademics. Thousands used the hashtag on various social media platforms to share their stories, demonstrating that racism in the academy knew no disciplinary bounds. Indeed, Blackademics at all career points and across multiple decades have encountered systemic racism in the academy. While there are ways in which racism has changed, in many respects it remains the same.

In this keynote address, Dr. Shardé M. Davis will discuss the concurrent struggles and triumphs of being Black in the Ivory and how Blackademics (faculty and graduate students) can stand in our right as "truth tellers" to talk back and resist the racist systems that have historically oppressed us. When Blackademics tell our truth it has the possibility of empowering us all, yet this empowerment comes with great risk, institutionalized exploitation, and conspicuous consumption of our narratives. The benefits and costs are intricately connected and must be discussed as such. Dr. Davis will also offer personal accounts of how truth telling has unfolded in her life and how she has named, maneuvered, confronted, and resisted the problematic systems that are embedded within the academy.

By the end of this talk, Dr. Davis will demonstrate the various ways that racism eats its way through the ivory tower and offer prescriptions about how academic institutions—and its individual members—might make lasting change.

Speaker's bio: Dr. Shardé M. Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. Her research examines the way Black women leverage communication in the sistah circle to invoke collective identity, erect and fortify the boundaries around their homeplace, and backfill the necessary resources to return to white/male dominant spaces in American society. These ideas have been published in over 30 peer-refereed articles and invited book chapters, and are best represented in her theory, The Strong Black Woman Collective. Her research was formally recognized with the 2018 American Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Association of University Women and the 2019 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, as well as over 40 awards and honors. She is involved in various professional communities around the nation, and her service includes serving as the Chair of the African American Communication and Culture Division (AACCD) of the National Communication Association. Aside from her academic pursuits, Dr. Davis volunteers her time to organizations and non-profits that support the overall livelihood of Black women and other people of color in the greater Hartford community.

*The funding for Dr. Shardé Davis' keynote address is provided by UC-HSI Doctoral Diversity Initiative President's Pre-Professoriate Fund.

Please spread the word to faculty, staff and students.

Thank you,

Rhiannon
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/bfasa/attachments/20201111/349729e8/attachment.html>