Varying Viewpoints

In this episode, we invited Ivory Toldson, a professor of Counseling Psychology at Howard University, president of Quality Education for Minorities (QEM), and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Negro Education to join us. Ivory highlights his substantial work around harmful repercussions of "B.S.," or bad statistics, and misinformation on Black people often found in media sources and sometimes 'reputable' research. Ivory also notes several common misconceptions about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

In this episode, we invited Loraleigh Keashly, a professor of Communications at Wayne State University to join us. Loraleigh talked about the topic of workplace bullying and how prominent this issue is becoming today, as people are becoming more open to sharing their experiences with bullying. Loraleigh notes how the generational shift in work culture has been a huge help towards addressing workplace bullying especially since the younger population tends to be more focused on the quality of their work environments. She also offers some helpful tips and strategies for navigating workplace bullying within and outside of academia.

In this episode of the “Varying Viewpoints” podcast series, we invited Ingrid Tulloch, an assistant professor at Morgan State University and director of Morgan State’s Animal Research Facility, to join us to discuss workplace bullying. Ingrid specializes in the Neurobiology of Risky Behavior, and uses her research to identify the role of chemicals in the brain - specifically inflammatory cytokine genes - when individuals respond to common stressors and chronic stress. She defines the stressors that may be prevalent in an individual’s life, and explains the connection between chronic stressors and reliance on risky behaviors, and how these environments may cause biological changes in the body. Ingrid also addresses how race and socioeconomic standings have an impact on not only how people are discriminated against, but how one faces chronic stressors as well.

In this episode, we invited Philo Hutcheson, professor, higher education historian, and author of the book “A People's History of American Higher Education,” to join us. In this interview, Philo talks about the importance of studying the history of higher education and why it is important to understand the foundations on which our colleges and universities are built upon. Philo argues that issues such as race, class, and gender cannot be ignored within higher education and encourages administrators to glean lessons from our past to gain more knowledge on approaching present challenges related to student support and equity.

In this episode, our John Smartt Summer Scholars Steffi Huynh, Tiyana Herring, and Miranda Febus invited Roderick Ferguson, Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies at Yale University, to join them. Roderick talks about police presence on campus and the impact it has on students, especially as it relates to race, gender, and sexuality. Roderick briefly discussed the Jackson State Massacre that occurred in 1970, during which Black student protestors were shot and killed by police officers, and shared how student protestors, particularly Black students, are still regarded and labeled as criminals and thugs on college campuses.

In this episode, we invited Kate Slater, Associate Director and Manager of Programs for the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) and lecturer at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). Kate tells us of her work with the IRT, as the organization attempts to move towards racial equity in the educational sector, and her passion for engaging in anti-racist work, both as a scholar and an educator. Kate highlights the course that she teaches at UNH, “Teaching Race,” and the ‘unlearning/relearning’ approach that she has developed for White students to conceptualize and deconstruct their White privilege. Kate aims to reconstruct the ways that White folks perceive race, American history, and American exceptionalism so the next generation of educators can positively influence generations after them and actively work towards true racial liberation.

In this episode, we invited Levon T. Esters, Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication at Purdue University, to talk about how he approaches mentoring students and strategies for positioning graduate students of color for career advancement. Levon is also the Director of the award-winning Mentoring@Purdue program (M@P) and discusses how he uses his mentoring philosophy and sponsorship to support underrepresented graduate students in the STEM-based agricultural and life sciences disciplines in Purdue University’s College of Agriculture.

Listen to this episode to learn more about how Levon helps foster excellence in his advisees, and what he believes mentors can gain from adopting sponsorship as a strategy to help position graduate students of color for career advancement.

In this episode, we collaborate with the National Center on Institutional Diversity (NCID) at the University of Michigan to share research and provide insight into the American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation. Thai-Huy Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Education at Seattle University, and Bach Mai Dolly Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Education at Oregon State University, discuss the significance of the AANAPISI designation and how the designation is a signal of support and resources provided for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) collegians. Both researchers also talk about their role in recent series produced by NCID, What Are AANAPISIs? A Series on the Opportunity and Equity of Asian American Pacific Islander College Students, and how they hope the series along with their ongoing scholarship can move the conversation on the AANAPISI designation forward.

In this episode, we invited Josue Falaise, CEO of GOMO Educational Services, to join us. GOMO Educational Services is an organization that provides professional development and executive-level training that focuses on equity to build the capacity of adults in fostering student agency. Josue highlights his professional career, where he started as an elementary school teacher and later became a middle and high school educator. There, he was able to see K-12 curricula and methods of socialization first hand, which led him to seek and create tangible change.

In this episode, we invited Elmira Mangum, the founder and CEO of EM Plus 3 LLC and the former president of Florida A&M University, to join us. Though it was never a goal of hers, Elmira shares her journey to becoming the first woman president of the university, what she has learned from holding various leadership positions, and how she applies leadership lessons to all of her professional endeavors. As the current CEO of EM Plus 3 LLC, Elmira focuses on leadership training, efficiency analysis, revenue enhancement, and financial planning in higher education. Elmira has also worked as a mentor for our “MSI Aspiring Leaders” initiative and has worked closely with her mentee to impart relevant knowledge on how to persist through the presidential process. Elmira speaks of how she holds herself in public spaces, owns her identity, regardless of what others may perceive, and triumphs as a result of her tenacious spirit.