TerrapinSTRONG Symposium: Inclusive Leadership

Stephanie Shonekan is professor of ethnomusicology and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland. From 2003-2011, she was a faculty member at Columbia College Chicago and was also the director of the Black World Studies Program and the associate director of the Cultural Studies Program. From 2011-2018, she was a faculty member at the University of Missouri in the Black Studies Department and the School of Music. She became chair of the Black Studies department at the University of Missouri from 2015-2018. While at Mizzou, Dr. Shonekan created and ran various programs geared towards inclusion and diversity on campus. For example, she created a campuswide program called Citizenship@Mizzou, a mandatory program for all incoming students to the university. The program was also customized for faculty and staff. She also created The Huddle, a mentoring program for underrepresented faculty across the campus.

Dr. Shonekan moved to the University of Massachusetts in 2018 as professor and chair of the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. She returned to Mizzou in 2020 as senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Science, before accepting the position at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Shonekan earned a doctorate in ethnomusicology and folklore with a minor in African American studies in 2003 from Indiana University. Her dual heritage combining West Africa with the West Indies allows her to straddle the Black world comfortably. She has published articles and book chapters on afrobeat, Fela Kuti, Nigerian and African American hip-hop, soul music and country music. Her publications explore the nexus where identity, history, culture and music meet. Her books include “The Life of Camilla Williams,” “African American Classical Singer and Opera Diva” (2011), “Soul, Country, and the USA: Race and Identity in American Music Culture” (2015), “Black Lives Matter & Music” (2018) and “Black Resistance in the Americas” (2018). She also wrote and produced an award-winning live action short film based on the mother of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, “Lioness of Lisabi.”

Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans is a Professor of Black Women's Studies in the Institute for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and affiliate faculty of Africana Studies (AAS) at Georgia State University. She served twelve consecutive years as department chair at Geogia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and University of Florida.

Professor Evans has sustained a research interest in Black women's intellectual history for over two decades. She is author of four academic books, including Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954: An Intellectual History (UF Press, 2007), Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace (SUNY Press, 2021), and Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books (SUNY Press, 2024). She is also co-editor of five books including Black Women’s Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability (SUNY Press, 2017).

Her research is rooted in educational history but has evolved to include mental health and wellness as a way to address systemic stressors of being department chair. She began studying Black women’s wellness in 2013 and expanded her research on memoirs from investigating “the life of the mind” to practicing the life of the mind, body, and spirit. Her full portfolio is online at https://professorevans.net/.

Dr. Sandra Jowers-Barber is Director of the Division of Humanities and Criminology at the University of the District of Columbia Community College where she is an Associate Professor of History. A native of Atlantic City, N.J., she received a PhD in US History, an MA in Public History and a BA in English with a minor in journalism from Howard University. Her research interest focuses on researching and documenting the history of the African American deaf community. Sandra is a founding member of the advisory board of the Center for Black Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University and is a life member of the Association of Black Women Historians, a member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Sandra resides in the Petworth neighborhood in Washington, DC. She is proud to be “MiMi” to grandchildren Alijah, Otto, Berri, Oziel and Rae.

April Langley, PhD, is Chair and Associate Professor of African American Studies, and Associate Professor of English at the University of South Carolina and Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she was Chair of the Department of Black Studies and Associate Professor of English and Black Studies. Langley specializes in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century African American and American literature and theory. Her interdisciplinary research integrates African Diaspora literature; African, American, and African American Studies; and Black Feminist/Womanist theory and criticism. She has published articles in The Western Journal of Black Studies, a/b: Autobiography Studies, bma/Sonia Sanchez Literary Review, as well as review essays for Legacy and Early American Literature. Her book, The Black Aesthetic Unbound: Theorizing the Dilemma of Self and Identity in Eighteenth-Century African American Literature (Ohio State University Press), explores the culturally specific African origins of the eighteenth-century Afro-British American literary and cultural self through a conceptualization of the dilemma posed by competing African, American, and British cultural identities. Her current project #earlyBlackChristianWomensLivesMatter: Spirituality and Social Justice Movements in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Century America explores intersecting themes of religion and politics through the diverse Black women’s texts and genres—sermon, poetry, epistle, and sermon. Additional book projects include Looking for Phillis, an in-depth study on the Senegambian poetics and oral traditions that influence the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, as well as a study on Anna Julia Cooper, race, gender, and double consciousness. She is also a Phi Beta Kappa member, 2001 AAUW fellow, and a 2003-2005 Postdoctoral Fellow in African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Stephanie G. Adams is the 5 th Dean of the Eric Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas, Dallas. Previously, Dr. Adams served as the Dean of the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University (2016–2019), Department Head and Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech (2011–2016) and held faculty and administrative positions at Virginia Commonwealth University (2008–2011) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1998–2008).

Her research interests include: Broadening Participation, Faculty and Graduate Student Development, Team Effectiveness, and Quality Control and Management. In 2003, she received the CAREER award from the Engineering Education and Centers Division of the National Science Foundation. Dr. Adams is a leader in the advancement and inclusion of all in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. She has worked with a number of colleges and universities, government agencies and non-profit organizations on topics related to graduate education, mentoring, faculty development and diversifying STEM.

Dr. Adams is an honor graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, where she earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering, in 1988. In 1991, she received the Master of Engineering degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering from Texas A&M University where she concentrated in Industrial Engineering and Management. Dr. Adams is a Fellow and a Past President of the American Society for Engineering Education and a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Julia S. Jordan-Zachery is professor and chair of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at Wake Forest University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on African American women and public policy. She is the author of the award-winning book "Black Women, Cultural Images and Social Policy," "Shadow Bodies: Black Women, Ideology, Representation, and Politics," and "Erotic Testimonies: Black Women Daring to be Wild and Free," and several articles and edited volumes, including "Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag," "Black women and da ‘Rona" and “Lavender Fields: Black Women Experiencing Fear, Agency, and Hope in the Time of COVID-19”. Jordan-Zachery has also produced the documentary Healing Roots.

Eunice Jeffries was appointed to the Board of Regents of Eastern Michigan University by Governor Rick Snyder in December of 2016 for a term expiring December 2024.

Regent Jeffries was elected twice as Chair of the Board of Regents by her peers on the Board. Under her leadership, the Board convened an ad hoc committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to delve into issues of diversity and belonging within the university and to make recommendations. This led to a recommendation to create a DEI committee at the board level, a definite first for universities. The Board of Regents has decided to proceed with this recommendation and Jeffries will Chair the inaugural committee. Jeffries is employed as Executive Director of Government and Community Relations and Continuing Education at Oakland Community College.