The Speakers
DAY 1: October 23
[Symphony Oxendine]
Symphony Oxendine, Cherokee/Choctaw, is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership. Symphony worked in Student Affairs for 6 years before pursuing her doctorate. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Studies with a concentration in Higher Education and a doctoral minor in Educational Research Methodology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she also received her M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration. She received her B.A. from Oklahoma State University in Applied Sociology.
[Denise Henning]
Dr. Denise Henning has a career in higher education that has spanned 23 years in both the United States and Canada, as well as working as graduate faculty in New Zealand. Denise has served as president and CEO at Medicine Hat College, president and CEO of Northwest Community College, president and vice-chancellor for University College of the North and Vice-President of Academic and Research at First Nations University of Canada. Denise is a proud Cherokee/Choctaw/British woman, born in Creek County in Oklahoma.
[Jennifer Adams]
Jennifer D. Adams is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair of Creativity and STEM and Associate Professor at The University of Calgary where she holds a dual appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Werklund School of Education. She uses critical, decolonial and sociocultural approaches to research and address issues of diversifying STEM and STEM education.
[Stephanie Toliver]
Stephanie Renee Toliver (S.R. Toliver) is an assistant professor of Literacy and Secondary Humanities at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her scholarship centers the freedom dreams of Black youth and honors the historical legacy that Black imaginations have had and will have on activism and social change.
[Sabrina Black-Hill]
Sabrina is the principal at DC Virgo Preparatory Academy, a K-8 year-round public school that was opened by UNCW in July 2018. The school offers a family-friendly environment, with a focus on the whole child and opportunities that extend to the UNCW campus and broader community. D.C. Virgo, where families come to school together!?
DAY 2: October 30
[Laura Szech]
Laura Szech graduated from The University of Iowa in May 2019 where she completed her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture in the Department of Teaching and Learning. Prior to her doctorate work, Szech earned an M.A. in Reading from University of Northern Colorado and two B.A.s from University of Iowa in Elementary Education and French. In Colorado, she taught elementary school for seven years and was an elementary principal for three.
[Caitlyn Ryan]
Caitlin L. Ryan earned her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from The Ohio State University and her B.A. in linguistics and African American Studies from the University of Virginia. She taught reading and literacy enrichment programs in grades K-5 in the Washington, D.C. public schools through a university/schools/neighborhood partnership initiative called Heads Up before pursuing her graduate degrees. After receiving her doctorate, she worked at East Carolina University for nine years prior to her appointment at UNCW.
[Amy Senta]
Amy Senta received both her Ph.D. and her M.A. in Education in the area of culture, curriculum and change from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her A.B. in sociology at Dartmouth College with a minor in education. She taught for six years at a public elementary school in Durham, North Carolina.
[Aeriel Ashlee]
Dr. Ashlee is Assistant Professor of College Counseling & Student Development at St. Cloud State University who researches and facilitates difficult dialogues on race, power, privilege, and oppression. your speaker's credentials and the unique perspectives they will bring to the conference.