Darren “dee” Dubose

Education Policy

Darren “dee” Dubose is a second year Education Policy student at Michigan State University. His research focuses on the intersection of school consolidation in rural communities and the experiences of Black families across the African diaspora, delving into how these families navigate and react to local education policy decisions. Informed by Critical Race Theory epistemology, dee plans to use his research as a platform for uplifting Black families as necessary stakeholders in the policy discourse. Most recently, dee was accepted to the Black Europe Summer School in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He intends to use the insights gained from this two-week internship program to inform his research agenda on the ways that public education comes with consequences. In addition to his equity-based research, dee was inducted as a 2023-2025 Barbara Jackson Scholar at University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). dee plans to use the research mentorship gained from the Jackson Scholar program to reflect on how his work positions Black families as policy stakeholders. As an involved doctoral student at Michigan State University, dee is an active member of the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA), the Alliance for Graduate Education Professorate (AGEP), and works as a Diversity Assistant for The Big Ten Alliance Program Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP). Before enrolling at Michigan State, dee was a high school physical education teacher in rural Alabama and middle school reading teacher and community organizer in urban Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education Alabama State University and a Master of Public Service and Administration from The Bush School at Texas A&M University.

Antonia Gordon

Political Science

Antonia “Toni” Gordon is a native of Muskegon Heights, Michigan. Prior to starting her journey as a doctoral student, Antonia held positions with the Government Accountability Office, the City of Philadelphia’s mayor office, and the U.S. Army. She joined Michigan State University’s Political Science Department in 2021 as a Michigan State Interdisciplinary Training in Education and Social Science (MITTENSS) Fellow. Her research explores the social, economic, and behavioral consequences of state intervention in Urban/Minority serving communities. Her unique take on education policy demonstrates how school accountability goes beyond education institutions to impact the public that schools service.  Antonia’s long-term goal/practical implication for her research includes understanding the design of accountability policies, and whether approaches to design could better support students and communities. In addition to her scholarly work, Antonia serves as the graduate assistant at MSU’s Women of Color Initiatives (WOCI) where she created the community health program. In this role, Antonia facilitated wellness programing with community-based partners that offer WOC targeted services. The impact of these partnerships helped to build a robust network of support for graduate student health while extending WOCI’s educational programing to women outside of the university. Antonia is also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of Women Voters – Detroit, and the National Council for Negro Women (NCNW) where she serves on the national youth and collegiate affairs and social Justice committees. Through these organizations, Antonia teaches urban youth about civic engagement, service, and voting rights.

Johnathan Hill

Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education (CITE)

Johnathan Hill is a doctoral candidate in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education program in the Michigan State University College of Education. His research centers on amplifying the voices of rural Black people, schools, and communities to help bring new insights on the identity and lived experiences of Black people which have created uneven understandings of Black schooling and Black placefulness. His dissertation project seeks to trace and untangle the cross-generational role of Black rurality in the pedagogical practices, politics, and schools of the Rock of Waters community by engaging the voices and stories of rural Black placefulness in the existential, social, and material homeplace of community members. Furthermore, Johnathan extends his scholarly commitments beyond research into his advocacy and service through his recruitment of more teachers of Color for the State of Mississippi through the Mississippi Teacher Corps Program; his mentorship and training of MSU undergrads and MTC interns in working with learners from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds; and his supporting of underserved schools and communities in the Mississippi Delta through providing scholarships and school supplies by way of the Mississippi Delta Equitable Education Project. Prior to beginning his studies at MSU, Johnathan served as a middle and high school mathematics teacher in Mississippi, his home state. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Thee Jackson State University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Mississippi through the Mississippi Teacher Corps (MTC) Program.

Kaelyn Sanders

Criminal Justice

Kaelyn Sanders is a Ph.D. Candidate in Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice. Her research interests include community supervision, reintegration, digital exclusion, and intersectionality, and she is passionate about advocating for a more equitable criminal legal system. Her dissertation research will qualitatively examine digital exclusion among Black returning citizens in Genesee and Wayne County, MI. Kaelyn’s research has been featured in the Journal of Criminal Justice, Feminist Criminology, and the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy. During her time in graduate school, Kaelyn has actively worked to increase DEI in her program by serving as the graduate assistant for her program’s Prospective Doctoral Student Recruitment and Retention Program Grant. In this role, she works to increase DEI in her graduate program by meeting with students at MSIs and HBCUs and assessing areas where current graduate students can be better supported. Kaelyn is also a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a 2024 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow. Prior to her time at MSU, Kaelyn received her B.A. in Sociology and Criminology from The Ohio State University.

The 2023 inductees are Gloria J. Ashaolu (History), Chelsie Boodoo (Biosystem and Agricultural Engineering), Jada Gannaway (History), Chanteliese Watson (Education Policy and K-12 Educational Administration), and Antonio White (Neuroscience).

All are Ph.D. candidates at MSU who, in the spirit of Bouchet, exemplify the five core values of the society (character, leadership, advocacy for those traditionally underrepresented in the academy, service, and scholarship).

Gloria J. Ashaolu

History

Gloria J. Ashaolu is a candidate for the Ph.D. in history at Michigan State University. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, the history of Black education, Black women’s history, Black intellectual history, the Black historical enterprise, and the Black Diaspora. Her dissertation project seeks to attend to the underappreciated educational activism and evidence-based intellectual philosophies, pedagogies, and praxes of Black female teachers during the Early Black History Movement. It also examines the regional, national, and international organizing efforts of Midwestern Black women toward the advancement of the Black freedom struggle. As a Future Academic Scholars in Teaching (FAST) Fellow, her IRB-approved project seeks to examine how the cognitive flexibility and complementary auditory learning that story-telling podcasts offer, and the narrative forms present promote an increased application-based enriching comprehension of historical themes discussed in a class and their broader relevance in contemporary society. Through her academic studies and community engagements, and commitment to a career of learning, teaching, research, advocacy, and servant-leadership, Ashaolu aspires to create meaningful historical work that helps us better understand the present through our collective history, coupled with effective, innovative, and educational instructional practices.

Chelsie Boodoo

Biosystem and Agricultural Engineering

Chelsie Boodoo is a candidate for the Ph.D. in biosystem and agricultural engineering at Michigan State University. She created biosensors for Staphylococcus aureus and African Swine Fever Virus in her research in Dr. Alocilja’s lab. She also works to connect researchers worldwide to save lives through the Global Alliance for Rapid Diagnostics. She has collaborated with fellow students in designing a welcoming environment that fosters all aspects of science communication (scicomm) in a modern, dynamic, and youthful way for all. Her passion for scicomm drives her to find unconventional and inspiring ways to mix science with the art of storytelling. This led her to be the founder and President of MSU SciComm. In addition, Chelsie co-hosts the award-winning show, “The Sci-Files”, with Daniel Puentes on Impact 89FM, where they explore various MSU student research topics.

Jada Gannaway

History

Jada Gannaway is a third year PhD student at Michigan State University. She is expected to complete her PhD program in the spring of 2025. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, twentieth century radical politics in the Caribbean with wide interdisciplinary interests in the African Diaspora and Black women’s history. Gannaway is currently working on a political biography of Trinidadian-born activist, Althea Jones-Lecointe, who was an instrumental figure of the Black Power Movement in the U.K. during the late 1960s early 1970s. Furthermore, her work in progress explores the transatlantic connections between Trinidad and the U.K. through the life and experiences of Jones-Lecointe. She intends to spend the upcoming Fall semester abroad in London to conduct archival research on the political contributions of Jones-Lecointe and other Black West Indians during the Black Power era. Gannaway is the recipient of the 2023 Kathy Chamberlain Research Award and the 2022 North Atlantic Conference on British Studies Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship. She currently serves as a member of the 2022-2023 Graduate Student Advisory Council for the College of Social Science and as a Graduate Assistant to MSU’s Womxn of Color Initiative. Gannaway is a proud alumna of North Carolina Central University. 

Chanteliese Watson

Education Policy and K-12 Educational Administration

Chanteliese Watson is a dual Ph.D. student in educational policy and K-12 educational administration at Michigan State University. Her research aims to analyze connections between teacher retention, vicarious trauma, and their personal social and emotional learning (SEL). In fitting this gap into the larger conversation of teacher labor markets—specifically teacher retention—Chanteliese is interested in understanding how SEL practices and policies for teachers impact their stress levels, job satisfaction, effectiveness measures, and student outcomes. She is passionate about bridging the gaps between education research, policy, and practice. She recently co-authored a paper published in Equity in Education & Society examining inequities that schools faced during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chanteliese is a member of MSU’s Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) and Collaborating Across Education Policy Students (CAEPS). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Howard University and a Master of Urban Education from Union University through the Memphis Teacher Residency (MTR) program. Prior to beginning her studies at MSU, Chanteliese served as an elementary school teacher in Memphis.

Antonio White

Neuroscience

Antonio White is a candidate for the Ph.D. in neuroscience at Michigan State University. His research focuses on brain gut axis signaling. He is examining maternal gut microbiome contributions to maternal behavior and identifying metabolites that gut microbiome uses to impact maternal behaviors in mice. Antonio has presented scientific posters at local and international conferences in his field of study. He was a (2021-2022) Future Academic Scholars in Teaching Fellow and was selected to participate in the College Online Academy at MSU. He has served as a teaching assistant in genetics, neurosciences and biology courses Antonio is active help in the MSU community. He is a social chair within the Neuroscience Program that develops social communal events among undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. He serves as a graduate student mentor in the Pathway to research program and assists marginalized students in STEM to seek research opportunities at MSU and other universities. He serves as the current president of the Black Graduate Student Association, advocates on behalf of Black graduate students, and develops community events that support the needs of Black graduate students. Antonio’s long-term goal is to become a research professor at a Historically Black College/ University and bring the field of neuroscience to HBCUs that do not have a neuroscience curriculum.

The 2022 inductees are Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt (History), Monique Noel (Chemistry), and Jaleah Rutledge (Ecological-Community Psychology).

All are Ph.D. candidates at MSU who, in the spirit of Bouchet, exemplify the five core values of the society (character, leadership, advocacy for those traditionally underrepresented in the academy, service, and scholarship).

Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt

History

Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Michigan State University and an Interinstitutional Scholars for Diversity and Inclusion and Research Instructor in the Department of History at East Carolina University. His research is on twentieth century African American history with a focus on the U.S. South, labor, and the Black Freedom Struggle. For his dissertation project, he is exploring the contributions of the Black Workers for Justice to the long Black Freedom Struggle. Extensive archival research and oral history (interviews) are central to his approach. Ajamu is an Assistant Editor with Black Perspectives, the award-winning Blog of the African American Intellectual History Society and board member of the Interreligious Foundation of Community Organizations (IFCO) and the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN). He has served as an intern with the SNCC Digital Gateway Project at Duke University, a “Book Acquisition” student worker at Duke University Press, and an Editorial Assistant for The Journal of African American History, the oldest and leading scholarly journal in its field. In May of 2019, Ajamu graduated from North Carolina Central University with a BA in History and a BA in Political Science.

Monique N. Noel

Chemistry

Monique N. Noel is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University. Her research is in the area of Computational Chemistry with a focus on Computational Materials Science. She recently published an article in the “Young Investigator Special Issue” of Surface Science (December 2021) in which she and her co-authors “used first principles calculations to study various surface terminations of the Ca5Ga2Sb6 structure as a mechanism to understand its crystal growth morphology.” She has presented at and participated in conferences and symposia related to her field of study. She has also served as served as a teaching assistant and as a mentor and writing coach for undergraduate students in the MSU Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP). Serving her community and “giving back” is important to Monique. She has participated in and worked on a range of initiatives with various organizations, including the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), the MSU Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, and the Lansing Brach of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She is driven by the notion that “there is no limit to what we can accomplish with faith and determination.”

Jaleah Rutledge

Ecological-Community Psychology

Jaleah Rutledge, MA is a PhD candidate in the Ecological-Community Psychology program in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University (MSU). Her research focuses on racial health disparities, health equity, and health promotion among marginalized populations. She is interested in understanding and utilizing strengths-based approaches for the promotion and protection of Black women’s sexual and reproductive health. Her scholarly contributions have been published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence and AIDS and Behavior. Jaleah is a University Enrichment Fellow, and her research has been supported by the Minority Health International Research Training Program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the Career Advancement for Research in Health Equity (CARE T37) program funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the TIAA Ruth Simms Hamilton Graduate Merit Fellowship. Jaleah has been a servant leader at MSU in various capacities. She has served as the graduate student member of the College of Social Science Dean’s Advisory Board on Diversity and Inclusion, a Graduate Leadership Fellow for the College of Social Science, a steering committee member of the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, and a leader in MSU’s Black Graduate Student Association. Jaleah’s long-term goal is to become a professor and develop a program of research that will create a future where Black women are no longer disproportionately affected by adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes.

The 2021 inductees are Courtney M. Bryant (Organizational Psychology), Briona Simone Jones (English), Ti'Air Riggins (Biomedical Engineering), Chistopher M. Shell (History), and Jennifer Watts (Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology).

All are Ph.D. candidates at MSU who, in the spirit of Bouchet, exemplify the five core values of the society (character, leadership, advocacy for those traditionally underrepresented in the academy, service, and scholarship).

Courtney M. Bryant

Organizational Psychology

Courtney M. Bryant is a Ph.D. candidate in Organizational Psychology at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on dimensions of authenticity in the workplace, including minority experiences at work, diversity and discrimination, and coworker relationships. Her dissertation, which has been awarded a Michigan Psychological Association Foundation Dissertation Award and The Benjamin Schneider Scholarship by the Macey Fund, explores the relationship between identity switching (colloquially known as code-switching) and well-being and burnout at work for Black employees. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Courtney has worked on several publications in academic journals such as Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal and The Harvard Business Review. Courtney currently works as an Associate at Ford Motor Company in the Global Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion where she employs data and analytics to guide corporate decision making that creates, maintains, and improves a diverse and inclusive culture of belonging. Courtney has also served in leadership positions at MSU as a College of Social Science Leadership Fellow, one of two graduate students on the Graduate School Strategic Planning Committee, a member of the Steering Committee for the Alliance of Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), and the founder of her her program’s Community Service Committee. Courtney plans to continue personifying the science-practitioner by remaining active in academia while also working in the field with organizations.

Briona Simone Jones

English

Briona Simone Jones is a doctoral candidate and scholar of Black Feminist Thought and Queer Theory in the Department of English at Michigan State University. She is a Black Lesbian Feminist of Jamaican and African American descent, born and raised in Rochester, New York. Briona’s edited collection of Black Lesbian writings titled, Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought, the companion anthology to the most widely sold text about Black Feminism, Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought, was released by The New Press in February 2021. Briona’s record of service to the university and to the profession reflects her commitment to the fields of English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She has served as the Graduate Representative for the English department’s Mentoring Underrepresented Scholars in English (MUSE) program, a College of Arts and Letters funded program directed at recruiting students from marginalized groups who are interested in pursuing a career in the field of English. She also recently served as the Graduate Assistant for Womxn of Color Initiatives (WOCI), a collective that organizes events for womxn of color and their allies on the MSU campus and in the greater Lansing community. The myriad facets of Briona’s academic life (research, teaching, service) are united in the common goal of identifying the socio-literary power structures and hierarchies and calling attention to and centering the authors, works, and identities that have been traditionally—and unjustly—rendered invisible.

Ti’Air Riggins

Biomedical Engineering

Ti’Air Riggins is a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University. She received her bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2011 as the first Black undergraduate BME student, and proceeded to earn a master’s from the University of Cincinnati in 2013. Beginning her Ph.D. at Purdue, she transferred to Michigan State in January 2019. Her research focus is integrating tissue engineering with implantable electrodes to tune immune response in the brain, in the REIL lab under the direction of Dr. Erin Purcell. She is a co-founder for Black In Neuro, the Academia Chair for the Health Innovations special interest group of the National Society of Black Engineers, a local organizer for Com Sci Con MI, and a member of the speaker’s bureau for the Rape and Incest National Network. She has also served in the community under her platforms of sexual assault awareness and exposing underrepresented students to STEM as Miss Indiana United States 2015. She has received awards for her social justice work (2016) and humanitarian efforts (2018). She was named a fellow in the Society for Neuroscience from 2016 – 2018 and is also a NIH F99/K00 fellowship awardee. Her future goals include managing her own lab and being a successful entrepreneur and mentor for students who are underrepresented students in neuroscience and engineering.

Christopher M. Shell

History

Christopher M. Shell is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at Michigan State University. Christopher’s research interests include the modern Caribbean, immigration and migration, labor history, Black theology, and Black socio-political liberation movements during the twentieth century. His dissertation is a political narrative of the impact that Black Leeward Islanders had on radical socio-political organizing in Bermuda and New York City during the interwar period, told through the lens of Antiguan-born Reverend Richard Hilton Tobitt. A recipient of MSU’s University Endowment Fellowship, his research has also been supported by several MSU awards including the Walker Hill International Award and the TIAA Ruth Simms Hamilton Graduate Research Fellowship. He has served as an editorial assistant for the African American Intellectual Historical Society (AAIHS) and The Journal of African American History. Since 2019, he has served as the on-campus advisor for MSU’s Zeta Delta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Community is extremely important to Christopher. He is a member of MSU’s Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) and Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP). Upon completion of his Ph.D., Christopher looks forward to fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a history professor. In this capacity, he intends to publish his research, teach courses on the African diaspora, and mentor undergraduate and graduate students.

Jennifer Watts

Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology

Jennifer (Jenn) Watts is a Ph.D. candidate in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology program at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the Zika virus (ZIKV) origins of congenital birth defects. In her efforts to study viral pathology in development, Jenn utilizes mouse embryos, embryonic-derived stem cells, and single-cell functional analysis. She has discovered that ZIKV infected embryos days after fertilization undergo embryo demise, particularly affecting cells that become the baby. These findings are significant to human health providing knowledge on the impact of infections on early pregnancy outcomes. Jenn’s work has resulted in National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD) funding through MSU’s Reproductive and Developmental Sciences Training Program and multiple presentation awards. Jenn is dedicated to outreach and professional development which includes her work with MSU’s Summer Research Opportunities Program, Graduate Women in Science’s Girls Math and Science Day, and the 2019 Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate (AGEP) Capitol Hill Trip team. In 2020, Jenn won the faculty-nominated Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award and secured funding for the last year of her studies. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the inaugural AGEP Graduate Student Survival Guide and an inaugural member of the Advancement, Cultivation and Training Future Faculty Program, both of which help upcoming generations of underrepresented trainees navigate graduate education and their future careers. Jenn is passionate about leveraging her achievements to promote inclusivity in the biomedical field, something she plans to continue in the future.