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[Description of program below]

The first page of the program has an orange background on the top half and a purple background on the bottom half. It features an abstract outline of a mountain range above an outline of below-the-surface glaciers. The flyer is titled “Summit 2021, Creating Connections Consortium (C3) & Williams College” and includes the C3 and Williams logos. Below this are the dates of the Summit (April 8-9, 2021) and the theme, “Pandemics: Race, Healing, and Transformation in Higher Education.” It indicates that interested folks should register at C3transformhighered.org.

The remainder of the program contains the following information on a white background:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Thursday roundtable discussions
Thursday night keynote with Davarian Baldwin, PhD
Friday research presentations
Friday night keynote with L. Song Richardson, JD

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday, April 8

12-12:10pm ET: Welcome Remarks: President Maud Mandel

12:15-1:15pm ET
Session A: How to apply to graduate school (workshop)
Trying to figure out where to begin the graduate-application process? Want advice about how to build a strong application for graduate school? Curious to learn more about the different roles that the statement of purpose, the personal statement, GRE scores, and the writing sample play in a complete graduate-application packet? Wondering about how to ask your professors for letters of recommendation? These questions and many more will be the focus of this interactive workshop, which is geared toward helping you begin to develop a concrete graduate-application strategy. Workshop facilitator Alberto Ledesma received his PhD in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.
Workshop Facilitator: Dr. Alberto Ledesma, Asst. Dean for Diversity, Inclusion & Equity, UC Berkeley
Q&A Facilitator: Dr. Celina Chatman Nelson, Assoc. Dean for Academic Diversity & Inclusion, Columbia University

12:15-1:15pm ET
Session B: Applying to liberal arts college faculty positions
This panel focuses on applying to open positions at liberal arts colleges. Faculty in the humanities and social sciences will discuss what hiring committees look for in cover letters, teaching statements, research statements, and diversity statements.
Moderator: Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo, Assoc. Dean for Institutional Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Professor of Latina/o Studies and Religion, Williams College
Dr. Krista Aronson, Assoc. Dean of the Faculty; Professor of Psychology, Bates College
Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Dean of the Faculty; Professor of Anthropology, Connecticut College
Dr. Sara Dubow, Assoc. Dean of the Faculty; Professor of History, Williams College
Dr. Jessica Teets, Assoc. Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College

1:30-2:30 ET
Session A: Undergraduates speak: Strategies for success during COVID
In this panel, undergraduates discuss navigating academic spheres and routes to higher education during a global pandemic. As the pandemic has compromised accessibility to campus resources, the panelists discuss viable approaches we have taken in continuing to develop our academic careers.
Moderator: Nicholas Patiño, Physics and French, Williams College
Megan Job, Neuroscience, Middlebury College
Bijou Kanyambo, Politics, Bates College
Jason Mazique, Political Science, Williams College
Jacob Nozaki, Computer Science, Connecticut College

1:30-2:30 ET
Session B: Professional development for graduate students
Graduate school can provide many opportunities for professional development, but it’s not always clear how to access these opportunities. How do you apply to present at a conference? What steps do you follow to publish an article? How do you request letters of recommendation, anyway? On this panel, MSW and PhD students will address these and other questions that form part of the “hidden curriculum” of graduate school.
Moderator: Celeste Cruz-Carandang, Coordinator of Professional Advancement and Training for Humanists and Humanistic Social Scientists (PATHS), University of Chicago
Alejandro Cuadrado, Italian and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Matthew Gonzales, Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley (and incoming Latinx Literatures Postdoctoral Fellow, Williams College)
Anna Hidalgo, Sociology, Columbia University
Derek Nettingham, Social Work, Policy & Practice, University of Chicago

2:45-3:45pm ET
Session A: Working outside of academia with a PhD (or ABD)
More and more, graduate degree programs and employers are recognizing the value that doctoral training can bring to work outside of the academy. As tenure track jobs become fewer and more hyper-specialized–and the bounds of scholarly impact broaden and expand–it is essential for graduate students to envision and prepare for jobs across a range of possibilities. In this session, panelists will discuss our transition to post-ac positions and the skill sets that have contributed to our success.
Moderator: Dr. Celina Chatman Nelson (Ph.D., Psychology), Assoc. Dean for Academic Diversity & Inclusion, Columbia University
Dr. Ann Brooks (Ph.D., History), Analyst, U.S. Government Accountability Office
Dr. E’lana Jordan (Ph.D., Anthropology), People Analytics Partner, Netflix
Michelle May-Curry (A.B.D., American Culture), Project Director of Humanities for All, National Humanities Alliance

2:45-3:45pm ET
Session B: Best practices for conducting (ethical, virtual) faculty searches
On this roundtable, faculty members will highlight best practices of equity and inclusion in faculty searches—what we are doing to ensure these—while also reviewing the challenges and opportunities of doing a search entirely via video conference. We will discuss how our best practices have been impacted by the pandemic, and how they have also evolved more generally as we keep equity at the forefront of our searches.
Moderator: Dr. Rachel Hynson, Director of the Creating Connections Consortium
Chris Barnard, Chair and Assoc. Professor of Art, Connecticut College
Dr. Miguel Fernández, Chief Diversity Officer; Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies; C3 PI, Middlebury College
Dr. Clarisa Pérez Armendáriz, Assoc. Professor of Politics and Latin American & Latinx Studies, Bates College

4-5pm ET
Session A: Things no one told me about graduate school
This panel will focus on those tidbits of important information about being a graduate student that applicants to selective R1 universities rarely see on university websites. What are some of the disciplinary expectations that graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds are surprised by once we enter our respective programs? What are some aspects of cultural life in graduate school – both on and off campus – that graduate students had not anticipated before they arrived? What advice do current graduate students wish they had received before coming to graduate school.
Moderator: Dr. Jallicia Jolly, Postdoctoral Fellow and Incoming Asst. Professor of American Studies and Black Studies, Amherst College
Xavier Durham, Sociology, UC Berkeley
Yvonne García, Center for the Study of Higher & Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan
Christina Roman, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, University of Chicago
Justin Woods (he/they), Social Work and Business Administration, University of Michigan

4-5pm ET
Session B: Surviving and thriving as a new faculty member
Transitioning from graduate school to being a faculty member, and from a research university to a liberal arts college, is challenging. In this panel, junior faculty members discuss best practices for making this transition, including how to balance competing demands of our time and working in a new professional environment and community, especially during the current pandemic.
Moderator: Dr. James Chase Sanchez, Asst. Professor of Writing & Rhetoric, Middlebury College
Dr. Ian Khara Ellasante, Asst. Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies, Bates College
Dr. Carlos Macías Prieto, Asst. Professor of Spanish, Williams College
Dr. Mara Suttman-Lea, Asst. Professor of Government, Connecticut College
Dr. Trinh Tran, Asst. Professor of Anthropology and Education Studies, Middlebury College

7:30pm ET: Keynote address by Davarian Baldwin, PhD
“COVID-1619: What Does a Racial Reckoning Really Look Like for Higher Education?”

Davarian L. Baldwin is a leading urbanist, historian, and cultural critic. He serves as the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Baldwin is the author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities (Bold Type Books, 2021); Chicago’s New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (UNC, 2007) and co-editor (with Minkah Makalani) of the essay collection, Escape From New York: The New Negro Renaissance beyond Harlem (Minnesota, 2013). He is also co-editor of the Urban Life, Landscape, and Policy book series for Temple University Press, works on the coordinating committee of Scholars for Social Justice, and is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

Introduction and Q&A facilitation by Clinton Williams, Director of Special Academic Programs, Williams College

Friday, April 9

Session 1: 12:15-1:15pm ET 
Social Change and Collaboration in Literary and Medical Texts
Moderator: Ina MarieThérèse Kelleher, Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley
Deon Custard, “‘Put Me Into Good Fooling’: Using Shakespeare to Approach a Post-Bakhtinian Carnivalesque” (English and Theater, Bates College)
Micaela Foreman, “Octavia’s Parable: Science Fiction as Activism” (Astrophysics and English, Williams College) (C3 Undergraduate Fellow)
Sofia Reed, “Changing Tones: Qiu Jin’s Authorial Voice in Stones of the Jingwei Bird” (International & Regional Studies, University of Michigan) (C3 Undergraduate Fellow)

Session 2: 12:15-1:15pm ET 
Centering Black Experiences: Past and Present
Moderator: Clinton Williams, Director of Special Academic Programs, Williams College 
Ashley Finigan, “‘European Vacation with a Purpose’: The National Council of Negro Women’s 1954 Tour and the Creation of a Black Women’s International Movement” (History, University of Chicago; and Upper School History & American Studies Teacher and Director of the Senior Scholars Program, Berkeley Carroll School)
Kerby Lynch, “The Politics of Campus Climate and the First-Generation Scholar” (Geography, UC Berkeley)
Joshua Redd, “New School(s), Same Problem: Black Students’ Experiences in New York City Charter Schools” (Africana, Bates College)
Brendane Tynes, “What the Reimagination of Breonna Taylor’s (After)Life Reveals” (Anthropology, Columbia University)

Session 3: 1:30-2:30pm ET 
Queer as Subject and Methodology
Moderator: Dr. Erica Rand, Professor of Art & Visual Culture and of Gender & Sexuality Studies, Bates College
Benjamin Hollenbach, “All Are Welcome: Queer Inclusion and Mainline Protestantism in the United States” (Anthropology, University of Michigan)
Hana Huskić, “Parents of LGBTQI+ Youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina: (Un)conditional Love After Coming Out” (Anthropology, Gettysburg College)
Faith Wykle, “The Queer Marriage: Revising Transgression in Euripides’ Alcestis” (Classics, Smith College) (C3 Undergraduate Fellow)

Session 4: 1:30-2:30pm ET 
Centering Belonging after Colonization and Migration
Moderator: Melanie Plasencia, Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley (and incoming César Chávez Pre/Postdoctoral Fellow of Latin American, Latino & Caribbean Studies, Dartmouth College)
Armanis Fuentes, “Holyoke, PR: Art and Homemaking in the Puerto Rican Diaspora” (Art History, Williams College)
Ella Marie Jaman, “A Self-Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino: Nation-building in Philippine Literature, 1960-1980” (Physics and Asian Studies, Bowdoin College)
Eashaa Jampala, “The Role of Community in Self-Making and Racial Formation for South Asian American Youth” (Sociology, Wellesley College) (C3 Undergraduate Fellow)
Daniel Varela, “The African Diaspora in Italy: The Migration Crisis and the UNHCR” (International Relations, Italian Studies, and Latin American Studies, Connecticut College)

Session 5: 2:45-3:45pm ET 
Linguistic Flexibility and Evolution
Moderator: Dr. Marybeth Nevins, Associate Professor of Anthropology; Director of the Linguistics Program, Middlebury College
Ernesto Gutiérrez Topete, “Phonetic Adjustments of the Vowel /i/ in Bilingual Speech” (Spanish & Portuguese, UC Berkeley)
Selvyn Martínez Barahona, “Voseo in Social Media: How Honduran and Salvadoran Identity Change in the United States” (International & Global Studies and Latin American Studies, Middlebury College) (C3 Undergraduate Fellow)
Dr. Emily Rae Sabo, “What Counts as Productive Humor?” (Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Michigan; and Lecturer of Spanish, University of Tennessee)
Cheryl Yin, “Disentangling the Language of Intimacy and Condescension in Cambodia” (Anthropology, University of Michigan)

Session 6: 2:45-3:45pm ET 
Political Movements: Solidarity and Accountability
Moderator: Dr. Jeffrey Cason, Provost; Knox Professor of International Studies and Political Science, Middlebury College
Genevieve Bates, “The Politics of Accountability: International and Domestic Responses to Atrocity” (Political Science, University of Chicago; and incoming Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia)
Autumn Galindo, “Breaking Through the Silence: Transnational Movements to Oust Authoritarian Presidents in the Philippines” (History and Government, Connecticut College)
Mahey Gheis, “Black Radical Groups and Palestinian Liberation: Observations and Connections” (Sociology and Government, Wesleyan University) (C3 Undergraduate Fellow)
Kaylen Smith, “Material Repentance: The Religion Behind Reparations” (History and Psychology, Williams College)

Session 7: 4-5pm ET 
Documenting Oppression in Marginalized Communities
Moderator: Dr. Sony Coráñez Bolton, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latinx & Latin American Studies, Amherst College
Tashayla (Shay) Borden, “The Crime of Mothering: Black Women’s Oppression in the US Prison System” (Africana Studies and Psychology, Connecticut College)
Courtney Tillman, “African Identity and Belonging in China: How COVID-19 Discrimination Negatively Affects African Migrants in Guangzhou” (Sociology and Anthropology, Middlebury College)
Aniah Washington, “What Happened to Mommy: Wellness, Trauma, and Psychoanalysis in the Lives of Formerly Incarcerated Mothers and Their Children” (Black Studies, Amherst College)
Ashley Wells, “Black Women and Depression: How Imagery, Misogyny, and Abuse Affect the Mental Space” (American Studies, Columbia University)

Session 8: 4-5pm ET
Naming Violence and Responses to Violence
Moderator: Dr. Ian Shin, Assistant Professor of History and American Culture, University of Michigan
Grace Argo, “Rethinking the Incest Taboo” (History and Women’s & Gender Studies, University of Michigan
Ina MarieThérèse Kelleher, “The Hidden Costs of Public Grief: A Case Study on Debbie Aguilar of Salinas, CA” (Comparative Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley)
Maryam Ramjohn, “The Erasure of Native American Culture in the Adirondacks” (Environmental Science, Union College)

Session 9: 4-5pm ET
Confronting Inequality in Higher Education
Moderator: Dr. Jacqueline Lyon, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Bates College
reelaviolette botts-ward, “#blackwomxnhealing: curating fugitive sites of communal care for black womxn in academia” (African American & African Diaspora Studies, UC Berkeley)
Caleb E. Dawson, “Black Suffering and the Racial Politics of Institutional Change in Higher Education” (Education, UC Berkeley)
Sandra Portocarrero, “Racialized Expertise: The Case of DEI Personnel” (Sociology, Columbia University)
Omi Salas-SantaCruz, “My Gender is Sin Vergüenza: Trans* Latinidad, Inclusion & Belonging in Higher Education” (Education, UC Berkeley)

7:30pm ET: Keynote address by L. Song Richardson, JD
“A Time for Action, Not Platitudes”

L. Song Richardson is the Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. At the time of her appointment, she was the only woman of color to lead a top 30 law school; and on July 1, 2021, she will be the 14th President of Colorado College, becoming the first woman of color to serve in that role. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Association of Law School’s Derrick Bell Award, which recognizes a faculty member’s extraordinary contributions to legal education, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award. She is a frequently-invited speaker and consultant to judges, lawyers, educators, and private industry on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Introduction and Q&A facilitation by Dr. Celina Chatman Nelson, Assoc. Dean for Academic Diversity & Inclusion, Columbia University

THANKS & GRATITUDE

Thank you to all our panelists, moderators, facilitators, and keynote speakers.

Thanks also to the members of the C3 Summit Planning Committee.

Although their names do not appear elsewhere on this program, we are grateful for the dedicated labor of Justine Beringer, Veronica Bosely, Meg Burns, Jennifer Ceolinski, Jake F.L. Davidson, Patrick Gray, Kianté McKinley, Kerry O’Brien, and Laura Schram.

And finally, this Summit—and indeed the Creating Connections Consortium as an initiative—would not be possible without funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. To them, we extend our gratitude.

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