Keynotes
Dr. Brittany Pearl Battle is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department and Affiliate Faculty in the African American Studies Program at Wake Forest University. She is also a Fellow with the Institute for Research on Poverty and a Ford Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Battle is the co-founder of Triad Abolition Project, a grassroots organization working to dismantle the carceral state. Her research agenda includes social and family policy, courts, social justice, and carceral logics and abolition. Her book project (under contract with NYU Press), They’re Stealing My Opportunity to Be a Father, examines the carceral logics of the state’s intervention in the family in the child support system. She is also currently working on projects examining the perspectives of abolitionist activists involved in the 2020 uprising, examining eviction proceedings during the Covid19 pandemic, and exploring the experiences of criminal legal system defendants and asylum seekers living under state surveillance and community confinement. Her community work regularly includes political education, direct action, healing and transformative justice work, and civic engagement. Dr. Battle’s praxis of scholarship and activism has been recognized with the 2022 Eastern Sociological Society’s Public Sociology Award, 2021 Sociologists for Women in Society’s Feminist Activism Award, and the 2020 Praxis Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice.
Follow her on Twitter @dr_b_pearl
Kyle T. Mays is an Afro-Indigenous (Saginaw Chippewa) scholar of Afro-Indigenous studies and contemporary popular culture. He is an Associate Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies and History at UCLA. He is the author of three books, including An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (Beacon Press, 2021) and City of Dispossessions: Indigenous Peoples, African Americans, and the Creation of Modern Detroit (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022).
Follow him on Twitter @Mays_Kyle
Speakers & Moderators
Dr. Dannielle Joy Davis is a tenured Full Professor in the School of Education at Saint Louis University. Her research interests include anti-oppressive research methods, spirituality, and home education. She is Co-Editor of the books “Intersectionality in Education Research” (Stylus Publishing) and “Social Justice Issues and Racism in the College Classroom” (Emerald Publishing). She currently is a 4.0 Schools Fellow and a Society for Science Advocate Awardee. Follow her on LinkedIn
Dr. Williams is a critical criminologist who engages in race and justice research. He is a staunch qualitative researcher, grounded in community-based research. He believes in foregrounding marginalized people’s voices and lived experiences as they matriculate institutions of justice (in formal and informal contexts). Dr. Williams’ research interrogates the power dynamics inherent in mainstream research and power dynamics in social institutions. He has published in many areas: policing, citizen reentry, gender, social control, social justice, and philosophical criminology. Some of his recent work has uncovered Black males and women’s plights as they navigate reintegration after incarceration. He has also analyzed narratives from Ferguson and Baltimore surrounding African Americans’ experiences and perspectives with policing. Moreover, he plans to start a project that would include community-based participatory research that contextualizes the narratives of immigrant Middle Eastern and Asian women’s experiences with domestic violence. Follow him on Twitter @DrJWilliams4
Dr. Kirk A Johnson (he/him/his) is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies and Medical Humanities. He received his Masters of Divinity (MDiv) from Drew Theological School and his Doctorate in Medical Humanities (DMH) from Drew University. He is a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities and The New York Academy of Medicine. He serves as a member of the Atlantic Health Systems Bioethics Committee, former Assistant Director of the Medical Humanities program at Drew University, and fellow emeritus of The American Heart Association’s Multicultural Initiatives Leadership Fellowship Program. Dr. Johnson has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and upcoming contributions in numerous books. His recent books are “The Anti-Racism Resource Guide Volume One: Supporting Black Businesses and Economics” (Peculiar Capital, 2020) and “Medical Stigmata: Race, Medicine, and the Pursuit of Theological Liberation” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). He is the co-host of the “Bioethics in the Margins” podcast series. He is an ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ (UCC) where he serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the UCC’s Central Atlantic Conference, Secretary of the UCC Central Atlantic Conference’s New Jersey Association, and a member of the Summit Interfaith Council Anti-Racism Committee. Follow him on LinkedIn or Twitter @Dr_KirkJ
Ivy Tillman is Director of Research Operations at Mayo Clinic. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Biology and French from Clemson University, a Master of Science in Health Care Management from Troy University and is currently pursuing her EdD in Educational Innovation at Augusta University. Ivy has been involved with human research protections for 17 years and is passionate about research participants’ perspectives and justice in human research. Follow her on LinkedIn
Denise O’Shea is currently the Head of Access Services & Systems at Sprague Library. She is responsible for managing circulation, course reserves, and the library’s integrated online library system, among other duties. Denise has experience working in a wide variety of libraries, including public, academic, medical, and corporate libraries. She also has a background in IT consulting. Denise recently completed a Master’s degree in Public and Organizational Relations at Montclair State University, and a graduate certificate program at Harvard University, titled Library Leadership in a Digital Age. Her service to the campus community includes the Executive Board of the African American Caucus, member of the Institutional Review Board, and she serves as the Librarian Representative and member of the Local Negotiations Team for AFT Local 1904. Follow her on LinkedIn
Sharon Stroye currently serves as the Director of Public Engagement in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University – Newark, where she also serves as the Director of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Center at Rutgers. The vision of the TRHT framework is to dispel the belief in a racial hierarchy of human value. The TRHT Center @ RU-N mission is to prepare the next generation of strategic leaders to dismantle institutional and structural racism through a shared humanity perspective. Sharon is a Strategic and Transformative Leader with the ability to create empowering and inclusive spaces and places for individuals. She is a trained Racial Healing Circle Practitioner and has facilitated over 150 racial healing circles and workshops engaging 1600+ participants since 2018 in multiple sectors to incorporate racial healing into their everyday practices. Sharon Stroye is a daughter of the city of Newark, NJ where she lives, work, and play. A proud mother of three adult children and a grandmother. She has a 30-year career in higher education and a member of the Rutgers University – Newark community since 2001 with two Masters degrees in Business and Public Administration (MBA and MPA) and an undergraduate degree in accounting. Follow her on LinkedIn or Twitter @MsSharon1264