Research Teams for Liberation and Worldmaking: Engaging a Black, Queer, Feminist Lens

Robin Phelps-Ward, EdD (she/her), is the Associate Dean of the Graduate School and an Associate Professor of Higher Education at Ball State University. Dr. Phelps-Ward is dedicated to cultivating equitable, just, and supportive environments for People of Color across educational contexts, and she commits her scholarship to simultaneously and complementarily exploring the experiences of those who are racially marginalized and minoritized while developing pedagogical and institutional strategies for eliminating such oppression. Her research focuses specifically on mentoring and formal mentoring programs for Students of Color, Black faculty and staff belonging, Black women and girls’ natural hair and identity development, and pedagogical practices for critical-consciousness and social justice. Her most current research centers the experiences of graduate students from historically minoritized backgrounds using photovoice methodology and an intersectional lens. Dr. Phelps-Ward co-edited the book The Power of Names in Identity and Oppression: Narratives for Equity in Higher Education and Student Affairs (2022, Routledge) and is an active member of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Her work can be found in the Journal of College Student Development, the International Journal for Qualitative Studies in Education, and Gender & Education, among additional outlets.

Dr. Taryrn T. C. Brown is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. Her program of research has three major foci: the intersection of gender, race, and class in the lives of Black women and girls across contexts; the amplification of Black women and girls’ voices in prevention science; and the role parents, schools, and communities play in Black girls’ socialization and identity construction. With research at the nexus of Black girlhood and Black feminist thought, her work leverages various theoretical foundations (e.g., Black feminist theory, ecological systems theory; and Black girl cartography) and critical qualitative methodologies (e.g., youth participatory action research, photovoice, and photo-elicitation). As a scholar-practitioner, her scholarship aims to amplify equity-centered pedagogies in teaching and learning. Dr. Brown’s published work can be found in Voices in Urban Education, the Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches, Girlhood Studies, and the Journal for African American Women and Girls in Education.

Roshaunda L. Breeden, PhD (she/her), is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development within the Higher Education Equity, Opportunity, and Justice concentration at North Carolina State University. Guided by participatory and arts-based approaches (e.g., photo-elicitation and photovoice), Dr. Breeden’s work centers on creating equitable learning environments for minoritized students, leaders, and communities. Her research specifically focuses on Black women leaders in higher education, Black student assets in science degree programs, and relationships between Black communities and their surrounding Historically White Institutions. Currently, she is part of the #FatOnCampus research team, a national study using photovoice methodology to explore the experiences of fat college students. Overall, Dr. Breeden’s research departs from more traditional methods, which are often jargon-laden and slow to reach decision-makers, to modes of scholarship that are timely and digestible for all. Dr. Breeden’s work has been published in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Review of Higher Education, and the Journal for Women and Gender in Higher Education.

Terah J. Stewart, PhD (he/him), is a graduate faculty member and an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Iowa State University. He is also a faculty affiliate with Women and Gender Studies and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. His research and writing focus on people, populations, and ideas that are hypermarginalized and/or those who have stigmatized identities, including college students engaged in sex work and erotic labor, fat students on campus/fatphobia and sizeism in postsecondary contexts, and identity-based student activism. He also engages conceptual and empirical work on antiblackness in non-black communities of color. His work centers critical disruptive onto-epistemological frameworks and theories to destabilize dominant ways of knowing and being, including Black/endarkened feminist, womanist, and Afropessimist perspectives. His research and writing have appeared in Action Research, the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, the Journal of Higher Education, and the Journal of College Student Development. Dr. Stewart is the co-author of Identity-Based Student Activism: Power and Oppression on College Campuses (2020, Routledge) and Sex Work on Campus (2022, Routledge).