Spalding will celebrate graduates from the classes of 2020 and 2021 during Commencement this week, June 3-5, 2021. In the leadup, Spalding is featuring graduates from a range of academic programs. Today’s featured graduate is Ashleigh Huff, a 2020 graduate with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies. She also works at Spalding as CRM Coordinator in the Information Technology Department.

How do you feel about your accomplishment of completing your degree and graduating?

Completing my college degree was always a dream of mine. It may have taken longer than four years, but I persisted and I finished. As a first-generation college student, I am so proud of this accomplishment. It was important for me to complete my degree so my niece sees that going to college is an option.

What was it like to finish your degree during the pandemic?

Even though I was proud to complete my degree, and I was excited to be finished, it felt anticlimactic to make it all the way to the end and not cross the stage to receive my diploma. I appreciate that Spalding celebrated the Class of 2020 last year virtually, and I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to attend Commencement this year.

SCHOOL OF LIBERAL STUDIES | Creative Writing | Social Sciences | Humanities | Interdisciplinary Studies

What is something specifically about your academic program that you liked or that stands out about Spalding’s program/system that may not be the case at another school?

I loved the small class sizes and am grateful for the professors in the Liberal Studies program. I took multiple classes with each of my professors during my major coursework, and was able to get to know them and form relationships with them. They always went above and beyond to help their students.

Describe something you have done or accomplished at Spalding that you are proud of:

I am most proud of maintaining a 4.0 GPA while attending Spalding and working a full-time job. Before coming to Spalding, I didn’t always do the best academically. However, the six-week sessions and support that I received from my professors allowed me to thrive.

What does it mean to you to become a graduate of Spalding University? What do you think you will take with you from your time at Spalding that will serve you well in your career or life?

The interdisciplinary classes I took were beneficial in so many ways. The professors always strived to relate whatever subject matter we were learning about or discussing to other disciplines, and to work and life situations.

What has been your favorite thing about attending Spalding, and why? 

I wouldn’t have been able to complete my degree as quickly as I did without the six-week sessions. Focusing on one or two courses at a time, and having the option to learn in-person and online really worked for my learning style.

What is something personal about your journey to graduating from Spalding that people may not know but that you’d like to share and that you are proud of? 

While I always dreamt of graduating from college, it seemed like a goal that was out of reach. With the support of family and friends, I gained the confidence to pursue and ultimately achieve my goal.

Spalding University’s Black Student Alliance will host a virtual edition of one its signature events on Wednesday and Thursday with the third annual Elmer Lucille Allen Conference on African American Studies.

Allen, a 1953 graduate of Spalding (then called Nazareth College) who became the first Black chemist at Brown-Forman, will also be one of the featured presenters at the conference. Allen, an accomplished artist who specializes in ceramics, will give a presentation about her art at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s conference will be presented virtually via HD Meeting.  Dr. Deonte Hollowell, Spalding Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies and the BSA’s faculty advisor, will help lead the conference, which is free and open to the public. The full conference schedule can be found below.

SPALDING BLACK STUDENT ALLIANCE
*BSA provides supportive space for students
*Faculty Focus Q&A | BSA Advisor Deonte Hollowell

*Follow the BSA on Instagram at @spaldingbsa
*Email [email protected] for more info

2021 Elmer Lucille Allen Conference on African American Studies

Presented by Spalding University, the Black Student Alliance and the West Louisville Women’s Collaborative

Day 1, Wednesday Feb. 24, 2021

12:30 p.m. – Introduction – Dr. Hollowell & BSA (Program Preview)

12:45 – Statements from the Writing Center and Spalding Equity Groups

1– 2:30 – HIST 383 Student Presentations – Works in Progress

4 – Performance by Alex Betts (Waterworks Dance Company)

4:30–5:30 – AAS 300 Student Presentations – Works in Progress

5:45 – 6:45 – Local Grassroots Organizer’s Forum

Day 2, Thursday Feb. 25

3:30-4 – BSA Day One Overview/Day Two Preview

4:15 – Student Presentations – Internships and Research Assistants

5:30–6 – WLWC Presents A Hip Hop Tribute to Elmer Lucille Allen

6– The Artistic Contributions of Elmer Lucille Allen

Closing Remarks from Spalding President Tori Murden McClure, Dr. Hollowell, Dean of Undergraduate Education Dr. Tomarra Adams, Dean of Students Janelle Rae

There are no upcoming events.

Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. Today’s featured faculty member is Charles Maynard, Associate Professor of undergraduate writing in the School of Liberal Studies (more faculty bios can be found on the Meet Liberal Arts Faculty page) and Director of the Spalding Writing Center. Professor Maynard is a novelist and writer/creator of role-playing games and card games who is also on the graduate faculty of Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Spalding.

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

I like the small class sizes and the opportunity to gravitate to areas where I have strengths, and have people be accepting of that.

What is your academic specialty, areas of expertise or research?

I teach first-year writing, and I run the Writing Center on campus. So my areas of expertise are academic writing and professional writing, and my degrees are in creative writing. So my areas of expertise are all types of writing.

Why is liberal arts a good option for new students to consider as their major?

Liberal arts acts as a foundational element in the life of a learner and creative person. I think it’s important to have that foundation because it supports all of those other things that are built upon it. Liberal studies is focused on finding connections between the past and future and why the past influences the future, looking at historical context, art, literature, diversity and how things shift and evolve over time. I think it’s important for young people to make those connections so that they can see that things were not always like this. How can I take in all that information and synthesize it to recreate the world so that I can make it a better place? I think this degree prepares them with practical elements like learning to write, synthesize thoughts, make connections and apply it to their passions. I think it’s important to realize passion and what drives students, and the faculty in liberal studies tries to focus on that for their students.

What is an interesting thing that you keep in your office?

My wife gave me these glow-in-the-dark stars to put on the wall, and I put them up there. And then I got a desk in my office. I do not know who had the desk before me, but there was a dried banana in the back and it was desiccated and wrinkled, so I put poster gum on the wall and stuck the dried banana to the wall so it would look like the moon with the stars. I made a sign that said organic moon, and then the banana fell behind the cabinet and I couldn’t move it, so the sign is still hanging up and the banana is somewhere in my office.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Working with a student in the Writing Center or classroom and see them have major obstacles and then see them start to figure out ways to problem-solve and overcome those obstacles. Once they overcome those obstacles and have that eureka moment, (you can) watch them start to gain some confidence and then watch that evolve as they move through academia and their college experience and then graduate. I like to see that level of accomplishment, that level of confidence and that they succeeded based off the goals they set for themselves.

At Spalding, we like to say, “Today is a great day to change the world.” How do you think your role at Spalding is helping you change the world or the world of your students?

I hope they see that I am able to give them the tools to problem-solve, enhance their creativity, expand their desire to know and understand the world around them and themselves. These are positive tools. And I am doing this with some awareness of my place in the world and the lens I see the world through and myself through, so I am changing around them as well. I hope I am equipping them to be more conscious and aware human beings in their interactions with themselves and the world around them. It’s the little pieces or building blocks that multiple instructors, support units and conversations serve to build, so the student can reflect on it to help reduce conflict.

There are no upcoming events.

Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. Today’s featured faculty member is Dr. Deonte Hollowell, Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies within the School of Liberal Arts. Dr. Hollowell, who received his PhD in African American Studies from Temple University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Pan African Studies from the University of Louisville, was instrumental in the creation of a minor in African American Studies at Spalding two years ago, and he is a co-faculty advisor for Spalding’s Black Student Alliance. This past week, he helped organize Spalding’s second annual Elmer Lucille Allen Conference on African American Studies. Hollowell is also on the Board of Directors for 2Not1, an organization that supports fathers and families, as well as The West Louisville Math and Science Project. He works with the Pivot to Peace group, extending resources to victims of violence. Dr. Hollowell also serves as the Lead facilitator for the Rites of Passage Brotherhood, which introduces young boys to conflict resolution tactics and traditional African method of being.

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

I like the fact that at Spalding, we understand that we are still growing and constantly working to better ourselves for the sake of our students.

What is your academic specialty, areas of expertise or research?

My current area of research is in the relationship between African American communities and police.  I also have an interest in the study of the African American experience, post-Great Migrations (early 1900s).

Why is the School of Liberal Studies a good option for new students to consider as their major?

Students who come through the School of Liberal Arts are able to choose a major, minor and/or concentration.  This gives students an opportunity to explore various options and also engineer their own academic experience. Our students are able to utilize disciplines such as African American Studies, Anthropology, English, Fine Arts, History and Religious Studies to not only develop a greater understanding of the world, but to facilitate change where it’s needed.

RELATED | Q&A WITH DR. HOLLOWELL ON THE SPRING 2019 FACULTY COLLOQUIUM

What is an interesting thing that you keep in your office?

The brief backstory is that when Dr. Merle Bachman retired, I asked to move into her office in the Liberal Studies department in the Mansion Complex because it was larger than the one I was in and she also had one of those standing desks. (I thought the desk might be included if I got the office.)  I got the office – without the desk. But I love it. I keep a space heater in there year-round because I am very cold-natured. I also have a mini-fridge, lots of snacks and a library that will soon be available for students to check out books.

LEARN MORE | SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS PROGRAMS
LEARN MORE | SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS FACULTY BIOS

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

The most fulfillment that I get from being a professor at Spalding is the opportunity to work with individuals (students, faculty and staff) who value the work that I do in African American Studies and are willing to help advance it.

At Spalding, we like to say, “Today is a great day to change the world.” How do you think your role at Spalding is helping you change the world or the world of your students?

My role as Co-Faculty Advisor for the Black Student Alliance is my way of paying it forward, or giving back, so to speak.  Also, being in the School of Liberal Studies is great because the Department values community service.

Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. Today’s featured faculty member is Dr. Chris Kolb, Associate Professor of Anthropology in the School of Liberal Arts. (Read his bio on the liberal arts faculty page.) He holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Kentucky, a master’s from George Washington University and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Kolb is also a member of the Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education.

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?
I like the students and the small class size because it allows me to build relationships with students. We have a diverse campus and student body, which challenges professors to communicate with many different types of people. I really enjoy it.

What is your academic specialty or area of expertise or research?
I am a cultural anthropologist, and we do everything under the sun, but my specialty is urban anthropology focusing on drug use, race, policing, homelessness and how cities function. I did my field research from 2005-07 in Cincinnati not long after the riots there. Unfortunately, for society these issues are prevalent and people hear about them more easily now, which makes it an interesting time to be studying these issues.

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s School of Liberal Arts

Why is liberal studies a good option for students to consider as their major?
There are many different reasons.  I will start with the money-making aspect, which is that employers are realizing no matter what their business is, they need people who can communicate well and write well. Beyond that, it’s a great foundation for many paths such as, advocacy, the nonprofit sector, graduate studies, business and law.

What is an interesting thing that you keep in your office?
There is a drawing with colored pencils from a guy in Cincinnati who was well-known and struggled with homelessness and mental illness. He was a gifted artist, and he sold me this for $5-10, and if you look at it, I think it’s actually George Washington.  I think it’s a brilliant piece of art work done on a piece of cardboard.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?
I think getting to do something that really interests you. Of course there are aspects that aren’t as entertaining as others such as paperwork and administrative pieces, but there are rewarding factors. I have a lot of independence and get to experiment within the classroom. I really enjoy finding ways to reach students and get them to take an interest and ownership in the material.

At Spalding, we like to say, “Today is a great day to change the world.” How do you think your role at Spalding is helping you change the world or the world of your students?
I think the topics we discuss in class open my students’ eyes to ideas they have probably heard about but didn’t know a lot about. We go into much further detail about prominent Civil Rights figures such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and how our superficial view of these individuals is actually much more complicated than we think. I hope I am helping my students become more curious about the world and not rely on the news media to create the world for them.

Faculty Focus Friday is a Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. Today’s featured faculty member is Dr. Dorina Miller Parmenter, Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the School of Liberal Arts. Dr. Parmenter teaches a variety of religious studies courses and has also served as director of Spalding’s Study Abroad in Ireland program. Dr. Parmenter earned her PhD in Religion from Syracuse University. She also holds two master’s degrees in religion from Syracuse, a Master of Arts in Fine Arts from Ball State University and a bachelor’s degree from Central College in Pella, Iowa. (Check out her bio on the School of Liberal Arts’ faculty page.)

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

I like being at a school that values compassion and social justice and recognizes that learning about both of those goals requires broad-based knowledge about history, society and human creativity. I appreciate that the faculty and staff here are always striving to share with Spalding students the best of what they have to offer in order to instill in students the values of the school.

What is your academic specialty, areas of expertise or research?

While I teach a broad range of Religious Studies courses, my research falls in a field called “material religion,” and I try to bring that into all of my classes somehow. It involves looking at how religion is created through and reflected in material objects and embodied practices rather than through abstract ideas. More specifically, my research field is the materiality of the Christian Bible, or how the Bible is a ritual object and material image rather than just a text to be read. My most recent publications have been on miniature Bibles and on the American Evangelical movement called “Bring Your Bible to School Day.” I am currently working on a project on digital Bibles.

Why is the program/department in which you teach a good option for new students to consider as their major?

Surveys of employers consistently indicate that they are looking for employees who are self-motivated and who can think critically and creatively, communicate well, and make ethical judgments. The School of Liberal Arts at Spalding offers several interdisciplinary majors that emphasize the importance of broad-based knowledge, independent thinking and the skills required to address complex social problems. Our majors do not provide specific job training but do allow graduates to enter or advance within the workforce with a social conscience and with the ability to come up with creative solutions to and expressions about whatever might come their way.

What is an interesting thing that you keep in your office?

Five years after I graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa, when I had just finished a master’s degree in art and was starting a graduate program in religion, I was featured along with some of my college classmates in an issue of our alumni magazine. The cover of one of the books I made in art school engulfs the cover of the publication, with the headline, “Artists Give Credit to the Liberal Arts.” I have that magazine cover framed in my office. Now, several decades later, I am trying to impart that love for the Liberal Arts to Spalding students.

LEARN MORE | PROGRAMS IN THE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS
PAST FACULTY FOCUS FRIDAY PROFESSORS | MINDA REVES, JEREMY WHITE

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

I love to see students taking the issues that we are discussing in class and relating them to other classes or their lives outside of the classroom. It is like watching the students build a sculpture out of their knowledge and experiences.

At Spalding, we like to say, “Today is a great day to change the world.” How do you think your role at Spalding is helping you change the world or the world of your students?

I think that studying religion in a college atmosphere where questioning is encouraged and diversity is valued is one of the best ways for students to grow as individuals and as members of local and global communities. This growth helps to break down boundaries and allows for greater respect for and collaboration with others so that oppressive systems can be challenged and the most life-affirming aspects of shared human existence can be utilized to bring about change.

Faculty Focus Friday is a new Q&A series that highlights individual faculty members in various academic programs around Spalding University. The first faculty member we’ll meet is Assistant Professor Minda Reves, who is in her first year as Director of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program within the School of Liberal Arts. Reves, who holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California-Riverside, is a successful freelance writer outside of her teaching duties. She’s had articles in essays published by the Oxford American, Longreads, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Guardian, the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Dropbox and elsewhere. She is an active member of Louisville’s literary scene serving on the Young Author’s Greenhouse board and leading community-based writing workshops for Sarabande’s Writing Labs.

What do you like about working and teaching at Spalding?

I love the students and my colleagues and staff. Everyone is great, and there is a lot of openness, positivity, compassion and willingness to learn about each other amongst everyone on campus.

What is your academic specialty, areas of expertise or research?

I am the director of the undergraduate creative writing program. Personally, I write personal essays, memoir and a lot of article and content writing.

Why is your program a good option for new students to consider as their major? 

A lot of times students who are passionate about creative writing seem to shy away from it because either society or their parents have taught them that there is no money in writing despite the fact that there are millions of people around the world making a living as writers. I feel like college is the place for exploring what you are passionate about, and over the years we have pulled away from that. As the new director of the program, I am putting an emphasis on giving students the freedom and empowering them to find out what fascinates them through creative art. I am also realistic because I know after their time here they have to go into the workforce, and I have a strong understanding of what a writer’s life can look like. Whether you want to write full time, or if you have a day job and need to remain connected to the writing community, I can help these young writers find their path.

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s BFA in Creative Writing and Spalding’s School of Liberal Arts 

What is an interesting thing that you keep in your office?

I have a pretty minimalist aesthetic, so I think the most interesting thing about my office is how empty it is. I’m sure I will get more books and things, but I am into design and decor and have a specific aesthetic that will prevail as I spend more time in this office.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Getting to see people grow and light up as they are encountering new thoughts. I also find it rewarding that the same cycle is happening within me. I learn just as much from my students as they learn from me.

At Spalding, we like to say, “Today is a great day to change the world.” How do you think your role at Spalding is helping you change the world or the world of your students?

Changing the world starts with changing people, and the first person you can change is yourself. I think when students or peers see you are willing to change it inspires others to grow and change as people. Change is scary, and it’s easier to stay small and closed off. But the more you face your fears and step up, I think that inspires others, and it becomes a chain reaction.

Follow the Spalding BFA in Creative Writing program on Instagram at @spaldingcreativewritingbfa

With Commencement approaching on June 1, Spalding is publishing a series of stories and Q&A’s that highlight students from a range of degree programs who are set to graduate. Next up is Jerre Crenshaw, who is receiving the degree of bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary liberal studies.

After Jerre Crenshaw transferred to Spalding University in 2016, she immediately sought out a organization on campus where she could discuss social issues pertaining to the black community.

When she realized one didn’t exist, she worked to create one herself.

Crenshaw is the leader of the Black Student Alliance that officially formed last fall, and she said helping make it a reality is a proud accomplishment that she’ll take with her when she graduates this weekend.

“I knew Spalding’s mission statement says it is diverse community of learners, so when I came to Spalding, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do,” she said.

Crenshaw said she got approval and encouragement across the board from Spalding faculty and administrators when she sought to create a Black Student Alliance, and she said the organization now has at least 10 active members who take part in programs and events on Spalding’s campus and on other campuses.

Additionally, Crenshaw said she is excited to  be one of the first students ever to graduate from Spalding having earned the new minor in African-American Studies. The creation of the BSA served as the praxis credit for the AAS minor.

“Sometimes in school you don’t hear history that pertains to you when you’re a person of color, so having that opportunity to really learn more about myself culturally as well as other African Diaspora people was really important to me,” she said. “I’ve really been happy with the courses I’ve been able to take. They’ve really widened my horizons and opened up my mind to new possibilities of thinking and viewing the world.”

Crenshaw, an alumna of the Academy of Shawnee, has enjoyed being in the liberal studies program at Spalding, saying all her professors have been “very compassionate and genuine and helpful.”

They’ve supported both her academic career, she said, “and me developing as a decent human being who critically thinks and questions things thoroughly.”

After earning her bachelor’s, Crenshaw plans to attend graduate school, and she would like to pursue a career in population health, providing resources that help eliminate health inequities for people from certain socioeconomic backgrounds.

“With Spalding being the first certified compassionate university,” she said, “I think it showed me the value of systematic compassion and that compassion can be implemented into a system. That was initially a thought that was far away from me, but it’s been contextualized by being here.”

Here’s more from Jerre Crenshaw …

What’s your favorite Spalding memory? 
My first day of class, it was over the summer and burning up hot, and I went to the wrong building and sat there for 20 minutes until I realized, “Maybe I’m in the wrong spot,” and looked up the addresses. But it’s my favorite memory because I ended up in the Mansion, which turned out to be one of my favorite spots on campus. It kind of reminds me of my high school with the wooden fixtures. So I discovered my favorite place.

Which accomplishments are you most proud of from your time at Spalding?
The creation of the BSA, of course. Being able to be senator of liberal studies this year and last year. And I think I’ve really improved as a responsible person and citizen.

What is your favorite spot on campus? The Mansion, as you said earlier?
Yes, the Mansion, right by the piano. Shawnee is an old building, so you can hear the creaks when you walk, and I got used to doing work in that kind of space, and I really missed it. It kind of brought me home away from home (to be in the Mansion).

At Spalding, we like to say that, “Today is a great day to change the world.” For many of our students, Commencement is a world-changing experience. After graduation, how do you plan to change the world, big or small, and who inspires you to be a #spaldingworldchanger?
I want to take my skills into the development of compassion as a system and take it to the outside world. So I’ve been looking at volunteering with the Big Brothers Big Sisters or through the judicial system and with kids who are in foster care. I want to be a part of giving people the space to be an individual, like Spalding has done for me.

My mom inspires. I come from a family of six. I’m the fourth-oldest. There are three girls, three boys. I’ve always seen my mom as a caring, strong person who really cared about being there for other people when they needed help, even if she didn’t know them. She’s one of those people who will stop to help an elderly person cross the road, or she’ll stop and pick up trash off the ground for other people. I always would think, hmm, I want to be mindful like that, even when I have other things going on around me. Having six kids is a lot, and she still stops to think, ‘What if someone steps on this? I better grab that.’

Anything else you’d like to share about your experience at Spalding?
I’m just really satisfied with my experience here, and I think it developed me as a person, and I got to meet a lot of great individuals who really helped me along my journey.

Dr. Deonte Hollowell, Assistant Professor of history and African-American Studies in the School of Liberal Studies, will present the spring 2019 Faculty Colloquium, at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the ELC’s Troutman Lectorium. In a presentation titled, “Policing the Black Experience,” he’ll present his research into the African-American community and police relations, and discuss the creation of a course he’ll teach in Session 6 dealing with these themes. That course is part of the African-American Studies minor in the School of Liberal Studies that Hollowell has developed.

In advance of his presentation, Dr. Hollowell discussed the Faculty Colloquium and his work at Spalding:

Why did you come to Spalding, and what do you like about teaching here?

I love being here, and I stay here because I like the history of the institution and I like the mission. It gives me something structurally that allow to be a pathway. My interests have always been in trying to make life better for people who are underserved, underappreciated in society. Spalding’s mission is linked to that. I came here as an adjunct in 2009 and was just looking for a place to teach courses. There was an opening to teach history here (three years ago), and I got it, and the rest is, as they say, history.

 What are some of your academic specialties and areas of interest in research?

Overall, it’s African-American Studies and Pan-African Studies. African-American Studies is what we teach here at Spalding, that’s also the PhD that I have from Temple University. I also have a master’s and bacherlor’s in Pan-African Studies from the University of Louisville. Temple was the first program to offer a PhD in African-American Studies.

Why did you feel it was important to introduce and develop an African-American Studies (AAS) minor at Spalding?

I think there was a void there in our curriculum just to make sure we study and highlight not just accomplishments but also the struggle of people of African descent and people who identify as African-American in this country. Again, it goes back to the mission that speaks toward having compassion and inclusivenss, diversity. The situation was just right for it. We have the right president. Both (former Liberal Studies Chair) John Wilcox and (current Chair) Pattie Dillon are very interested in African-American Studies, which is why they brought me here in the first place, because of my background. When I came here as an adjunct, I would speak to students who didn’t have too much knowledge about the African-American experience, whether they were African-American or not, so I felt there was an opportunity there to pinpoint more of that history and to have a separate offering of courses. I’ve always been intrigued by the praxis side of African-American Studies, where you go into communities and try to get a better understanding of some of the social issues that are occurring and some of the solutions and trying to be a part of it, whether it’s legislation or cultural practices that highlight solutions to a social problem.

Tell me a little about what you’re planning at the Faculty Colloquium.

It’s titled, “Policing the Black Experience.” It’s influenced by when I was a grad student at Temple. I went there to look specifically at hip-hop music and its effects on the African-American community. That’s what I promised to do my research on when I got there. (After working with an advisor who was skeptical that it could be the basis of the research and project), she asked for me to come up with another topic and something that I was passionate about, something that affected me personally. She said to reach back in my childhood and try to find something involving the African-American struggle that was personal to me. I started thinking about how I was arrested when I was 10 under the guise that I was stealing from a store, which I wasn’t. I was beaten up at that time by a police officer who arrested me in public in a grocery store, and this time type of thing happened to me or people I know throughout my life. I started to write about it. …. My PhD advisor wanted the project to be Afrocentric, so I had to get a handle on what Afrocentricity means, not only academically but socially. So I came up with the topic for my dissertation. It was called, Control and Resistance: An Afrocentric Analysis of the Historic and Current Relationship between African American Communities and Police.  … Upon my being hired at Spalding, Pattie Dillon and I talked about my dissertation and how we could possibly make that into a class, how we could take the work I was doing in African-American Studies and make that into a minor. … Since I’ve been here at Spalding full-time, I’ve visited six cities, so I’m kind of breaking that down into a case study where these types of issues have occurred and have interesting stories. There are seven cities – six I’ve been to, one I haven’t so far. Louisville; Greensboro, North Carolina; Sacramento, California; Oakland, California; Ferguson, Missouri; and Cleveland, Ohio. And Chicago, which I haven’t been to. All of those cities, with the exception of Cleveland, I’ve made connections with Black Lives Matter organizers. I’ve been to several different protests. I’ve been a fly on the wall, so to speak. I’m just trying to get a sense of what are some solutions people are trying to take into account, what are some of the reasons people feel these things are happening. Most importantly for me, what’s the culture of the city that allows this to take place? A case in point, in Ferguson, we were looking at the housing politics. St. Louis was starting to grow so rapidly that they had to find placement for other people, so the local housing entities started to establish public housing in the area that’s now known as Ferguson. That area is very densely populated by African-Americans, but African-Americans did not have political power. They do now. They’ve achieved a lot more political balance there. But the housing situation shaped the whole Ferguson dynamic. I’m looking at stuff like that.

What are some other things you’ve been involved with at Spalding?

As part of the Intro to African-American Studies class, we established the Elmer Lucille Allen Conference on African-American  Studies. She was an early African-American graduate at Spalding. She’s a very dynamic personality. She’s been a big part of us establishing the Black Student Alliance. All these things are kind of coming into fruition with the coursework and the curriculum.

 

The public is invited 7 p.m. Monday, April 22 to hear Dr. Luther Smith Jr.,  Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at Emory University, deliver the 2019 Spalding University Keenan Lecture – an annual discussion of the religious themes that is sponsored by the School of Liberal Studies and the Community for Peace and Spiritual Renewal.

The Keenan Lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Egan Leadership Center’s Troutman Lectorium.

Dr. Smith, a noted scholar of the philosopher, theologian and spiritual visionary Howard Thurman, will give a lecture titled “Becoming Our True Selves at the Borders,” in which he’ll explain his belief that our lives are fulfilled when we make connections with people from backgrounds and perspectives different from those most familiar to us.

The Keenan Lecture is the first of two on-campus events to feature Dr. Smith. At 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, the day after the Keenan Lecture, Spalding and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary are partnering to present a free screening of the documentary “Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story” at the Columbia Gym Auditorium, 824 S. Fourth St. Afterward, Dr. Smith, new LPTS President Dr. Alton Pollard and the film’s director, Martin Doblmeier, will participate in a public Q&A about Thurman.

We spoke with Dr. Smith about the upcoming Keenan Lecture as well as Thurman’s legacy.

What do you have planned for the Keenan Lecture?

The focus will be on how our lives are not just enriched but, I think, fulfilled when we are experiencing the differences beyond our normal familiar relationships, especially those relationships that are in some way strongly related to how we’ve grown up and the kind of paths we’ve been on professionally. I think especially for students in education, for many of them, the extent to which they have found themselves primarily not just associating with but developing  real connections with persons who often fit their sort of demographic, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Life really is, I think, most fulfilled with these kinds of connections that we have that are beyond what is familiar to us. It relates then to how what is not familiar to us often becomes that which we fear and that which we actively resist and that which we make abstract and stereotype. So basically another way that another that we could express this is, how do we get to beloved community? Beloved community depends upon our capacity to go beyond our own borders and experience the unfamiliar, to experience what’s at the margins of our lives and at the margins of our relationships in ways that, I think, expand the heart.

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The title of the lecture is, “Becoming Our True Selves at the Borders.” The word, “borders,” is that referring to borders in a human sense, as in the borders of our selves, or is it referring to actual physical borders that we hear a lot about nowadays?

It would be both. I’ve worked with the terms “borders” and “boundaries,” and they have basically the same meaning, but one of the implications of the word, “borders,” is that it’s something that’s really reinforced with guards or guardians, but it’s something that tends to be truly reinforced to the point that it’s secure in keeping out that which we often fear. But it also is the thing that enables us to sometimes feel as if we’re secure where we are. So I prefer the term “borders,” and I mean it both senses – the way in which we are speaking about it politically today in terms of a national border being secure but also the ways in which we all have our racial, ethnic, religious and class borders.

From a topical sense in today’s political climate, I gather that you think we should extend beyond those borders?

Oh, yes. I’m thinking especially two major theologians of the 20th century. One is Paul Tillich, who talked about the most creative places for us are at the margins, and not just at the center. This is not to denounce the significance of the center, but it’s at the margins in which we find ourselves in expanding our minds and our hearts and our understanding. And also (the theologian) Howard Thurman, who indicated that the death of any community occurs – the death of many biological units – when it perceives itself to be in some way self-sufficient, and it’s only when it’s connected outside of itself that it is nourishes. Otherwise, it begins to feed on itself. This occurs, I think, in all types of communities, religious communities, political communities, social communities. So this understanding of just what may be a fundamental principle of life, I think, is to be grasped by us and lived by us if we’re truly going to be fulfilled persons – and for those who are religious, I think – faithful persons.

For anyone coming to the lecture who may not be familiar with Howard Thurman, explain how his teachings and writings have influenced you.

Just about every audience I’m in, those who are familiar with Thurman are in the minority, but it would be wonderful if (that wasn’t case). As a bit of background, the first book-length critical work on Thurman (titled Howard Thurman: The Mystic as Prophet)  was done by me in the late 1970s and was published in 1981. Before then, we didn’t have any critical work on Thurman; we had a biography of Thurman. It’s really been a delight to see how interest in Thurman through scholarship has grown since then. The Howard Thurman Papers Project is the second-longest papers project on an African-American. It’s second only to the Martin Luther King Papers Project. You have a number of persons who have done their dissertations and done published works on Thurman. There are conferences that are focusing Thurman’s work, and, of course, now we have this documentary that has been telecast nationwide on PBS. I think Thurman’s legacy is worthy of that kind of attention. I was drawn especially by his focus on what constitutes vital community as well as what constitutes the vital self. You can even see that influence in the title of the topic that I’ll be presenting when I’m there.

I became familiar with Thurman right in the midst of the Black Power and black theology movement and found in Thurman an emphasis on community that was certainly expressed through those various movements but also an emphasis on attending to the self, one’s self and the self of others, which was not as prominent a dimension of those movements. And Thurman, I believed and continue to believe, has a more holistic dimension of what contributes to vital community as well as vital individuals. It’s a neutrality. You don’t have vital individuals without attending to a vital community. Neither do you have vital community without attending to the vital self. Thurman captured that for me with a kind of insight about faith. And this was also very important to me in terms of Thurman: The vital insight about faith being that which certainly nourishes us and empowers us for being engaged in both transformation of community as well as the fulfillment of self, but a faith that itself is being transformed. That it’s not just a faith that is in some way enacting doctrine, or not just in some way enacting what one believes to be the fundamentals of the faith. The faith itself is transforming. There is a dynamic quality to our believing that is hopefully reflecting that dynamic quality of God. It’s Thurman’s way of perceiving the religious dimension of life aligned with the social dimension of life as well as the personal dimension that for me has been very holistic, very nurturing. It some ways it was the path I was traveling before I became equated with Thurman through my own family relationships, but Thurman all the more enriched that path for me, and I’m deeply indebted to the way I’m able to walk with him.

As for the Keenan Lecture, what kind of person do you foresee who would enjoy and should attend the lecture?

I’m thinking of students, faculty, staff who understand that the quest for a fulfilled life has its many challenges as well as opportunities and how making one’s way to the border is a way to do that.

The next night, during the documentary screening, why do you think people should be interested in coming to watch it and hearing the panel that you’ll be on?

Thurman’s legacy is for us. And in terms of many of the current challenges we’re having about how to be a pluralistic society that honors people’s distinctive contributions and also holds together at its center, I think Thurman provides us a way to do that, a way to both celebrate our differences, not just have our differences and tolerate our differences. There’s a way to celebrate our differences as well as a way in which we can increasingly celebrate becoming community. I think the other approaches that are not emphasizing that fail us – the whole idea that the only way in which we become community is through assimilation. There is always some measure of assimilation involved in the formation of community, but the notion that people must assimilate into what is and somehow or another leave at the border the gifts of their culture or the gifts of their nation or the gifts of their inner city, I think is a failed formula. And it’s a formula that will doom us. Thurman, I think, provides us a way that is worthy of us and is worthy of the energy that will require the transformation of our lives and hearts for it to be enacted by us. It’s a really a challenge to all of us about the kinds of decisions that we’re making about how we’re going to be living our way not only into the future but what kind of decisions are we making day by day to prepare to be moving into the future faithfully, to be moving into the future that is worthy of us.