January 21, 2025 — the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day — is the ninth annual National Day of Racial Healing (NDORH). Created by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, NDORH "is an opportunity to engage in collective action to create a more just and equitable world." Accordingly, Simmons News has compiled a retrospective of faculty antiracist research, student DEI-related projects, and alumnae/i advocacy from the last calendar year that help promote postcolonial reckoning and racial healing in higher education and beyond.
Antiracist Faculty Research at Simmons
Last February, the American Council on Education Women's Network Massachusetts named Tatiana M.F. Cruz, Assistant Professor and Interdisciplinary Program Director of Africana Studies and Women's and Gender Studies, and her collaborator Dr. Kamille Gentles-Peart (Roger Williams University), the winners of the Diversity, Equity, Justice and Inclusion Award.
Cruz and Gentles-Peart were recognized for co-founding and directing the North Star Collective, a group of colleges and universities in New England that are committed to faculty racial equity. Cruz spoke with us about reparative justice in the academy, multiracial coalitions in Boston, and her passion for history.
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On January 19 and September 27, Simmons' Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) hosted "Islamophobia in the United States: Understanding Past and Present Anti-Muslim Discrimination," a virtual lecture by Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Research for the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding Saher Selod. This talk chronicled the history of anti-Muslim racism and demonstrated how 9/11 instituted a new era of the racialization of Muslims.
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Former Professor of Simmons' School of Social Work Hugo Kamya's research project examines immigrant stories that, in his words, "span across individuals, places, and time, exploring themes of perseverance, survival, thriving, and how people navigate issues of hope, courage, and the will to live."
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In honor of National Economic Education Month (October), which comprises an effort to help students understand how economic policies affect their daily lives and the world around them, we spoke to Economics Professor Niloufer Sohrabji about how the inequality and poverty she witnessed growing up in India sparked her interest in economics.
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Professor of Social Work Johnnie Hamilton-Mason received a Fulbright Specialist Award in 2024. According to the press release from the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, "Dr. Hamilton-Mason will complete a project at University of Johannesburg in South Africa that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within Education."
In October, she delivered a public lecture at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. The lecture, "Economic Stability, Stress, and the Superwoman Schema: Coping Among Black Women," provided insights into how economic instability and cultural expectations impact mental and emotional well-being.
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In a new documentary film, Never Cried: Boston's Busing Legacy (GBH), sisters Leola Hampton and Linda Stark reflect on a trauma they endured 50 years ago. As teenagers in 1974, they were bused to a predominantly White high school and suffered racial discrimination. Dr. Gary Bailey, Professor of Practice and Director of the Master of Social Work for Simmons' School of Social Work, appears throughout the film.
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Student Projects and Community Events
Public Health major and Chemistry minor Sunei Clarke '24 participated in the Simmons Black Oral History Project. Under the direction of Assistant Professor of Africana Studies Tatiana M.F. Cruz, Clarke conducted interviews with alumnae/i to document and memorialize the experiences of Black students at Simmons through the generations. Clarke, who also serves as the Soul Vice President of the Black Student Organization, spoke with us about the process of creating oral histories and the value of Africana Studies for all majors.
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Simmons' School of Library and Information Science graduate student Sage Loyema Innerarity '25MS, a citizen of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California, is the 2024 recipient of the Mosaic Scholarship. Given by the Society of American Archivists, this $5,000 scholarship recognizes a student "who demonstrates potential for scholastic and personal achievement and who manifests a commitment both to the archival profession and to advancing diversity concerns within it."
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Established in 2017, the National Society of Black Women in Medicine is committed to increasing the recruitment and retention of Black women pursuing careers in the medical field. This past academic year, Neurobiology major Debora Edouard '24 and Biochemistry major and Public Health minor Kadijah McClean '24 co-founded the Simmons chapter of the Society.
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In her senior profile, Political Science and Spanish double major Estela Raya-Fouts '24 discussed her senior project, "The Consequences of Coloniality: Searching for a Queer Decolonial Feminism in Latin America." As she explains, this project "explores decolonial feminism and queer theory in Latin America to analyze the gender and race hierarchy established during colonialism and understand the modern configuration of gender . . . I look at different proposals of decolonial feminism and analyze the ways in which they [Indigenous women and enslaved women] have found success through resistance in contemporary Latin America. I argue that decolonial feminism could be strengthened with the integration of queer theory, opening up to new possibilities and theories that could pave the way to a more inclusive resistance to colonial structures in the future."
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On February 29, 2024, the Dotson Bridge and Mentoring Program, directed by Associate Professor of Practice LaDonna Christian, hosted a Lectureship Event with Dr. Ena Williams. Her lecture, entitled, "Experiences of Racial and Ethnic Minority Nurses: Our Role in Advancing Workforce Diversity," identified workplace biases and underscored the need for mentorship, racial equity, and organizational change.
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The 2024 Fall Community Read, organized by the Division of Student Engagement, Success, and Diversity, featured novelist and Yale Ph.D. student R.F. Kuang and her most recent book, Yellowface (New York: William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2023). Yellowface probes the complex issues of race, cultural appropriation, social media, and the publishing world. The award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author discussed the importance of authorial voice, literary experimentation, and the craft of writing.
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Alumnae/i Accomplishments and Advocacy
Samantha Normilus '19BSN, '26MSN, received the Excellence in Nursing Practice Award from the New England Regional Black Nurses Association, Inc. (NERBNA). A Dana-Farber Cancer Institute nurse who is pursuing the online Master of Science in Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner Program (MSN-FNP) at Simmons, Normilus spoke with us about being a NERBNA awardee, the rewards of oncology nursing, and the supportive community she found at Simmons.
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Ann Marie Fudge '73, '98HD, who majored in Retail Management at Simmons, has enjoyed a fruitful career in the corporate world, having served on the boards of General Electric, Marriott, Honeywell, Novartis, Unilever and Infosys, as well as several non-profits. In 1994, she became the first woman/first Black woman to serve as President of Maxwell House Coffee Company. She now serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of WGBH Public Media, among other roles. We spoke to Fudge about her impressive career and how Simmons shaped her into the leader she is today.
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For 18 years, Roxann Mascoll '15MSW worked as a domestic violence specialist. She is now Lead Clinician for The Triggered Project, a non-profit that includes a play and film that addresses how Black and Brown men experience and process childhood trauma. Mascoll is also a staff psychotherapist at Brandeis University Counseling Center and a lead clinical social worker at Boston Medical Center. She co-hosts "Living a Triggered Life" podcast with her husband, Keith, and the pair spoke at Simmons in March of 2024, presenting " Elevating Alumnae/i Voices: The Triggered Project Presents Social Work Education and the Arts." We spoke to Mascoll about the inspiration that launched her career and the development of The Triggered Project.
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