International Student Support
- Spring 2021: CRDM student Folasewa Olatunde assembled an International Student Handbook. This is a ‘living’ compilation of resources and insights from current & former students, intended to better support current and future international students.
Anti-racism Initiatives
- Summer 2020: CRDM students and faculty contributed to a list of academic sources that explicitly address/carry out anti-racist scholarship, organized by subject area;
- Fall 2020: CRDM students (Kashian Scrivens, Aaron Dial, and Brittany Young) organized the #BLACKINTHEIVORY panel on confronting systemic racism in academia;
- Winter 2021: CRDM held its annual conference, on the theme “Technologies of Race,” organized by Dr. Andrew Johnston and featuring Dr. Armond Towns, Dr. Rianka Singh, Dr. Andre Brock, and Dr. Soraya Murray as keynote speakers. As part of the symposium, CRDM alumni Dr. Abigail Browning, Dr. Keon Pettiway, and Dr. Brent Simoneaux participated in a panel on how to pursue “Alt-Ac” careers;
- Spring 2021: CRDM student Brittany Young assembled a report on CRDM’s Anti-Racism Initiatives, documenting findings from our Racial & Ethnic Microaggressions and Systemic Racism survey and offering recommendations for next steps the program might take to dismantle racist and colonialist practices and conditions in our program.
Professional Development
- Fall 2020: CRDM introduced a new optional format for the written portion of the comprehensive exams, giving students one week to complete all three questions;
- Winter 2021: the CRDM Student Association, and in particular CRDMSA Secretary Carrie Clower, set up Research Clusters — a framework for networking and collaboration based on shared interests between faculty and students.
Virtual Cording Ceremony
On May 29th, the CRDM Student Association carried out in virtual conditions a relatively young but meaningful tradition for our program: a cording ceremony in which recent graduates can be “corded” by their advisors and in the company of their loved ones and colleagues. Thanks to the efforts of Beth Greene (CRDMSA Vice President) and her team (Kelsey Dufresne and Robin Hollaway), we were able to honor the achievements of those who have graduated since the start of the pandemic.
Awards and Accolades
Dr. Vicki Gallagher, leading a team of NC State faculty (Dr. Elizabeth Nelson) and both current CRDM students (Cindy Rosenfeld) and alumni (Dr. Candice Edrington and Dr. Max Renner), was awarded an ACLS Digital Extension grant, made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. More information about their project, Expanding a Necessary Space: Extending the Virtual Martin Luther King Project’s Digital Scholarship, Pedagogy, and Community Collaboration, is available here.
Margaret Baker, in her first year in CRDM, was one of two recipients in the “Humanities” category for this year’s CHASS-specific Graduate Research Symposium, for her work “Reframing the Remains: An Infrastructural Remediation of North Carolina Plantations”.
Kelsey Dufresne, Jamie Harr, and Calvin Olsen were among the 15 winners of the NC State Graduate Student Association’s 2020-21 Teaching Awards. Honorable Mentions went to Margaret Baker, Katya Bogomoletc, and Aaron Dial.
Dr. Steve Wiley was one of five recipients of the Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professorship Awards for 2020-21.