The Black Affairs Faculty Fellowship is a new initiative for the 2020-2021 academic year. The purpose of the fellowship is to create a pathway for students to have access to UF Black faculty and increase their engagement with faculty. The faculty fellow provides ongoing support and guidance to students and connects them with relevant campus resources.
The inaugural Black Affairs Faculty Fellow (2020-2021) was Dr. Manoucheka Celeste, Associate Professor in the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research and the African American Studies Program.
The faculty fellow facilitates Fellow Chats with students, speaks at Black Affairs events, delivers presentations for select Black Affairs staff meetings and serves on the advisory committee for the 50th Anniversary of Black Thursday. Dr. Celeste also delivered a speech at the 50th Anniversary of Black Thursday event on April 15. A new speaker series, Blackness 360°: Art, Culture, Health, and Futures, has emerged through the Faculty Fellowship. It is a series of curated experiences designed to deepen knowledge about the multiplicity and complexity of Blackness and Black experiences.
As the Black Affairs Faculty Fellow, Dr. Celeste organized this year’s Blackness 360° series, which included the following events:
- March 17 – Writing and Reading the World with Black Women’s Stories, A talk by Évelyne Trouillot and Dr. Nadève Ménard, moderated by Dr. Celeste
- March 23 – From Brooklyn to Bahia: Global Black Flows of Culture, Politics, and Resistance in the Americas, featuring speaker Dr. Bryce Henson
- March 24 – Thriving: A Toolkit for Black Student, featuring speaker Orlando White
- March 31 – Cutting Your Crap. Pasting the Pieces, featuring speaker Dr. Grace L. Sanders Johnson
- April 6 – Black Presence and Indifference in Sites of Erasure, featuring speaker Dr. Mandisa Haarhoff
- April 7 – Black Women’s Health & Reality TV: Using Black Popular Culture for Health Promotion, featuring speaker Dr. Asha Winfield
- April 13 – Cruel Imitations: Almena Davis vs. Hollywood, featuring Dr. Ellen Scott
- April 20 – Sermon I Wish I’d Heard: Play & Workshop, featuring Lakhiyia Hicks
About the fellowship experience, Dr. Celeste said, “The highlight of this challenging year has been working so closely with Carl Simien to support students and engaging with the amazing students who I got to know through this fellowship. Black Affairs, with the most incredible students, has been life-giving for me and I am grateful for this opportunity to serve them.” You can learn more about Black Affairs at: https://blackaffairs.multicultural.ufl.edu.
