Black History Month 2025:
Afro-American Cultural Discussion
Date: Thursday, February 6th, 2025
Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm
Event Description: A conversation on the African American/Black identity, celebrations, and contributions
from the perspectives of our professors Alix Williams from Anthropology and Brittany
Hampton from Ethnic Studies.
Black in STEM
Date: February 20, 2025
Time: 4pm-5pm
Panelists: Josh McCall Cybersecurity Specialist for NASA Jet Propulsion Lab & Reia Rowland,
Registern Nurse, BSN
Event Description: A panel of Black/African-American professionals in STEM will share their personal
experiences navigating their own unique career journey and the professional workspace.
This professional panel hopes to educate, inspire, and engage those that want to better
understand the Black/African American experience within the context of the world of
work.
Panelists Biographies:
Reia Rowland joined the healthcare industry in 2013 as an EMT in emergency services. She graduated
in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Herzing University in Wisconsin
and started her nursing career at Froedert Medical College at the Spinal Cord unit.
Since then, Reia has worked in over 9 specialties and is currently working as an Infusion
Registered Nurse doing home infusions for patients. Reia is passionate about being
a patient advocate and believes that delivering nursing care to a person is an honor
and that teaching future nurses is a blessing. When not working you can find Reia spending
time with her two children, volunteering at church, catching up on a good Netflix
series, and traveling.
Josh McCall is a cybersecurity professional at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). In his
role, he focuses on safeguarding mission-critical systems and infrastructure, leveraging
expertise in Splunk, Python, and network security to enhance threat detection, incident
response, and data analysis. Beyond his work at NASA, he is passionate about advocating
for diversity in STEM and increasing representation in cybersecurity. Recently he
earned my MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and remain committed to
mentoring and supporting aspiring Black professionals in STEM.
What Now? Black Organizing Against Terror with Cat Brooks
Date: February 24, 2025
Time: 12pm-1pm
Event Description: Join us for an inspiring event featuring co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project
(APTP) Cat Brooks as we explore the critical work of organizing against terror in
all its forms. Terrorism, whether state-sponsored or perpetrated by individuals or
groups, seeks to divide us, instill fear, and undermine our shared humanity. This
conversation will explore how we can build resilient communities against terror, foster
solidarity, and how we can connect to historical and existing organizing movements.
Pipelines to Progress: Equity and Education for Black Futures
DATE: February 25th, 2025
TIME: 11am - 12pm
Event Description: Dr. White will focus this discussion on how institutions and systems can support Black
students, with an emphasis on education and career development. Dr. White will share
insights on creating pipelines for success, strategies for overcoming systemic barriers,
and discuss the role of education in shaping Black history and future progress.
Black Mental Health Matters
Date: February 27th, 2025
Time: 12pm-2pm
Location: Sierra Vista (SV) 233
Event Description: Knowing that Black humans in North America face unique and specific barriers to mental
wellness, this workshop provides a place for them to be seen and heard, both collectively
and individually. Equipping participants with tools to help them heal and thrive,
using creative practices to center and uplift.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2024
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2022
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2021
