New Happenings @ OSU!!

Wow!!

Soooo much has happened since I last posted! There are four major things happening right now that I wanna talk about...

1. My Ongoing Work with Ethiopia
I came back from Ethiopia as a truly changed human being. Virtually each day since my return, I have found something new to think about that was brought on by an experience or new understanding from that trip. As a human being, I have a greater appreciation for the resiliency of people and as a woman of African descent, I feel very connected to my heritage. And I feel this connection most especially this week because we were host to a delegation of Ethiopian faculty and administrators from the University of Gondor and Addis Ababa University. After a wonderful meeting with our colleagues in my college, one of the administrators from AAU asked me if I was African American or if I was native to a different country. I told him that I am African American. He hugged me and told me that my presence meant a lot to him and it made him feel very at home. My heart was so touched by this! Later, as I gave it some thought, I imagined that he must have felt a little culture shock from being surrounded by people who look and speak so differently from him. I thought, "Yeah. I know that feeling quite well. So glad to finally be accustomed to being one of a few people of color (or the only person of color) in a room." It reminded me of the sense of awe that I felt when I stepped into the Addis Ababa airport and saw virtually all people of color--which is something I'd never before experienced in any U.S. airport. In U.S. airports, I always see only a few people of color. Interesting how such a simple experience can change your perspective forever.

As a scholar and educator, I feel extremely excited about the possibilities that are on the horizon involving research and technology collaborations with our colleagues in Ethiopia. We talked extensively about the technology-focused interests of our Ethiopian colleagues and how we can merge these interests with interests in building capacity for training doctoral level researchers. How very exciting! I can't wait to do more work on this project and see what else happens. My new role at OSU meshes perfectly with this work...

2. My New Role @ OSU - Technology Coach/Trainer
So, now I not only teach for the College of Education and Human Ecology, I am also officially responsible for facilitating technology training and coaching for our faculty, staff, and students. As part of the Office of Technology and Enhanced Learning (OTEL), I have some exciting new opportunities to learn and help others learn to use the new technology tools that our College is acquring. I have missed being involved with exploring new tools. With a descreased teaching load and access to lots of new stuff, I am back in the game of indulging my inner geek! I am teaching two courses this term and still supervising Teaching Assistants (and this will take up quite a bit of my time), but I am searching diligently for ways to integrate learning the new tools with these duties. I learn new tools best when I use them in authentic ways... for example, I am using the Tegrity lecture capture tool to record lectures to share with some of the doctoral students from Addis Ababa and having a really great time doing this. I am very grateful to our Department and College leadership for choosing me for this role! So much more to come!

3. My Parent Involvement WorkThis school year, I was selected to be Parent Consultant at my son's school. I was nervous about taking on this role because my career keeps me so very busy, but I'm finding that this work is so worth it. I am feeling very connected to my son's school and to K-12 education in general--more connected than I have felt in a long time. My mom's organization, Counteraction.org (http://counteraction.us/), has collaborated with me to create Indian Springs Parent University (a formal parent education program)--which is something our school principal, Mrs. Lisa Adams, has envisioned for the school for quite some time. We launched the kickoff for the program on January 15 and received rave reviews and some fantastic feedback and suggestions from the parents in attendance. This is a great opportunity to do some meaningful work for my son's school and the parents in this community. Looking forward to sharing more about this.

4. My Identity as a "Blackademic"
My cousin, Torri Stuckey, has published a new book, "Impoverished State of Mind: Thinking Outside da Block" (http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/sports/disabato/17596833-452/disabato-torri-stuckey-leaves-a-mark-with-his-book-impoverished-state-of-mind-thinking-outside.html) and he is getting a lot of press on it. It's really a thoughtful and inspiring read. I am so proud of this young man, but also I am intrigued by the ideas he presents in this provacative, autobiographical, work of encouragement specifically aimed at young black folk who are growing up in the hood. Reading this book inspires me to get back on top of the list of things that I've been planning to do since grad school--things that I wanted to share in support of other black scholars -to-be as they work toward their graduate degrees. I'm pulling out my reading list of black theorists and thinkers in education and psychology. My idea for a blogtalkradio show to discuss the intersection between poverty, technology, and marginalized groups is back on my radar. I am thinking of ways I can do some outreach with the black community here in Columbus--especially focusing on young women with children (remembering the work I did for my master's thesis!). Thank you, Torri, for keeping me reminded of one of the reasons why I wanted my doctorate in the first place.

More to come in these exciting times! Thanks for reading.