Dear LLC friends.

We invite you to participate with the 2nd LLC graduate student conference entitled #IAM, Intellectual Activist Movements: Reconnecting University Scholarship and Community Action on Saturday, October 1, 2016.

Patricia Hill Collins defines intellectual activism as “the myriad ways that people place the power of their ideas in service to social justice” (On Intellectual Activism, Introduction, p. x).  In our program, we have an ongoing dialogue about the value of being an intellectual/activist. We offer this conference as a space of reflection and dialogue about the value of being an intellectual/activist: on lessons learned, on unanswered questions, on how changing socio-cultural landscapes interact with our work, and on what it means to be an intellectual activist in 2016 in Baltimore, the U.S., and internationally. The conference presents an opportunity to examine how your work enters this conversation as we ask: In what ways do our intersectional identities inform our work? What can we learn from earlier social movements that can further contextualize our current perspectives and methodologies for social change?  What is different today in our cultural and social landscapes, and how does that impact our work? How might we reimagine university-community connections in ways that respect the different but essential roles of thinking, writing, and acting, and the dynamic interactions between them?  

We really want to connect LLC students across cohorts, and we see our conference as an opportunity to facilitate our meeting and sharing of our research, community involvement and doctoral experiences. You can participate in a variety of ways: 

1. attend the conference and social hour; 
2. present your research or research interest as a micro talk; 
3. share an Art as Protest piece for that session;
4. volunteer to serve at the conference.

We really would love your participation on Sat. Oct 1st, 2016. You can visit the conference website at https://llcconference.wordpress.com/. If you are planning to come, please register at http://tinyurl.com/zchouas Breakfast and lunch will be provided at the conference site. If you are willing to participate in any form in the conference or if you have questions, please email us at llcgradconference@gmail.com.  We look forward to seeing you all there!

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum, in partnership with UMBC’s Department of Africana Studies, will host postdoctoral fellow and instructor Iyelli Ichile during the upcoming year. As part of the fellowship, Ichile will be in an instructor in the Africana studies department, and she will conduct research on Maryland African American history and culture to support the Reginald F. Lewis Museum’s permanent collection.

Ichile holds a Ph.D. in African diaspora history from Howard University and a master’s degree in African American studies from Columbia University. Her research and teaching revolves around the themes of spirituality, liberation movements, music, folklore and gender among African people globally.

The fellowship is made possible by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. For more information, visit the Reginald F. Museum website.

Image: Iyelli Ichile. Photo courtesy Reginald F. Lewis Museum. 

Baltimore Magazine recently released its “Best of 2016” edition, which highlighted leaders in arts and culture from across the city over the past year. Lia Purpura, writer in residence in UMBC’s Department of English, was named Baltimore’s top poet.

The magazine states: “In It Shouldn’t Have Been Beautiful, her latest collection published this year, Purpura impressively delivers poignant insight into our existence without pomp and circumstance. Her verses are little gems with short stanzas and an absence of flowery language, but that doesn’t make them any less profound. Instead, Purpura…proves how meaningful simplicity can be.”

Purpura has also been awarded a Pushcart Prize for her essay “Scream, or, Never Minding,” which was originally published in The Georgia Review. Also receiving recognition last month was Purpura’s poem “Resolution” which was featured on The Academy of American Poets website as the national “Poem-a-Day” on August 8.

Lia Purpura’s work frequently appears in The New Yorker, Orion, The Paris Review, Best American Essays, The Iowa Review, and other national journals. Among her numerous honors are a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts and Fulbright Fellowships, and four Pushcart prizes. Her collection of essays, “On Looking” was a finalist for the National Books Critics Award.

Read more about Purpura’s work on the English department website.