WSSU professor, Dr. Keisha Rogers, awarded NEH grant to explore dynamics of Black faculty at HBCUs
Dr. Keisha Grayson Rogers, professor of rehabilitation counseling at Winston-Salem State University, was awarded a $299,989 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Collaborative Research grant.
The NEH recently announced $37.5 million in grants for 240 humanities projects across the country. Rogers’ project was one of four funded in the state of North Carolina.
Rogers’ grant expands her research centered on examining the experiences of Black faculty who teach at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the United States. She previously published an article focused on the experiences of Black women faculty in the HBCU Academy in the Negro Educational Review Journal in 2022.
The current project, entitled “Amplifying Our Voices: The HBCU Experience Among Black Faculty,” will utilize a phenomenological approach to explore the culture of the faculty experience at HBCUs from the viewpoint of its employed members. The goal is to provide a space for them to tell their stories and discover meaning and understanding through their lived experiences.
The aims of the project include: (1) improving professional practice through continual learning and progressive problem solving; (2) achieving a deeper understanding of organizational change through collective actions; and (3) improving the HBCU community through participatory action learning and research. The expected completion date for this project is September 2028. Dr. Jack S. Monell, professor of justice studies, serves as co-principal investigator for the project.
“This is a passion project of mine that originated from virtual ‘kitchen-table’ conversations in 2020 amongst myself and two Black women academics,” Rogers said. “Through these conversations, we discovered a common experience of our workplaces being culturally empowering, yet particularly hostile.”
Rogers said they each began their higher education careers at three different HBCUs, where they had imagined a career dedicated to fostering historically minoritized students’ desire to learn and providing non-threatening environments that promoted Black excellence.
“While we each revel in the opportunity to shape the next generation of Black scholars, we recognize that the constant turmoil within the leadership ranks, bullying, and cultural taxation, have impacted our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. These courageous ‘kitchen-table’ conversations led us to scholarly collaborations to gauge the well-being of Black women academics at HBCUs as there was very little known about Black women faculty experiences at HBCUs,” Rogers said. “This collaboration resulted in a national study, a peer-reviewed publication, several peer-reviewed presentations at state and national conferences, and now to a nationally funded research grant.”
This round of funding, NEH’s third and last for fiscal year 2024, will support vital humanities education, research, preservation and public programs. “From exhibitions, books, and documentaries about our past, to research centers to help us meet the challenges of the future, these 240 new humanities projects contribute to our greater understanding of the human endeavor and add to our nation’s wealth of educational and cultural resources,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “We look forward to the exciting range of products, discoveries, tools, and programs these grants will generate at institutions and in communities across the United States.”
Rogers also serves as the WSSU Faculty Senate chair and is president of the National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Columbia College, her Master of Science in rehabilitation counseling from N.C. A&T State University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in rehabilitation counseling from Southern Illinois University.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.
About Winston-Salem State University: Winston-Salem State University fosters the creative thinking, analytical problem-solving, and depth of character needed to transform the world. Rooted in liberal education, WSSU’s curriculum prepares students to be thought leaders who have the skills and knowledge needed to develop innovative solutions to complex problems. Founded in 1892, WSSU is a historically Black constituent institution of the University of North Carolina with a rich tradition of contributing to the social, cultural, intellectual, and economic growth of North Carolina, the region, and beyond. It is ranked the No. 1 university in North Carolina for social mobility by U.S. News & World Report. Guided by the motto, “Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve,” WSSU develops leaders who advance social justice by serving the world with compassion and commitment. For more information, visit www.wssu.edu. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
