How African Immigrants Perceive Blackness Within the American Ideality: The Sensory Woman Art Installation

This honors thesis project aimed to create a multi-sensory mural that nods to the African immigrant experience and the overarching themes of idealistic American values. The purpose of this project aims to give visual and audial representation to the perceptions of African Immigrants on American societal issues/ideologies including topics such as; the lived experience of immigrating, the individual relationships Africans hold towards the subject of immigration, and how community and tribalism are closely interwoven with immigration. The guiding question behind my thesis is: How does the ideality of America become perceived and internalized through the eyes of African immigrants? The importance of this topic is held in understanding how the communication of ideals impacts lived immigration experiences, and to learn if Black minorities who weren\u27t raised in America feel a connection to Black-American social struggles. This project will be displayed through a one-day, creative art installation with a large-scale painting/aural experience as its primary medium

Accepting the Unacceptable: Living Through a Pandemic

As the pandemic brings layers of uncertainty to academic life and future career plans, many college students are feeling demotivated. Nya will use the five stages of grief to describe her process of coming to terms with the state of the world, and she’ll share her strategies to keep pushing forward in the face of adversity. Nya Mbock is a Communications major in her third year at Portland State University. She is currently in the McNair Scholars Program and the Universities Honors College. She works with various student leadership organizations on her campus, and is passionate about student success. She is the Director of International Affairs at Portland State University and helps facilitate and solidify the bridge of communication between administration and the student body. Her research focus within her field of Communication centers on interpersonal and intercultural communication, positive networking, as well as rhetoric. Nya believes that to truly live life to the fullest extent, and gain your own strength and success, you need to understand the people that surround you. She will be pursuing her master’s degree after graduating this spring with the end goal of obtaining her PhD and transitioning into academia.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/tedxportlandstate/1003/thumbnail.jp

A Study on How African Immigrants Experience Being Black in America

This study aims to cultivate a picture of what media coverage is out there on African immigrants that focuses on societal issues in America that have been popularized by Black American communities. These issues include; race-based discrimination, micro-aggressions, police mistrust and inter-racial dating practices. The importance of this study lies in the understanding of generational pain and suffering, and to learn if Black minorities who weren’t raised in America and weren’t privy to the emergence of that generational suffering feel a connection to Black American social struggles. It is also important to analyze the field and see what work has been done to look at the Black American experience using academic writing. This study would be completed by interviewing and providing questionnaires to African immigrants who have recently migrated to the United States, as well as a comprehensive literature review of previous study findings. The participants will be recruited in person using platforms in different African immigrant communities and forums. The in-person data will only be collected after health officials deem it safe to start working with others post-COVID. Once the data is gathered, we will analyze it qualitatively

Time to Act: Plan for Equity & Racial Justice 2021 - 2024

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Leadership & Infrastructure (LI)Coordinate organizational change to support our diversity goals, create a structure that supports the implementation of diversity and inclusion goals and the achievement of desired outcomes, and set PSU on the path for becoming a model of sustained success in the areas of access, racial justice, inclusion and equity in our region and among our peer and aspirational institutions. Initiative 1: Build an Equity-based budget. Initiative 2: Address cultural taxation, invisible, and emotional labor. Initiative 3: Evidence based decision making and Data-driven racial justice interventions. Initiative 4: Center BIPOC voices and needs. Initiative 5: Embed racial equity in community engagement activities. Campus Climate & Intergroup Relations (CCIR)Develop a shared and inclusive understanding of diversity by creating a welcoming campus climate that is supportive of all students, and that fosters positive and meaningful interactions across different cultures. Initiative 1: Regular campus-wide climate surveys. Initiative 2: Create a shared language to promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Employee Access, Success & Equity (EASE)Recruit and retain a diverse workforce, and ensure equitable outcomes for all employees. Initiative 1: Trauma-informed care practices at PSU through an equity lens. Initiative 2: Targeted Talent Development and Mentorship Program. Initiative 3: Create an infrastructure that recruits, retains and advances diverse faculty and staff. Education, Scholarship & Service (ESS) Develop a curriculum that fosters domestic and international cultural competencies through curricular and co-curricular content and experiences, with an emphasis on experiential learning. Ensure that students and employees become literate in their own, and other cultures, and experiences, and are competent in interacting across difference. Foster cognitive complexity and critical thinking in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Initiative 1: Support pedagogical innovation. Initiative 2: Enrich student learning environments. Initiative 3: Celebrate creativity and research. Initiative 4: Expand faculty ability to support equitable student success. Student Access, Success & Equity (SASE) Recruit and retain a diverse student body, and ensure equitable outcomes for all students. Initiative 1: Student Communication Equity Framework. Initiative 2: First-generation student training for staff. Initiative 3: Expand capacity-building experiences for BIPOC students. Initiative 4: Expand culturally specific supports to increase the retention of BIPOC students