On a quiet Wednesday morning, this past July, I welcomed my son and 4th child, to the world. Two days later, on a Friday morning, my 10-year-old nephew, transitioned from this life to the next. The ring of fire with the birth of my baby was severe and unlike any…

When future historians look back at the moment we are currently living through, special emphasis will be given to what black women in academia did or did not do to address the weight of racial traumas that choke us on a daily basis. Audre Lorde, in her essay On the…

By Angele Kingue Growth, they say, lies in the careful balance between reality and possibility, an ever-delicate balance between what is and what is possible. As a mother, you want to teach your child about reality, about the ways of the world — all the while making sure that you nurture the dreams…

In 2018, I co-published a book entitled Public Health, Disease and Development in Africa with Dr. Ezekiel Kalipeni (and Drs. Diana Grigsby-Touissant and Imelda Moise). Dr. Kalipeni was one of the few African health geographers in the US, well-loved and respected by many. He passed away in Malawi on April…

For the past four years, Ucheoma Nwaozuru was my doctoral student. Toni Morrison once told her students, “if you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.” It has been an honor and a privilege to have had the chance to empower Ucheoma as her PhD advisor…

Nine years ago, on May 15th, 2011, I graduated from Penn State University with a doctoral degree from the department of Biobehavioral Health with a minor in Demography. Ted Koppell, the famous anchor for ABC’s Nightline show, once told 5000 graduates at the University of Pennsylvania, that “the purpose of…

At some point in 2005, I began to feel an uneasiness about my future. I was on the verge of graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development and Family Studies, with a minor in Sociology from Penn State University, with no clue as to what job or career I…