“HBCU’s & PWI’s: Breakdown Black Leadership and Identity”
Join us as we share experiences and explore different ways to promote Black leadership on our campuses! We will take an in depth look at the myths, rumors, and adversaries that surround Historically Black College & University students and students at Predominantly White Institutions. The panelists will head the discussion as we collectively provide ways to progress as leaders in our communities.
Feel free to submit questions to gtaasu.thyf@gmail.com
Shade Lawal
Shade Lawal is a second year student at Emory University who is curretly pursuing an Anthropology and Human Biology degree. A Questbridge and Gates Millenium Scholar, she is dedicated to service and education, and hopes to attend dental school upon graduating.
Edward Garnes
Atlanta native Edward M. Garnes, Jr. is an award winning journalist, counselor, educator, editor, producer, and activist. He is the founder of From Afros to Shelltoes, a community based organization uniquely focused on cultural productions that bridge generation gaps between youth, elders, and the hip hop community. The Atlanta Tribune Man Of Distinction holds a B.A. in English Writing from DePauw University and a M.A. in Counseling from Michigan State University where he studied as a Competitive Fellow in Urban Counseling.
As a highly sought after commentator on hip hop, black identity, manhood, and popular culture, Garnes has appeared on the Fox’s MY TV Network, Sirrus Radio, CBS Radio, and allhiphop.com. Revered for his work as a literary artist, Garnes has opened for icons Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, and The Last Poets. A longtime music contributor to Creative Loafing, he has profiled and interviewed such cutting edge artists as Spike Lee, Outkast, Gerald Levert, Erykah Badu, Divinity Roxx, Raphael Saadiq, TBoz( TLC) and DMC (Run DMC). A recognized expert in black male development, Garnes launched the State of Black Men Tour with Kevin Powell in 2004 and has worked as consultant for Men Stopping Violence, The National Urban League, and 21 st Century Foundation. Garnes has also worked as a diversity and leadership development consultant for the Washington D.C. firm Woodard & Associates executing projects with the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Housing & Urban Development. On the forefront of institutional change, he co-founded DePauw University’s Student Coalition for Awareness, Revolution and Education (S.C.A.R.E.) and assisted university administration and legal counsel in the drafting of DePauw’s formal Hate Crime Policy. Garnes is currently penning In Search of Dr. Garnes, a provocative book of essays on black leadership, hiphop, and higher education. Garnes is the co-owner of Babuke Brothers, LLC, a media relations, entertainment, and arts programming firm.
Dr. Kamau Bobb
Kamau Bobb was awarded a post-doctoral research fellowship with the National Academy of Engineering in the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education. His research focuses on the social building blocks of scientific and technological innovation. Through his work, Kamau examines the relationship between social inequity and student perceptions of their own abilities in mathematics and science. Prior to that, Kamau was a graduate research assistant in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He assisted in the investigation of the relationship between science and technology policy and social outcomes. His dissertation research explored the weakness of innovation theory as a prescriptive tool in developing countries. The colonial experience in the Caribbean has not only shaped the course of industrial development; but it has reconstructed the meaning and objectives of technological innovation. This research explored the nature of that meaning and determined its influence on the development of national innovation systems in the region. In 2000, he assisted in the analysis of innovation theory from prespectives of the “The South” as a Visiting Research Assistant at the Universidad de la Republica in Montevideo, Uruguay. He also designed and taught a year-long course, the Image Laboratory, used in conjuction with 11th grade United States History at Tri-Cities High School in Altanta. The course was designed to analyze the role of description in the formation of historical evidence.
Dr. Bobb has a Ph.D. is Science and Technology Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds a M.S. and B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Moderator: Luqman Abdur-Rahman
Luqman Abdur-Rahman is a former Mr. Georgia Tech from At-lanta, Georgia where he still resides. He graduated, from the Dual Degree program, after which he received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Applied Physics from Morehouse College and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2005. He graduated with a Dual Master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Mechanical Engineering and Busi-ness Administration in 2007. He then worked for Sylvania Lighting Services until entering the Teach for America program in the summer of 2008. He will be teaching high school mathematics at South Atlanta High School of Law and Social Justice. While at Georgia Tech, he served as President of the African American Student Union at Georgia Tech in 2004-2005 and now sits on the Advisory Board. He founded the men’s support group called D.E.M.I.S.E. (Devoting the energies of men interested in social enlightenment) at Georgia Tech in 2004, where he served as the facilitating elder.