This is Ashley Newby and you’re listening to The Black Studies podcast, a Mellon grant sponsored series of conversations examining the history of the field. Our conversations engage with a wide range of activists and scholars - senior figures in the field, late doctoral students, and everyone in between, culture workers, and political organizers - in order to explore the cultural and political meaning of Black Studies as an area of inquiry and its critical methods.

Today's conversation is with Jasmine Lee, who works as Associate Vice President for Community and Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Having earned her PhD in Education at Michigan State University in 2016, she works to create "inclusive campus environments through direct programming, strategic student success initiatives, and collaborative leadership, along with consultation for racial climate concerns and broader diversity issues for faculty and staff across campus." In this discussion, we explore the meaning of Black Studies and the study of Black life in classrooms, in non-profit communities, and in educational settings between community and campus.