Brittney Yancy, IRT ’03
Brittney holds a masters degree in U.S. History and earned a Ph.D. in U.S. History last year from the University of Connecticut. Brittney is currently an Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Illinois College.
As we head into July, the IRT virtual Summer Workshop Faculty and staff are busy finalizing curriculum, organizing alumni and professional panels, consortium liaison meetings and other events throughout the upcoming month. Join us in welcoming this year’s summer faculty!
My name is Renée Wilmot, I use she/her pronouns. Currently, I am a Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University in the Teacher Education program. My research interests include (1) the historical legacy of Black women as educators and activists in the Black community and (2) Black girls’ practices of thriving and resisting in white supremacist schooling structures. I am originally from Virginia and I am a former secondary English/Language Arts teacher.
Advice for the current cohort
Do your best to commit 100% of yourself. Take advantage of this opportunity – take risks and push yourself.
Suggested Reading
My biggest takeaway from my IRT experience was that this is a safe space for me to push myself, risk failure, and then get up to try again. I had never been in a space where I could “mess up” academically, experiment with time management and reading strategies, and take risks.
My grounding quote for this year: “We protect and nurture our collective well-being. We strive to make our home place a positive environment for everyone. We all agree that integrity and care enhance all our lives.” (hooks, ,p. 101)
My current favorite song: “Dim All the Lights” by Donna Summer
Continue reading “2022 IRT Summer Workshop Faculty”Karina Fernández Montilla, IRT ‘06 is a recipient of the 2022 Dr. Sue Estler University of Maine Higher Education Distinguished Alumnx Award. This award is given by the University of Maine Higher Education graduate programs in honor of Dr. Suzanne E. Estler, Associate Professor, Emeritus of Higher Education. Karina is Assistant Dean of Advising and Director of the James Baldwin Scholars Program at Hampshire College.
Teresa Gonzales, IRT ‘06 will be joining the sociology department at Loyola University Chicago this fall.
Heather Moore Roberson, IRT ’07 was appointed Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Allegheny College. Congratulations!
Daniel Peña, IRT ‘09 moderated a special virtual Fulbright event, Roger Rosenblatt: The Writing Life, on May 14th. The event highlighted the literary career of Roger Rosenblatt, writer, author, professor, Emmy Award winner, Peabody Award winner, and 1965 Fulbright U.S. Student to Ireland.
Peña is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer, Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Houston- Downtown and author of Bang: A Novel. He received an MFA from Cornell University. More information on Peña is available on his website.
~Class of 2004~
Orly Clergé, IRT ’04 will join the department of Sociology in July 2022 as Assistant Professor at Yale University. Dr. Clergé’s research focuses on race, migration, cities, inequality, and identity. Orly is the author of The New Noir: Race, Identity & Diaspora in Black Suburbia (University of California Press, 2019; winner of the Mary Douglas Prize for Best Book in the ASA Culture Section, and SSSP C. Wright Mills Book Award finalist), which is a comprehensive exploration of the making of Black diasporic suburbs.
~Class of 2014~
Jonathan Cortez, IRT ’14 successfully defended his dissertation and received his PhD from Brown University from the department of American Studies. Congratulations Dr. Cortez! His research interests include 20th century U.S. history, Latinx History, race and race making, relational ethnic studies, critical geography and spatial studies, labor history, and public humanities.
~Class of 2016~
Charlinda Haudley, IRT ’16 is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation in Arizona and is the Project Manager, Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Arizona. Charlinda was awarded her doctorate in Higher Education in 2021 from the University of Arizona. Congratulations Dr. Haudley! Her research focuses on intertribal student engagement at a university Native American student center.
~Class of 2019~
Francesco Yugiro Asano, IRT ’19 is a PhD student in American Studies at New York University. He is interested in questions of race, empire, and nature, particularly in the context of imperial hunting and wildlife-conservation history. Public Books, an online magazine of ideas, scholarship, and the arts has published Francesco’s recent article “When Nature Is Valued over Human Life.”
~Class of 2020~
Congratulations to the 2020 IRT Cohort! So far the cohort has reported a total of 241 acceptance offers from graduate programs across the nation. These offers range from partial to full funding and we will have more details to share in our June 2021 Newsletter. Congratulations to all cohort members for their amazing work throughout this year!
Institute for Recruitment of Teachers 
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