We Need to Name This

We Need To Name This (WNTNT) is a project to support People of Color and first generation students begin to uncover the hidden curriculum of academia. Each episode in this series highlights Scholars of Color who share their experiences in navigating academia before, during, and after obtaining their PhD

This passion project was born out of numerous conversations with our community throughout graduate school that started with phrases like

“I wish I knew…”
“How come no one told me…”
“How do I prepare for…?”

As we traversed the expectations of being doctoral students, we and our colleagues began to learn about the hidden “rules” that impacted our success within academia. Unfortunately, these “rules,” more widely known as the “hidden curriculum” are often invisible to first-generation students, Students of Color and other groups who may be the first in their families to pursue a doctoral degree. This ongoing conversation  throughout graduate school grew into a larger project where we called on our community to share their wisdom as they navigated and/or completed their doctoral journeys. 

What we are naming in conversation with our community is the hidden curriculum of academia. Through this series, which is a contribution to an already burgeoning conversation, we hope to provide a resource to support People of Color, first-generation students, and others to uncover the hidden curriculum of academia. Each episode in this series highlights Scholars of Color who share their experiences in navigating academia before, during, and after obtaining their PhD.

Laura-Ann Jacobs

Project Co-Director

Laura-Ann is a postdoctoral research fellow with the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) and Anti-Racism Collaborative (ARC) at the University of Michigan working on the Stepping uP Against Racism and Xenophobia (SPARX) Project.

Laura-Ann is a Korean American adoptee. She grounds her work in the qualities of creativity, compassion, and connectedness, and her research pursues questions about how people learn about their identities, how they choose to share their stories, and how they make their mark on the world. Laura-Ann graduated in 2021 from the University of Michigan with a doctorate in Educational Studies with a specialization in Literacy, Language, and Culture. Prior to her doctoral program, Laura-Ann taught public high school English in South Carolina for six years. Her dissertation focused on preparing secondary English Language Arts teachers for antiracist pedagogical change for the purposes of disrupting educational inequity and creating spaces for students to explore and express themselves. Her current work centers around how people individually and collectively translate our stated commitments of justice into action for the purpose of social change.

Ebony Perouse-Harvey

Project Co-Director

Ebony Perouse-Harvey is an Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University and an Adjunct Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). She is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Education with a specialization in Teaching and Teacher Education. She also holds a master’s degree in Special Education: Learning Disabilities and a Juris Doctor. She is a New York University Steinhardt Faculty-First Look Scholar and a University of Michigan School of Education Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion awardee. Her main research interests and teaching practice centers around the creation of professional development that supports both special and general educators in recognizing the impact of the intersectionalities of race, class, gender, and (dis)ability in their classrooms and special education practices during the referral, support, and transition phases of the special education process.

Out of her work focused on teacher education, she published an article with colleagues Debi Khasnabis, Simona Goldin, and Margaret Hanna entitled, Race and the Mona Lisa:  Reflecting on Antiracist Teaching Practice (2019). Collaborated with Dr. Aletha Harven (California State University, Stanislaus) to publish a paper entitled Special Education Instruction: Pillars and Practical Applications for College Instructors (2020), which sought to support pre-service teachers’ criticality development and advocacy practices. Most recently, she published the paper, Seeing the Unseen: Applying Intersectionality & Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) Frameworks in Pre-service Teacher Education (2022), based on her dissertation research, that focuses on how we can identify where pre-service teachers are on the spectrum of dysconsiousness to critical consciousness of racism and ableism through their classroom dialogues.

Tommy Lee

Video Editor

Tommy Lee (he/him) is currently an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan. An aspiring motion designer, he is passionate about animation and its applications in education, advocacy, and community building. His values of community care and collective learning are reflected in his work as a group facilitator and former president of Uncover, a UofM-based social media organization that helps Asian and Asian American community members craft and share personal narratives. Throughout his undergraduate career at Michigan, Tommy has worked as a photographer, videographer, and animator with a number of partners including Black & Brown Theatre, Educational Theatre Company, New Student Programs, and the Dean of Students Office.

Special thanks to the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) at the University of Michigan for their support of this project.