SCHOOL FOR CULTURAL & SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Andrea N. Baldwin is an associate professor in the divisions of Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies in the School for Cultural and Social Transformation at the University of Utah.

She is an attorney-at-law who holds a master’s degree in international trade policy and a Ph.D. in gender and development studies from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus in Barbados.

Dr. Baldwin has several publications, including her 2021 book monograph, "A Decolonial Black Feminist Theory of Reading and Shade: Feeling the University;" 2019 and 2023 co-edited texts in the Standpoints Black feminisms book series with Virginia Tech Publishing, and a 2023 co-edited Global Black feminisms volume.

She is the creator and co-host of Standpoints, a Black feminist podcast produced by Virginia Tech Publishing, and the co-curator of the Caribbean feminist series for Black Women Radicals.

Dr. Baldwin was born and raised on the small Caribbean Island state of Barbados. She considers herself an all-around Caribbean woman and loves everything coconut and soca.

Cydney Y. Caradonna is a queer Latinx scholar, activist, and poet originally from the California Bay Area.

She currently lives in the Salt Lake Valley and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership in Policy at the University of Utah. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and master’s degree in higher education administration and leadership.

Her scholarly praxis explores the systems and potential ruptures that inform a de/carceral ethos for higher education. Caradonna’s poetry centers the similar tensions to her academic work and research and experiences along multiple systems of marginalization and how we unsettle those systems by speaking back to them.

Caradonna’s interdisciplinary approach to inquiry and praxis in higher education has included grant supported research in intersectional studies, policy discourse analysis, and Feminist methodological theory.

Caradonna currently works for the Utah Prison Education Project supporting higher education in prison programming, research and publishing while working to create a Black Feminist Eco Lab in the School of Cultural and Social Transformation.

Chelsea N. Bouldin is an Octavia E. Butler scholar, Ph.D. candidate, and university fellow at Syracuse University in the Cultural Foundations of Education department. She is also pursuing a Certificate of Advanced Study in women’s and gender studies. Her dissertation research considers how Afrofuturist literature/Afrofuturist ideologies serve as both tools for, and expressions of, Black women’s autonomous understandings and creations of self. Her work also explores archives as sites of epistemic repossession. As a practice of democratizing archival knowledge, she developed the So be it; See to it: Archiving Project–a community engaged interactive reading collective for Black women in Syracuse, N.Y. to converge her academic research with the Butler archives, parts of Butler’s literary canon, and collective histories beyond the academy. Most recently, Chelsea’s work has been generously supported by Imagining America (IA), Humanities New York (HNY) the Huntington Library, and Syracuse University’s Humanities Center.

Flavorful food, Black sci-fi, boundless writing, impromptu exploration, and laughing endlessly fill her dreamiest days.

Crystal S. Rudds received her PhD from the University of Illinois and is assistant professor of African American literature and culture in the Department of English at the University of Utah. She served as the assistant editor to Audrey Petty for the oral history High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing and is currently working on a book project that explores representations of public housing in film, African American literature, photography, and Black men’s qualitative narratives. Dr. Rudds’ other research/teaching interests include Black feminist theories and ecological praxis, Afrofuturism, literary ethnography, and digital expressions of Black Spatial Humanities.

With an MFA from Indiana University, she also publishes creative work that has appeared in Obsidian, NightBallet Press, After Hours Press, Midnight & Indigo and, as part of the collective poem, American Gun, published by Big Shoulders Books.

Leah Ramnath completed her doctoral studies at Virginia Tech in the Alliance of Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought with a dissertation entitled, Cynical Futurities: A Critical Methodological Intervention Toward a Cynical Geography. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, continuing her critical theoretical work as an independent scholar. Her research primarily focuses on critiques of dominant ideologies as it relates to race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, particularly in the political realm.

Through her research, Leah seeks to challenge universalized narratives, advocating not just for inclusion but for social and cultural transformation. She uses a distinctly Black feminist theoretical lens, grounding her analyses in a sociospatial conceptual framework. Her work aims to elevate and contribute towards the intellectual tradition of Afro- and Indo-Caribbean feminist scholars and creative writers, articulating their nuanced and intersectional experiences as part of an overarching ontological and epistemological project.

Her recent publications include “Cynical (Dis)Positions: Cultivating Cynical Sensibilities” in Black Feminist Theorizing Toward Futurity: A Standpoints Volume, Virginia Tech Publishing, “Planetary Ecological Crisis, Climate Change, and Conflict: Unsettling Understandings and Geographies of Encounter” in the SAGE Handbook on Peace and Conflict Studies (forthcoming April 2025).

Dr. Nana Brantuo is a highly skilled researcher, educator, and advocate dedicated to addressing systemic inequalities and centering marginalized populations. With a background in education policy and leadership, curriculum and instruction, and African studies, she specializes in interdisciplinary research, policy analysis, and advocacy. As a non-residential fellow at the University of San Diego Kroc School VIP Lab, Dr. Brantuo focuses on researching transnational systemic violence against Black migrants seeking refuge. As the founder and principal of Diaspora Praxis, LLC, she provides clients with comprehensive research, policy, and technical products, emphasizing data-driven insights and strategic recommendations. Dr. Brantuo is deeply engaged in service work, holding roles on the board of directors at The Person Center, contributing to FAIR SHARE's Data Advisory Committee, and providing thought leadership at the Africa Data Governance Hub Advisory Council. She is also enrolled in the Center for AI and Digital Policy's AI Policy Certificate program, furthering her expertise in ethical AI governance

Jocelyn Navarro is a Mexican-American scholar from Southern California. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, while holding a bachelor’s degree in botany with minors in environmental studies and gender & women studies. Navarro studies the effects of anthropogenic climate change on plant communities in water-limited environments, and how these changes alter ecosystem functioning. Her research has taken her to several beautiful places all over the world such as Colorado, Arizona, Peru, Norway and South Africa to collect data. Navarro recognizes humans are not always included in scientific discussions about the environment, and would like to make her work more interdisciplinary to include the effects of anthropogenic climate change on humans. She enjoys spending time outdoors and wants to make these spaces more safe and accessible to people who have been historically excluded from these spaces, such as people of color and people with disabilities. Navarro is honored to be a part of the Black Feminist Eco Lab in the School for Cultural & Social Transformation.

Bio Vivian Lee (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. student in the College of Education, in Education, Culture, and Society. Coming from an undergraduate at the University of Utah in Communication Studies, she values the use of rhetoric and examines critical dialogue and practices. Her current research involves queer studies, questions of belonging for students, and relationality.