Wake Forest University joined 24 other colleges, universities and public organizations at a White House summit recently to pledge a total of $18 million worth of support for academic research about women and girls of color.

The university’s $1.4 million pledge was part of the Advancing Equity for Women and Girls of Color summit, which was co-hosted by the Anna Julia Cooper Center — a gender and race research institution at WFU — and the White House Council on Women and Girls on Nov. 13.

The primary purpose of the summit was to address methods to “break down barriers to success” for all Americans, including women and girls of color, and to establish more “ladders of opportunity” for them, according to a White House press release.

“The summit was wonderful for me,” said Chizoba Ukairo, a junior psychology major at Wake Forest and undergraduate research fellow at the Anna Julia Cooper Center. “I’m a black student, and going to a summit where people actually do research on women and girls of color and actually care about those populations was really, really a great space for me to be in.”

Other universities and institutions that pledged support for the summit include Brown University, Columbia University, University of Pittsburgh, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, according to a Wake Forest press release.

More than 30 speakers and panelists attended the summit, including U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch; Teresa Younger, CEO and president of the Ms. Foundation; and Tina Tchen, executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls and chief of staff for Michelle Obama.

“The provost of Wake Forest (Rogan Kersh) had the opportunity to present the academic commitment of the entire conference, so Wake Forest will essentially be leading the way for other universities and colleges in research in women and girls of color,” Ukairo said. “To hear our provost do that in the White House was pretty amazing.”

Speakers and forum participants spoke on a variety of topics, including vulnerability to violence, hip-hop and images of women in the media — all of which Ukairo cited as her favorite forums of the day.

According to the White House release, the White House Council on Women and Girls plans to use to the $18 million to advance women and girls of color in five particular areas: (1) fostering school success and reducing unnecessary exclusionary school discipline; (2) meeting the needs of vulnerable and striving youth; (3) inclusive STEM education; (4) sustaining reduced rates of teen pregnancy; and (5) economic prosperity.

“Research often leads to things like practices or policies. It’s really important to actually do research on women and girls of color so we know what they need and how they are treated, and then we can reflect that back into practices and policies,” Ukairo said.

Because of this phenomenon, Ukairo added that she is proud to see her university at the helm of this project.

“As a student at Wake Forest who has not always felt included by the campus, I am glad that our head administrators and campus leaders are taking this step,” Ukairo said. “It makes it so Wake is more accepting of women and girls of color.”

Published on December 2, 2015 at 10:06 pm

Contact Brigid: brkenned@syr.edu