Dr. Debra L. Schultz, an assistant professor of history at Kingsborough Community College
Dr. Debra L. Schultz
CUNY Names KCC Professor To 17-Member Black, Race And Ethnic Studies Initiative Commission
Dr. Debra L. Schultz, an assistant professor of history at Kingsborough Community College, has been selected to be part of a new 17-member CUNY commission, charged with re-imagining and further developing CUNY programs in Black, race and ethnic studies. Selected from a pool of 162 nominated faculty and staff, the members are all experts with backgrounds in ethnic studies and racial and social justice.
Schultz teaches civil rights, women’s, and 20th century history. She is the author of Going South: Jewish Women in the Civil Rights Movement (New York University Press). A founding program director of the Open Society Institute’s International Women’s Program, her work on the history, theory, and practice of intersectional anti-racist feminisms encompasses both U.S. women’s civil rights activism and European Romani women’s rights activism. Her current research examines public memorialization of the U.S. civil rights movement. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Teagle Foundation, and the Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies.
She began teaching civil rights history and women’s history at KCC after a career as a non-profit and foundation program director, working to institutionalize new fields of knowledge within large, diverse networks. “I’ve been able to use my knowledge of civil rights and women’s history, research on cross-racial alliances for social change, and anti-racist/social justice programming to engage our students and faculty in exploring issues relevant to their communities.”
“After Eric Garner’s death and seeing how shockingly little students knew about the history of the civil rights movement in our country, I created a new course on “Civil Rights and the Movements It Inspired,'” she noted. “I found students were hungry to learn more, particularly in the era of Black Lives Matter and with the death of George Floyd. Many of our students come from other countries fleeing denial of human rights and subject to lots of prejudice here. When they share their own stories in class, it becomes even more powerful.”
The Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative is one of several programs funded by a $10 million gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation the City University of New York to drive change across 25 campuses. $3 million over three years will support CUNY’s plan to reimagine and further develop its programs in Black, race and ethnic studies, a key aspect of the University’s commitment to inclusion and to scholarship of the vast multiplicity of cultures represented by CUNY students and New York City as a whole.
The Mellon Foundation grant will provide funding for a planning period driven by the commission, who will assess current program offerings and recommend innovations that build on them. The goal is to better leverage CUNY’s excellent faculty, programs, centers, and institutes in these areas with the prospect of expanding academic offerings in Black, race and ethnic studies across the University, supporting future hiring in these disciplines and creating opportunities for increased faculty research.
“CUNY is deeply grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its historic and very timely support,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “The grant will help greater numbers of our students and faculty shape the conversations about race relations and racial inequity demanded by ongoing national demands. This extraordinarily generous gift will help drive change across our 25 campuses in ways that could not be more relevant at this most challenging moment in time.”
More information about the Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative can be found at www.cuny.edu/academics/current-initiatives/ethnic-studies.
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