BLACKADEMICS

Blackademics: Dr. Blair L.M. Kelley

The professor behind our favorite twitter profile

ANAHZSA JONES MANAGING Editor

Dr. Blair L.M. Kelley is arguably one of the most wellknown African American figures at NC State, with over 26 thousand followers on Twitter and dozens of articles published in online and print publication.

On campus, Kelley’s role seems just as widespread as her online presence. She’s an associate professor of history and assistant dean for interdisciplinary studies and international programs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her role as dean puts her in charge of many things, including interdisciplinary majors, college funding for study abroad programs, and developing new programs to aid study abroad.

One of these programs is Travel Scholars, a program created to assist underrepresented students who want to study abroad. Kelley, who represents CHASS in an international operations council, began the program after the study abroad office presented to the council saying they wanted more underrepresented students to go abroad .

“I know the particular challenges that underrepresented and first generation students face in understanding what they should do when they get to college,” Kelley said. “I remember I did not go abroad during undergrad because I was afraid it wouldn’t work, I was afraid it would slow me down in my progress toward graduation. I was afraid it would be too expensive.”

She took those fears and the experiences of her students and decided to do some research. There were the obvious things, like increasing cultural competency, but Kelley found unexpected benefits to study abroad.

“When I looked at the literature around study abroad, I saw that it was incredibly impactful for students. It makes a difference in the success that they have when they return to campus, how driven they are within their majors and extracurricular activities. It increases their retention. It raises GPAs. It basically gives students better outcomes, because they see why,” she said.

With a grant won from the NC State Foundation, Kelley began the Travel Scholars program. Eight recipients are awarded grants of up to $2,500 and sessions are hosted on campus where underrepresented students can share their experiences to encourage others to apply.

Since the project’s conception, Kelley says the program has been a success. “We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of underrepresented students and first generation students who have won not only Travel Scholars funding, but also university study abroad funding. They’re coming

out on top of the total population.

“I’m very proud, as an administrator, to be a part of those programs,” she continued. She was inspired to pursue administration during her undergrad career at the University of Virginia by her advisor, who was also a dean and an african historian.

“It was sort of like the intersection of what he did. I thought, ‘wow, he can take from all those spaces and make a difference structurally for my university.’ I think having him as a model always made me want to be all those things,” she said.

After graduating with a B.A. in history and African American Studies, Kelley earned her

M.A. and Ph.D. in History, and graduate certificates in African and African American Studies and Women’s Studies at Duke University. Her teaching career began at NC State where she taught African American history at night, and still teaches today.

Kelley is also a wife and mother of two. She found out she was expecting in her first year working at NC State, and experienced some push back from those around her. “There is no good time for women to have kids in academia,” Kelly said. “You should do it when it’s right for you, and you just embrace the challenges that come with it.”

Those challenges have only made her enjoy her job even more, because they allow her to be someone her children and students can see as an example. “I get to be a model for what we should want all women to be; to have access to whatever makes them happy and whatever they can achieve,” she said.

While she loves being a mother and an administrator,

Kelley’s first allegiance was to history. Her favorite historical approach is to look for the messy, not only because it makes for a more interesting story, but because ours is a complicated history. “For me if we don’t understand our history in it’s complexity, in its messiness, we fail ourselves,” Kelley said.

One example she gave of the dangers of “cleaning up” history is the notorious simplification of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. “It’s just one example of what happens when we don’t know our history that well,” she said. “Society sort of paints onto our past what it desires for us to know now.”

One of the biggest things that sets Kelley apart from her colleagues is her vast social media presence. Kelley said she was a relatively early adapter to what she calls “academic Twitter.” In the beginning, she got a lot of pushback from people saying she was wasting time. “But for me, I thought, well isn’t it important to engage the public where they are?” she said.

“I enjoyed really having a voice and really providing some historical perspective of what’s happening in pop culture and politics and what’s happening today,” she continued. “Real historians and academic historians, we tell stories about our past. We try to elucidate meaning from them. That’s what I do, I try to tell a good story.”

“ For me if we don’t understand our history in it’s complexity, in its messiness, we fail ourselves. ”

“ Society sort of paints onto our past what it desires for us to know now. ”

“ Real historians and academic historians, we tell stories about our past. We try to elucidate meaning from them. That’s what I do, I try to tell a good story. ”

Photo courtesy of the ncsu history department