Season 5, episode 2// Creating Zion: Building a More Inclusive University of Mississippi and Broader Community

What this episode covers

Listen this week as Jaime interviews Dr. Ethel Scurlock, Interim Dean of the Sally Barksdale Honors College, Senior Fellow of the Luckyday Residential College, Associate Professor of English and African-American Studies, and Chair of African-American Studies, all at the University of Mississippi, in addition to being the associate pastor of two churches, at Alvis Grove Baptist Church in Oakland and First United Baptist in Batesville. Scurlock shares how her experiences with college mentors were so profound that their encouragement changed the trajectory of her career when she decided to switch from being a Public Relations major to English because she enjoyed analyzing Chaucer's works and her Chaucer professor told her that "nobody enjoys Chaucer unless they're an English major." She and Jaime share the lasting impact it had on them to have professors encourage them to apply to graduate school. They both remind professors to reach out to students and let them know you see potential in them because you never know how it could change someone's life. Tune in to hear more about how African-American literature, like James Baldwin's play, The Amen Corner, inspired Scurlock to help build a more inclusive world both at the University and in the broader community, with one example of her feminist world-building includes her preaching at not one, but two, black Baptist churches in the South.

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