Stay Connected
Stay updated with CBV news, updates, and new project launches.
Interested in connecting with the Centering Black Voices team? Learn more about how to engage with us and our lab members.
There are various ways that you can stay connected with the CBV lab! Joining our email list is s great start to staying on top of CBV news, media, and updates.
For more information or to get involved contact:
Dr. Jocelyn R. Smith Lee
CBV Director
Assistant Professor
Human Development and Family Studies
UNCG Greensboro
Email: jrsmithl@uncg.edu
Office: 336-256-1388
Get to know the Centering Black Voice’s current lab members!
Ireti Adegbesan is a first year doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Studies program at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro.
Youselene Beauplan is a second-year M.S./PhD student and Research Assistant in the Centering Black Voices Lab at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Indya Walker is a graduate student in the Human Development and Family Studies M.S./Ph.D program at The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG).
Miaya Johnson is a Senior majoring in the Human Development and Family Studies program at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro.
Syeedah Humphrey is a Senior majoring in Human Development and Family Studies at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Stay updated with CBV news, updates, and new project launches.
Ireti Adegbesan is a first year doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Studies program at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro. Ireti recently received her masters from the same program this past May 2021. Ireti is a mixed method scholar with an emphasis on understanding both centering narratives and studying the context of things such as the bodily autonomy centered around marginalized and minoritized people.
She is the current co-lab manager of Centering Black Voices (CBV) Lab and is especially connected to our projects centered around grief and loss. She is professionally interested in the social and emotional impact of grief and loss due to homicide and how stakeholders can come together to make a difference by bringing both awareness and change through action. She is personally connected to the topic due to her personal connection with losing loved ones to homicide.
Youselene Beauplan is a second-year M.S./PhD student and Research Assistant in the Centering Black Voices Lab at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Before joining UNC-Greensboro, she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Florida, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences. Her research interests consider how masculinity and societal expectations impact emotion socialization and emotion coping/processing of Black adolescents and emerging adults. Additionally, she is interested in the positive development of Black families and developing trauma-informed practices to promote positive youth development.
Youselene is personally connected and invested in the lab’s mission to “affirm humanity, prevent violence, and promote healing” via community-engaged research. Through her training in the lab, she is working towards becoming a culturally informed scholar and practitioner. She hopes to develop programs and interventions to promote social and emotional competencies for Black boys, men, and families.
Indya Walker is a graduate student in the Human Development and Family Studies M.S./Ph.D program at The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). She is a UNCG alumna and received her Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies. Her research and professional goals are informed by her experience working in the nonprofit sector as a coordinator for a mentorship program providing wraparound services for youth and families. With a passion for resilience in African American males and families, Indya seeks to learn more about contributing factors of resilience to assist communities and organizations in developing programs and practices that foster resilience.
She is currently the co-lab manager for the Centering Black Voices Lab and is utilizing research data to build a scholarship on community violence and resilience in Black males and families. The community-engaged focus of the lab’s research projects inspires Indya’s approach to research.
Miaya Johnson is a Senior majoring in the Human Development and Family Studies program at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. She is interested in studying the connections between family involvement and education, particularly among underrepresented communities. Additionally, Miaya seeks to explore how a child’s racial and ethnic socialization influences their outcome of educational achievement.
She is currently an undergraduate research assistant interning for the Centering Black Voices (CBV) Lab, in the hopes to learn more about the root causes of violence and social inequity among Black youth and families. With Miaya being closely connected to CBV’s project centered around the resilience of Black boys and men exposed to violence, it is in her goal to advocate for local resources promoting racial healing. Also through this goal, she plans to obtain her Masters in School Counseling and continue her passion in guiding students in the path of success.
Cia Elder is a second-year M.S./Ph.D student in the Human Development and Family Studies program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Prior to UNCG, Cia graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Child Development and Psychology at Central Michigan University. Her research interests focus on positive youth development, programmatic evaluation, mentorship, advocacy rights for youth and community-engaged work. In connection with the lab,
Cia enjoys the interpersonal connections with the participants and the contributions made to the communities in Greensboro and Baltimore. In relation to her love for advocacy, Cia appreciates the Centering Black Voices lab’s intentional care on breaking down the stigma and recognizing the humanity of Black men, boys and families.
Syeedah Humphrey is a Senior majoring in Human Development and Family Studies at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is also an undergraduate research assistant interning with Centering Black Voices with hopes of broadening her scope by obtaining an intersectional lens researching young black men and the technological methods of communication used to spread awareness and promote healing.
With hopes of spreading awareness and a love for new age technology she is involved in social media aspects of the lab to reach greater audiences. Promotion of healing by way of different methods is what she hopes to carry with her after her time here as she plans to pursue a career in medicine.
