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LEAP Session: Mindfulness and Health in Black Family Settings

Join Dr. Kesha Morant-Williams present the value of mindfulness and health in black family settings.

Friday, December 2nd, 2022

12:00pm-1:30pm

via Zoom

About this event

Dr. Kesha Morant Williams is the Senior Advisor for College Diversity Equity and Belonging at Elizabethtown College. In alignment with the Office of Diversity, Equity Belonging, she oversees Elizabethtown College’s diversity, equity, and belonging efforts and goals.

A firm believer in the power of words, Dr. Morant Williams desires to explore the impact of language and power in communication experiences. Her research interest focus on relational communication in personal and professional settings. Her professional interests include creating links between academic and more practical environments. Her relationship-centered teaching and research is recognized in higher education, community, and nationally. In 2018, she was awarded the Rex Crawley Service Award at the National Communication Association Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2022, she received a Presidential Citation for her work with the Western States Communication Association.

Her research has been published in peer review journals, including Journal of Health Communication, Journal of Medical Humanities, Journal of Black Studies, Howard Journal of Communications, Journal of Media and Religion, Journal of Communication & Religion, Sexuality, and Culture, Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric and the books Inter/Cultural Communication: Representation and construction of culture in everyday interaction and Race, Gender & Identity. She is the editor of Reifying Women’s Experiences with Invisible Illness and Contemporary Christian Culture: Messages, Missions & Dilemmas. In collaboration with Advantage Lancaster, she is the author of The Color of STEM, a magazine highlighting Black and Brown women from Lancaster PA interested in STEM disciplines. Currently, she is writing a single-authored book that blends the practical and the analytic, offering an autoethnographic depiction of the importance of purposeful relationships and intentional communication. In 2018, she delivered a TEDx Talk on a similar topic.

Before joining Elizabethtown College, Dr. Morant Williams was an Associate Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Penn State University, Berks. In addition, she was an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Eastern University, a reporter at Lancaster Newspapers, and worked for various non-profit organizations in Lancaster, PA.

Dr. Williams earned a Ph.D. from Howard University in Communication and Culture, a master’s degree in Humanities from Penn State Harrisburg, and a baccalaureate degree in Communication Studies from West Chester University.

Espanol:

La Dra. Kesha Morant Williams es la asesora principal para la diversidad, equidad y pertenencia en Elizabethtown College. En consonancia con la Oficina de Diversidad, Equidad y Pertenencia, supervisa los esfuerzos y objetivos de diversidad, equidad y pertenencia del Elizabethtown College.

Firme creyente en el poder de las palabras, la Dra. Morant Williams desea explorar el impacto del lenguaje y el poder en las experiencias de comunicación. Sus intereses de investigación se centran en la comunicación relacional en entornos personales y profesionales. Sus intereses profesionales incluyen la creación de vínculos entre los ambientes académicos y los más prácticos. Su enseñanza e investigación centrada en las relaciones es reconocida en la educación superior, la comunidad y a nivel nacional. En 2018, fue galardonada con el Premio al Servicio Rex Crawley en la Conferencia de la Asociación Nacional de Comunicación en Salt Lake City, Utah. En 2022, recibió una Mención Presidencial por su trabajo en la Asociación de Comunicación de los Estados del Oeste.

Sus investigaciones se han publicado en revistas especializadas, como Journal of Health Communication, Journal of Medical Humanities, Journal of Black Studies, Howard Journal of Communications, Journal of Media and Religion, Journal of Communication & Religion, Sexuality, and Culture, Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric y los libros Inter/Cultural Communication: Representation and construction of culture in everyday interaction y Race, Gender & Identity. Es editora de Reifying Women’s Experiences with Invisible Illness y Contemporary Christian Culture: Messages, Missions & Dilemmas. En colaboración con Advantage Lancaster, es la autora de The Color of STEM, una revista que destaca a las mujeres negras y morenas de Lancaster PA interesadas en las disciplinas de ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas (STEM, por su sigla en inglés). Actualmente, está escribiendo un libro de autoría única que combina lo práctico y lo analítico, ofreciendo una descripción auto etnográfica de la importancia de las relaciones con propósito y la comunicación intencional. En 2018, pronunció una charla de Tecnología, entretenimiento, diseño (TEDx, por su sigla en inglés) sobre un tema similar.

Antes de incorporarse al Elizabethtown College, la Dra. Morant Williams fue profesora asociada de Artes y Ciencias de la Comunicación en la Penn State University, Berks. Además, fue profesora adjunta de estudios de comunicación en la Eastern University, reportera en Lancaster Newspapers y trabajó para varias organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro en Lancaster, PA.

La Dra. Williams obtuvo un doctorado en Comunicación y Cultura por la Universidad de Howard, un máster en Humanidades por Penn State Harrisburg y una licenciatura en Estudios de Comunicación por la Universidad de West Chester.

LEAP SESSIONS

As the Community Foundation, we know that Lancaster County is at its most extraordinary when we’re all challenging ourselves to learn, grow, and find new (or time-tested) ways to develop ways to care for our community. We are proud to leverage the extraordinary wealth of expertise, insight, and innovation to bring our community the most exciting slate of free learning sessions yet. We hope you will join us for one or all of these opportunities, and bring your questions, ideas, and hopes for taking this learning beyond the session into our shared work of building a more equitable future for our community!

MEET-UP GROUPS

The Community Foundation is committed to working with our community benefit sector to build capacity, enhance networks, and create connection! We have created a series of meet-up groups for CBO professionals to gather together, share successes, build capacity, and learn from each other. 

We have sessions for CBO development/fundraising professionals, communications/marketing CBO professionals, Executive Directors, and CBO professionals interested in exploring and deepening the work of using diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their organization’s mission.