Kimberly Akano is a Ph.D. student in Religion and a University Administrative Fellow with GradFutures. Using ethnographic and historical methods, Kimberly examines how the increasing presence of African immigrants in the United States transforms contemporary conceptualizations of Black religious identities. In particular, Kimberly considers how…

"I have come to see that there is no single path to academic career development -- skills learned outside the academy can be of great use in one's academic work, and the methodologies we employ as Ph.D. students can similarly help in a variety of careers beyond the academy."

Hellen Wainaina (she/her) is a PhD student in the English department and a scholar in the Graduate Scholars Program through the Access, Diversity & Inclusion Office. In her research and writing, Hellen is interested in postcolonial narratology, black aesthetics, and critical resistance to reductive readings of postcolonial literature,…