
CURRICULUM VITAE
Education
Georgia State University (GSU), Atlanta, GA
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Past graduate student in the PhD program in Sociology, Gender and Sexuality emphasis.
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Dissertation: “Healthy Selves”: Gender Expression, Stigma and Discrimination and Its Effects on Black Transgender Women’s Mental and Sexual Health
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Master’s thesis – “Getting Freaky: Perversion & Promiscuity Within Alternative & Relationship and Sexual Modalities Among People of Color.” Committee: Wendy Simonds, PhD (Chair), Layli Phillips, PhD (Wellesley College), and Maura Ryan, PhD. Awarded August 2013.
San Francisco State University (SFSU), San Francisco, CA
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Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Minor in LGBT Studies, May 2004.
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Undergraduate Honors Thesis: “Dialectics of Desire: A Qualitative Analysis of the Educations of Black Lesbian and Bisexual Young Women.” Mentored by Jessica Fields, PhD (Sociology, SFSU), Michele Berger, PhD (Political Science & Women’s Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill) and Sacha Bunge, PhD (Psychology, SFSU).
Skills
Quantitative and Qualitative research designs including SPSS, NViVo, and Dedoose data coding, entry, and analysis; Evaluation formulation, collection, and data analysis; Ethnographic training and research; gaining access and participant recruitment; experienced in participant observation, interviewing, and conducting focus groups; APA, MLA, and ASA scientific writing; presenting research in academic and professional settings.
Awards
NIMH-Career Opportunities in Research Scholar, 2002 – 2004
Dean’s List at SFSU, 2001- 2004
Minority Undergraduate Research Assistant Program Fellow, Summer 2003
Hewlett Packard Scholarship Recipient, Fall 1998
Professional and Academic Affiliations
Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Member
Sexual Liberation Collective
American Sociological Association Member
Southern Sociological Society Member
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Member
Past Co-President of GSU BlackOUT, a Queer Africana Activist Organization
Past Member of Students Promoting Education, Activism, and Knowledge (SPEAK), a WSI Activist Organization
Sociology Graduate Student Association
Board Appointments
Board Treasurer, SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW!, 2014 - present
Community Advisory Board, Diversified Sexuality, Research, and Education Institute, 2018 - present
Board Secretary, Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, 2015 - 2018
Employment
Lecturer, Women’s & Gender Studies & Sociology at Clayton State University, Fall 2015 – present
Adjunct Faculty at Brown Mackie College, May 2015 – July 2015
Graduate Research Assistant for GSU’s School of Public Health, Fall 2011 – Spring 2015
Independent Contractual Transcriber for GSU’s Institute of Public Health, Fall 2009-Summer 2010
Student-Athlete tutor in GSU’s Athletic Department, Fall 2005-Fall 2007
Volunteer Student Research Assistant, Dr. Jessica Fields, SFSU, Fall 2003-Spring 2004.
Volunteer for the Sexual Minorities Alliance of Alameda County, Nov. 2002-May 2003.
Student Research Assistant, Dr. Jessica Fields, SFSU, Spring 2002.
Guest Lectures
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Monique Walker's Sexuality: Issues in Family Therapy and Service Delivery Course/University of Maryland (July 2019)
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Ericka Hart’s Master’s of Social Work class/Columbia University (April 2018)
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Dr. Tiffany King’s Gender & Sexuality in the African Diaspora class/Women’s Studies Institute, Georgia State University (March 2014)
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Dr. Elroi Windsor’s Gender & Society class/Sociology, Georgia State University (February 2010/2009)
Published Articles
Hargons, C.N., Thorpe, S., Malone, N., Wright, C.J., Dogan, J.N., Mizelle, D.L., Stuck, J.L., Sullivan, Q., Sanchez, A., Bohmer, C., Stage, M., Bruther, K., Vigil, K., Cineas, M., & Gilbert, T. Black people's constructions of good sex: Describing good sex from the margins. Sexualities.
Phillips, Layli & Marla R. Stewart. (2010). “Nontraditional, Nonconforming, and Transgressive Gender Expression and Relationship Modalities in Black Communities.” Black Sexualities: Probing Powers, Passions, Practices, and Policies (Collective Work), edited by Sandra Barnes & Juan Battle, Rutgers University Press.
Phillips, Layli & Marla R. Stewart. (2008). “’I Am Just So Glad You Are Alive’: New Perspectives on Non-traditional, Non-conforming, and Transgressive Expressions of Gender, Sexuality, and Race among African Americans.” Journal of African American Studies, 12, 4, 378-400.
Stewart, Marla (2008). “To Be Young, Pretty & Queer.” Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities (Collective Work), edited by Del LaGrace Volcano & Ulrika Dahl, Serpent’s Tail, London, England.
Academic Conference Presentations
Being Black, Poly, & Kinky: Navigating Power, Equity, & Anarchy in Alternative Relationship Modalities (July 2017). Presented at Poly Dallas Millennium Conference, Dallas, TX.
Teaching Pleasure: Embracing Comfort When Teaching About Sex (July 2016). Presented at the University of Guelph Sexuality Conference, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Perverts of Color: Black Kinky Lesbians & the Discernment of Identity (April 2014). Presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, Chicago, IL.
Perverts of Color versus Promiscuity: Alternative Sexual Communities Navigating the Phenomenologies of Power (April 2014). Presented at the Southern Sociological Society, Charlotte, NC.
"Getting Freaky": Perversion & Promiscuity Within Alternative Relationship & Sexual Modalities Among People of Color (March 2014). Presented at the Whose Beloved Community? Conference, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
Sexual Liberation at the Intersections (February 2014). Presented at the Creating Change Conference, Houston, TX.
Transgressive Gender & Sexuality Expressions in Black Communities (February 2007). Presented at the Thinking Gender Conference, University of California – Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Probing the W(hole): Transfags Negotiations of Their Sexuality (April 2006). Presented at the Youth and Sexuality Forum, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
Subverting Femme Identity: Corruption in Queer Thinking (March 2006). Presented at the Toni Cade Bambara Scholar-Activism Conference at Spelman College, Atlanta, GA.
Mediating our Black Queer Masculinites: An Analysis of Women and Transgendered Identities (April 2005). Presented at the Southern Sociological Society Conference, Charlotte, NC.
Three Different Lesbians, One Gender: Ways to Deconstruct Gender (April 2005). Presented at a Roundtable discussion at the Southern Sociological Society Conference, Charlotte, NC.
Lesbians and Influences of Hip-Hop (April 2005). Presented as a Panel Discussant at the Hip Hop Movement Conference at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ.
Freeing Gender: Interrogating the Bipolarity in Femininity and Masculinity in Queer Identities (March 2005). Presented at the National Council for Black Studies Conference on the Queer Africana Panel, New Orleans, LA.
Renegotiating our Queer Black Masculinities (February 2005). Presented at the Black Masculinities Conference at The City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, NY.
Mental and Sexual Health Attitudes Reflected in the Sexuality Education of Black Lesbian and Bisexual Young Women (November 2003). Presented at the NIMH-Career Opportunities in Research Psychology Conference, Bethesda, MD.
An Exploration of Black Young Women’s Sexuality (August 2003). Presented at the American Sociological Association Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Dialectics of Desire: A Qualitative Analysis of the Educations of Black Lesbian and Bisexual Young Women (July 2003). Presented at the Summer Program for the Graduate Research Experience Poster Session, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, NC.
Dialectics of Desire: A Qualitative Analysis of the Educations of Black Lesbian and Bisexual Young Women (July 2003). Presented at the Minority Undergraduate Research Assistant Program Session, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, NC.
Black Young Women’s Experiences of Sexuality Education (May 2003). Presented at the SFSU Colloquium for Career Opportunities in Research, SFSU, CA.
The Relevancy of Sex Education among Black Lesbian and Bisexual Young Women (May 2003). Presented at the Psychology Honor’s Colloquium, SFSU, CA.
An Exploration of Black Young Women’s Sexuality (April 2003). Competed at the CSU Social Science Research and Instructional Council 27th Annual Student Conference, SFSU, CA.