UMass Boston

Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Imari Paris Jeffries, PHD
President and CEO of Embrace Boston, member of UMass Boston Board of Trustees

Imari K. Paris Jeffries, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of Embrace Boston, where he is leading a citywide racial equity transformation through The Embrace monument, the Embrace Center, and ongoing community organizing efforts. Imari brings a wealth of experience from the nonprofit management, racial equity, community activism, education reform, and social justice sectors and has served in executive roles at Parenting Journey, Jumpstart, Boston Rising, and Friends of The Children. He currently serves as a Trustee of the UMass System, UMass Global, Mass Humanities, Boston Ballet, the Huntington Theatre, GBH Advisory Board and former Governor Baker's Black Advisory Commission.

Panelists

Catherine T. Morris, MS
Founding artistic director of Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Festival

Catherine Morris is Founder & Executive Artistic Director, Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Fest and Director, Arts & Creativity, The Boston Foundation. At the Boston Foundation, Ms. Morris she leads strategic thinking, evaluation and implementation around grantmaking and the ways in which Foundation can best serve artists, communities and arts-supporters-at-large. BAMS Fest is a nonprofit organization that has built a cultural movement of breaking down racial and social barriers to arts, music and culture for communities and artists of color across Greater Boston and beyond. Catherine is a proud alumna of Temple University School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management in Philadelphia, PA, and has received her Masters of Science from Simmons College (Boston, MA).

Wil Jones
Cofounder of Ground3D, Urban Planner, Technologist, and Designer

Wil Jones is an urban planner, technologist, and designer working at the intersection of community data, climate resilience, and digital infrastructure. A graduate of MIT’s Master in City Planning program, Wil brings experience from The Rockefeller Foundation and 100 Resilient Cities, where they supported place-based investment strategies and resilience planning in frontline communities. Wil is now the Co-Founder and leader of Ground3d, a nonprofit community planning practice that partners with neighborhoods, community-based organizations, and city agencies to co-design tools and strategies for confronting socio-environmental challenges through participatory data collection and spatial storytelling. Wil also leads Cloudburst Collective, a civic-tech venture that crowdsources flood imagery and local observations to close critical urban data gaps.

Jazzmyn RED
Artist, educator, DEIB leader and U.S. Ambassador of Hip-Hop and Cultural Exchange

Jazzmyn RED is an award-winning artist, educator, and DEIB leader whose work sits at the intersection of cultural expression, social justice, and educational transformation. A fierce advocate for youth voice and equity in education, she currently serves as a U.S. Hip Hop and Cultural Exchange Ambassador through the U.S. State Department’s Next Level Program, where she has taught and performed globally—including at Expo Dubai 2020 and Berklee Abu Dhabi. Jazzmyn is the creator of The Hip Hop Experience, an acclaimed workshop series examining the relationship between Black music, social justice movements, and identity development— hosted internationally and at institutions like Harvard University and Berklee College of Music. Her pedagogy blends music, storytelling, and SEL-informed practice to create transformative experiences in classrooms and community spaces.

Nicholas Johnson
Founder of Culturally Rooted Reformations

Nicholas Johnson is a restorative justice practitioner and an end-of-life doula, dedicated to creating spaces for healing, remembrance, and transformation. Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he is a doctoral candidate in Global Inclusion and Social Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His current research focuses on reparative justice, political ecology, and community-led environmental restoration in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Nicholas is also the founder of Culturally Rooted Reformations, a reparative justice–based organization that partners with communities to advance collective rights, environmental justice, and self-determination.

Moderator

Keyana Parks, PHD
Assistant professor, Department of English, Vice President of Black Faculty & Staff Association, University of Massachusetts Boston

Keyana Parks is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Boston and serves as the Vice President of the university’s Black Faculty and Staff Association. Her academic focus lies in 20th- and 21st-century African American literature and culture, with expertise in satire and humor studies and Black feminist theory and writing. Dr. Parks’ research explores the intersection of Black feminist theory, post–Civil Rights era Black women's writing, and contemporary satire. She is currently working on a book manuscript titled The Real Absurd: Black Women Writers and the Satiric Mode. This project examines how Black women writers have utilized a satiric mode of critique to address the complex and often absurd realities of their experiences, particularly concerning issues of race, gender, sexuality, mobility, representation, and Black American life.

Performers

Deleyah Creese
Dramatic Reading

Katty Jimenez
Vocalist, UMass Boston Jazz Trio

Angel Yepes-Henao
Piano, UMass Boston Jazz Trio

Ash O'Brien
Bass, UMass Boston Jazz Trio

Jock Cable
Drums, UMass Boston Jazz Trio

The Spirituals Ensemble
Boston Arts Academy

Michael W. Bradley
Conductor of The Spirituals Ensemble

Event Planners

• Rebecca Francois
• Imen Ameur
• Jakobe Baertaki, Pace Intern

Organizing Committee

• Chiquita Baylor
• Marvendy Brutus
• Jordan Cherry
• Joseph Cooper
• Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson
• Calvin Hill
• Keyshawn Jeannot
• Melissa Talal
• Jade Vanatta
• Arlene Wilhite

Campus & Community Partners

• Boston Ujima Project
• Office of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging
• William Monroe Trotter Institute
• Toussaint L'Overture Community Center
• National Forum for Black Administrators
• Black Faculty & Staff Association

Community Artists

• Tori Delvalle
• Camille A. Maxwell
• Nazaréa Jean
• Exavier Jean
• Charlot Lucien

Volunteers

• Simone De Lemos
• Samantha Erskine
• Allyson Gormley
• Teri Grayson
• Porsha Haygood
• Baboucar Jatta
• Kurt Klopmeier
• Christa Kelleher
• Andrea Smaedo Varela
• Matteo Totime
• Arlene Wilhite
• Felicia Bond

Sponsors

• Office of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging
• College of Education and Human Development
• Africana Studies Department
• Black Faculty & Staff Association
• Quinn Graphics

UMass Boston Staff & Leadership

• Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco
• Provost Joseph Berger
• Catherine Bates, Budget and Reporting Analyst, Office of the Provost
• Marie Bowen, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources
• Calvin Hill, Vice Chancellor, Inclusive Excellence and Belonging
• Roseanne Coveney, Senior Graphic Designer, Division of Marketing & Engagement
• Peter T. Kelley, Chief of Staff, Office of the Chancellor
• Mary Flaherty, Manager of Campus Dining Services
• Kahrim Wade, Executive Director, Print & Distribution Services
• Chanel Fields, Program Coordinator, Manning College of Nursing & Health Sciences