2025 Black History Month Lecture with Joy Gaston Gayles

How has the leadership of Black women impacted society, the academy and themselves?

Join us for the 2025 Black History Month Keynote Lecture, "This Little Light of Mine: A Love Letter to Leaders Inspired by Black Women Leaders," in which Joy Gaston Gayles examines the perseverance of Black women leaders and maps the impact of Black women’s contributions to the academy and society. Inspired by Black women’s light, resistance, and unwavering commitment to justice, Gayles’ “Love Letter” will challenge us to rethink leadership and the lessons we can learn from leading with humanizing values.

Speaker Bio:

Joy Gaston Gayles is head of the Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development Department and Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professor in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. Gayles is internationally recognized for her research and scholarship on women and people of color in STEM fields and her work in intercollegiate athletics. Issues of equity, inclusion, and justice undergird the collective body of her work. Gayles is a primary thought leader in her field. In 2022, she was named one of 25 innovative women leading higher education in DIVERSE: Issues in Higher Education magazine. She served as the 2022 President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the primary association for studying post-secondary education issues. Her presidential address, Humanizing Higher Education: A Path Forward During Uncertain Times, is published in the Review of Higher Education. 

This event is sponsored by the School of Social Transformation's program in African and African American Studies, the Social Transformation Lab and the Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology.

This event will be held in person and online. Register today! If attending via Zoom, a link will be sent via email several days prior to the event.