Cindy Jones is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Instructional Leadership/Social and Cultural Studies program in the College of Education at the University of Alabama. She received her M.A. degree from ODU in 2001.
Have you worked as a teacher?
Yes. I taught for five and a half years as an Adjunct Instructor for ODU's History Department from January 2001 til the summer of 2006. I also taught for six years as an Adjunct Instructor at The University of Alabama. I taught a summer course entitled "African American Lives" for both the American Studies and African American Studies Departments during the summer of 2009. I later went on to teach survey level history courses for the History Department at The University of Alabama from 2010 til the fall of 2015 when I embarked upon my doctoral studies in the College of Education at The University of Alabama.
What do you like about teaching?
I love witnessing the transformative power of instruction. When a student admits to me, by semester's end, that they now see others in a new way . . . That admission is so rewarding! I've had students expand their thinking and understanding within a semester's time. I've also had students want to change their majors to history or tell me that the way I taught made them like history. As an African American woman in predominantly white university settings, I also realize that I teach with my life. I occupy the space and place that was once denied to me as both a woman and an African American.
What were some of your favorite courses in your Instructional Leadership program in the College of Education at The University of Alabama?
As a social and cultural historian, I would have to say that my Studies in Higher Education History was one of my favorite courses. Although my terminal degree is in Education, I naturally gravitate toward history courses. My Qualitative Research III course was also one of my favorites. The course reminded us that we are all on a journey of becoming and that we can never reach the pinnacle of knowing but that life is a journey of knowing and becoming. My qualitative research courses also spoke to the type of scholar I am as opposed to being a scholar that utilizes numbers in a more quantitative fashion.
What kind of questions and problems interest you in your dissertation?
I'm interested in notions of space and place for African American female students at predominantly white universities in the Deep South. This interest runs parallel to my experiences as a student at The University of Alabama during my undergraduate tenures as well as my doctoral studies. The first black female student at The University of Alabama was Autherine Lucy. She made a failed attempt to desegregate the campus in 1956. The next black female student, Vivian Malone, (along with James Hood) successfully integrated the campus in 1963. My research questions will focus around those two years. I hope to ask, from an instrumental case study perspective, how the years 1956 and 1963 can inform present-day discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion at PWIs (predominantly white institutions) in the Deep South? {with particular regard to The University of Alabama}
Does the study of history still inform some of your interest in your field?
Definitely! My dissertation will be historical in nature. It will focus on Autherine Lucy and Vivian Malone - the first two female black students at The University of Alabama. Without their bravery, I would not have been accepted or have been able to matriculate on this campus as an undergraduate, an Adjunct Instructor, or doctoral student. As a black woman on this campus, I'm indebted to these two women.
All of the members of my dissertation committee are historians within the College of Education and/or have historical/social sciences interests. The member of my committee who is outside of the College of Education is a historian teaching within the Gender and Race Studies Department.
Is ODU soon likely to beat the University of Alabama in football?
I'll leave that question unanswered . . . Go Monarchs and Roll Tide J