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DIVAS-Distinguished, Intellectual, Virtuous, Academic, Sistas

DIVAS empowers women of color through scholarship and community engagement, bridging academic research with social justice. They challenge inequities and promote inclusive educational systems, fostering collective uplift and responsibility within marginalized communities.

Get ready for the ultimate gathering of fierce and empowered individuals at the DIVAS Conference, where we speak truth to power! The DIVAS (Distinguished, Intellectual, Virtuous, Academic, Sistas) have officially opened the Call for Proposals for the 2026 DIVAS Conference. This year&rsquo;s conference theme is &ldquo;The Work In and Beyond the Academy: Bridging Scholarship and Society&rdquo;.&nbsp;Our keynote speaker is Dr. <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.drbentleyedwards.com/" id="isPasted" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Keisha Bentley-Edwards</a>, Associate Professor of General Internal Medicine and Associate Director of Research at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. As people of color, we draw strength from the wisdom of our ancestors who emphasized the importance of collective uplift and responsibility to our communities (Dillard, 2022; Dillard, 2019; Ani, 1997). This commitment is reflected in our engagement with this year&rsquo;s conference theme,&nbsp;&ldquo;The Work In and Beyond the Academy: Bridging Scholarship and Society,&rdquo; which calls for scholarship that is both intellectually rigorous and socially responsive. Our work extends beyond academic spaces, connecting research to the lived experiences of marginalized communities and addressing pressing social inequities. In doing so, we engage in critical conversations that challenge cultural and racial biases while interrogating the power dynamics and privileges embedded in curriculum, teaching practices, educational policies, and institutional structures. By positioning scholarship as a tool for transformation, this work contributes to building more just and inclusive educational systems that are accountable to the communities they impact.

DIVAS-Distinguished, Intellectual, Virtuous, Academic, Sistas

Past events

Past events

2026 Conference “The Work In and Beyond the Academy: Bridging Scholarship and Society”

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