Civil Rights

Terri Dickerson

Paul Snodgrass — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 01:41:01 +0000

Terri Dickerson Paul Snodgrass Fri, 06/24/2022 - 21:41

Adjunct Faculty
Civil Rights Director for the U.S. Coast Guard

Contact Information

Biography

Dr. Terri A. Dickerson is an adjunct faculty member at ��ӽ紫ý’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, one of the nation’s few schools dedicated to social justice and peace. Her research focus is untold, lost, distorted and co-opted stories of marginalized individuals and communities. Dr. Dickerson is also Civil Rights Director for the U.S. Coast Guard. Previously she was Assistant Staff Director for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where she led investigations and produced reports to Congress and the American public on issues across the civil rights spectrum including voting, equality in education, access to health care, and equal employment. Prior to that, she was Associate Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration where she worked on enterprise development for minoritized individuals. She began her career in the private, non-profit sector, eventually becoming Executive Director of American Women in Radio and Television and its 501(c)(3) Foundation. She also was diversity director for a newspaper association foundation. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, she is among students who were the first to integrate New Orleans Catholic schools.

Honors and Awards

NAACP Benjamin L. Hooks Distinguished Service Award, 2014

U. S. Government Senior Executive Service (SES) Presidential Rank Award, honors the top 5% of senior Federal employees for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment,” 2009

Provost’s Award, ��ӽ紫ý, 2018

James H. Laue Award, ��ӽ紫ý, School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, 2015

Alumni Award, ��ӽ紫ý, for academic achievement, community service, 2015

Affiliations

Member of the government Senior Executive Service.

Member, Senior Executive Service Qualifications Review Board, U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Member, Security Appeals Board, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Member, Board of Advisors, Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Patrick AFB, FL.

Member, Board of Trustees, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 2007-2014

Member, Board of Directors, University of Virginia, Walter M. Ridley Scholarship Fund, 2004-2005

Presentations and Performances

September 2021 – Graduation Speaker for Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

September 2020 – Assn. for the Study of African American Life and History, Annual Conference Speaker

July 2020 - Federally Employed Women National Training Conference Speaker

January 2020 – Naval Surface Warfare Center, MLK Day Speaker, Philadelphia PA

March 2020 – Defense Logistics Agency, Women’s History Month Speaker, Richmond VA

August 2019 Blacks in Government National Training Conference Speaker, Dallas TX

2020 - Defense Equal Opportunity Mgt. Institute, Patrick AFB, FL, Senior EEO Advanced Course

December 2017 – Graduation Speaker, ��ӽ紫ý, Eagle Bank Arena, Fairfax VA

Dr. Dickerson has testified before the U.S. Congress, House Sub-Committee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Publications

50 Activities for Managing Cultural Diversity, HRD Press, 1993. (Same book re-printed as Activities for Diversity Training.)

Dr. Dickerson has written articles for industry and national publications including The Washington Post, USA-TODAY, and The Ladies' Home Journal. Her book on diversity training (1993) was a bestseller for its publisher. She has been responsible for researching and publishing many reports that bear the U.S. Government seal.

Degrees

PhD, Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��ӽ紫ý

MA, Government, Johns Hopkins University

BS, Education and Human Development, University of Virginia

Message for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Stacey Schwartz — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:57:39 +0000

Message for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Stacey Schwartz Fri, 01/15/2021 - 11:57

On January 16, 2023, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a national holiday. Some will dedicate this day to service, others to reflection and remembrance.

Our country is experiencing divisions today that clearly tell us that Dr. King’s work remains unfinished. However you choose to mark this occasion in honor of a great American, let it be a foundation for building a more perfect union – one that recognizes the humanity in all of us; one that seeks justice and pursues equality by peaceful means; one that allows each of us to live without fear, without prejudice, free to become all that we can be without the visible and invisible barriers of racism, poverty, intolerance, and ignorance.

Dr. King dreamt of such a union, and accomplished so much in his tragically shortened lifetime toward making that dream a reality. As artists, teachers, and students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, let us take a moment – many moments – on this day to remember and reflect, and then lift our artistic voices in service of Dr. King’s dream, even though at times the task seems daunting.

Let us remember the words of the great American writer Toni Morrison, who in 2015 issued this inspiring call to action:

"This is the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal."

"I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art."

One way to think about art is that, across all of our forms and disciplines, and across time and space, art distills meaning from chaos. If we’re open to Morrison’s instruction here, we can find new (and vital) meaning and purpose for our work in this moment. We often say that the arts create community; on this day, let us take a good look at whatever communities we are part of, and think about how our art might begin to re-create them in honor of the life we celebrate today.

-- Rick Davis, Dean

(Editors note: This piece was originally published on January 18, 2021. The post has been updated to reflect a new year.)

Get involved in Mason's MLK Day events

_{Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington.}

_{Photo credit: National Park Service}

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Rick Davis

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Podcast - The U.S.’s approach to immigration is like ‘policy formaldehyde’

Charles Andrew Nicholson — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 12:48:14 +0000

Podcast - The U.S.’s approach to immigration is like ‘policy formaldehyde’ Charles Andrew… Fri, 10/16/2020 - 08:48

Mason's Justin Gest, an expert on immigration and the politics of demographic change, explains why the U.S., from the outside looking in, appears to be a "closed angry giant."

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Access to Excellence podcast

Podcast - Is the U.S. experiencing a third Reconstruction?

Charles Andrew Nicholson — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 20:25:45 +0000

Podcast - Is the U.S. experiencing a third Reconstruction? Charles Andrew… Thu, 10/15/2020 - 16:25

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Charles Chavis

In a conversation with John Hollis, Mason's Charles Chavis, a historian of the early civil right movement, puts the current protests for racial justice in historical context.

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Alumna who sparked hit “Serial” podcast helps others understand the criminal justice system

Damian Cristodero — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 09:30:00 +0000

Alumna who sparked hit “Serial” podcast helps others understand the criminal justice system Damian Cristodero Tue, 06/25/2019 - 05:30

Millions of people were captivated by the murder mystery case involving Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee, after ��ӽ紫ý law school alumna Rabia Chaudry took the case to NPR and the hit podcast “Serial” was born.

Syed, who was convicted of murdering his high school ex-girlfriend, Lee, was sentenced to life in prison. But Chaudry, a family friend of Syed and attorney who got her start at Mason, has been advocating for his innocence for two decades. In March, she brought the story back to the national stage in HBO’s new documentary series, “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” where Chaudry is an executive producer and appears in the show.

She credits her time at Mason, particularly her first-year constitutional law class, for helping cultivate her strategic thinking.

Rabia Chaudry
Photo by: Ayesha Ahmed

“[My professor] employed the Socratic method, and he taught me to think differently,” said Chaudry, who was originally a pre-med student but switched to law after taking a stab at the LSAT and scoring in one of the highest percentiles.

“When you come from a science background, it’s mostly rote memorization,” Chaudry said. “With the Socratic method, it’s not just an answer you’ve memorized—you have to really think about what’s at the foundation of that answer, [and analyze] how can two people look at the same set of facts and come away with different conclusions?”

The Socratic method, along with in-class assessments, simulations, and field experiences, helps students learn to think like lawyers, analyzing problems so they can present their clients with thoughtful solutions, said Victoria Huber, the Scalia Law School’s associate dean for professional development who also taught Chaudry.

At Mason, graduates receive additional training, such as double the amount of legal research and analysis courses as compared to most other law schools, Huber said. “Those rigorous courses mixed with our tradition of students working in the field over multiple semesters really makes our law graduates ready to distinguish themselves in their fields of choice.”

During Chaudry’s time at Mason, she also took advantage of professional development opportunities in the Washington, D.C., area with an internship at a local immigration firm.

“I worked for the first year on only asylum cases and appeal work, and I loved it,” she said.

After graduating in 2000, Chaudry practiced immigration and civil rights law for more than a decade. Last year, she further helped her local community by doing legal asylum work, and she has been actively involved in interfaith work.

“My work seems really diverse, when people look at it on paper, but it’s not really,” Chaudry said. “Immigration, national security, and criminal justice are all intimately intersectional."

Civil Rights

Terri Dickerson

Contact Information

Biography

Honors and Awards

Affiliations

Presentations and Performances

Publications

Degrees

Message for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Get involved in Mason's MLK Day events

In This Story

Topics

Podcast - The U.S.’s approach to immigration is like ‘policy formaldehyde’

Topics

Podcast - Is the U.S. experiencing a third Reconstruction?

In This Story

Topics

Alumna who sparked hit “Serial” podcast helps others understand the criminal justice system

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