When Ph.D. student Sarah Peko-Spicer came to Northwestern in 2015, she worried about finding community as one of two Black graduate students in the statistics department. But the transition was not as difficult as she had anticipated, Peko-Spicer said.
“I remember finding this really thriving community of Black graduate students who were well supported by The Graduate School,” she said. “Many of us felt like TGS was a place that was really highlighting the successes of historically excluded students and constantly making space to celebrate them.”
Peko-Spicer attributed this environment, in part, to the work of former dean Dwight McBride, who left TGS in 2017 to become Emory University’s provost. Teresa Woodruff succeeded McBride, before leaving to become provost at Michigan State University. Dean Kelly Mayo, who has been at NU since 1985, then took over as interim dean and was appointed to the post permanently as of May 1. For some graduate student activists, his appoint
Henry Mortensen s Skating Polly: Ugly Pop Doc Will Premiere at DeadCenter This June
Henry Mortensen s Skating Polly: Ugly Pop Doc Will Premiere at DeadCenter This June
It was announced today that Skating Polly: Ugly Pop will have its official online premiere at this year s Deadcenter Film Festival.
Almost a decade in the making, Henry Mortensen s
Skating Polly: Ugly Pop documentary is finally finished and ready for its online premiere. The movie will be screened in its entirety for the first time at the 2021 deadCenter Film Festival. Written and directed by Henry Mortensen, the film takes a deep-dive into the ugly pop band Skating Polly and its versatile members Peyton Bighorse, Kelli Mayo and Kurtis Mayo, three siblings who hail from Oklahoma and have been delivering genre-shattering music to the masses for more than ten years.
Kelly Mayo, interim dean for The Graduate School, will serve in permanent post starting May 1, according to a Friday University news release.
Mayo has led TGS since June 2020 after Teresa Woodruff left the position to become provost at Michigan State University amid student calls for resignation. He also served as interim associate provost for graduate education since last spring.
“I am extremely honored to continue to work with our outstanding students and to partner with faculty, staff and administration to support graduate education at Northwestern,” Mayo said in the release. “Strong graduate programs are a key foundational element supporting our collective mission as a great research and teaching university.”