’21 Honoree Gerica Brown

“Just about a year ago, my husband and I had recently moved to Dayton, and we were celebrating Valentine’s Day and, well, it was Black History Month. So I got all dressed up in my kente cloth skirt, and we went out to the movies. Some of my students were there. I didn’t see them, but they saw me across the theater, and were yelling, ‘Ms. Gerica! Ms. Gerica!’ I turned pretty quickly because I wasn’t expecting it. We used to live in Cincinnati, and I was accustomed to work being work, and home being home, and the two never really merged. But you know, hearing my name screamed and looking up and seeing four or five girls running toward me to give me a big hug at the movies, while I’m all dressed up and dolled up with my husband, it made me happy. It gave me a lot of joy to know they wanted to see me, and ran to give me a hug, and acknowledge that the relationship that we have is more than just me as the MEP director. They felt like I was approachable enough to, you know, acknowledge out in public!”

“But this year? We’re not going anywhere. Last year, we were at the brink of a pandemic while we were kind of out in the world and the new city that we live in. Now? We can’t do it anymore. At just about the same time last year, I was planning for one of our student organizations, the National Society of Black Engineers, to travel for their national convention to Dallas. We were booking flights, and doing a lot of looking around trying to find the best prices.”

“About two days after we got our flights booked, we got the notification from the University that students had to go home. Working with our students and helping them to make plans to travel, and booking hotels, and all of the logistics that went into getting the five of them, other faculty, and myself to the convention just to find out that, not only can our students not travel, but they have to go home, was truly frustrating. That the whole country was shutting down was an interesting and ironic turn of events that it felt like we should’ve seen coming, but we didn’t. I am a transparent person, and when I work with my students I think it’s important that they know that we are human and that we are experiencing all of the same things that they’re experiencing.”

“Over this pandemic, I’ve connected with them on the fact that they’re students and I’m a (PhD) student, and they’re in virtual classes in virtual spaces, and so am I. But even though that’s the case, we still have to be productive, and we still have to maintain that motivation to push forward. I tell them even though I get tired of writing and spending my evenings doing school, when I could be doing other things, it’s absolutely worth it. I think they feel like we’re in it together and that if I can maintain grace and keep moving things forward, that they can, too.”

“So, students are really important to me. They are the reason that I’m here, and I really do try to be authentic and transparent, just be who I am, and say what I’m going through. I left my job in corporate America to come to higher education specifically because I wanted to support students who were like me, who are underrepresented in engineering, to achieve their goals. I’ve always known that I wanted to change culture. But especially this past summer, I was really thinking about what I’m doing with my life. Yes, I’m fulfilled in the work I do, but I can do more in this position by using my voice, joining committees, and challenging us at UD to look at our practices and our policies and how they do, or don't, promote equity and inclusion. I can be more vocal in the spaces that I’m in and challenge those around me to push for more structural change. In my current role, I absolutely need to do both.”

“There was a lot of visibility with the summer protests and I personally struggled with the fact that I am not one to physically protest – that is not my authentic way of making a statement. I really had to think about, ‘what does that mean about me and about how much I care?’ I thought about how I could display my support for the cause and be vocal in a way and in a space that’s authentic to me and not feeling like I had to be something that I wasn’t. Over the summer, I did a lot of reflection and I came up with some very concrete ways that I could show my solidarity and feel like I was actually doing something to be a part of that cause. One of the ways was to be intentional about where I spend money, like purposefully supporting Black business owners and financially supporting organizations committed to fighting the good fight.”

“I also made a decision about my dissertation topic: instead of it being very generic, it is specific to how we engage essential members of the engineering community in dialogue about multi-ethnic students and engineering culture. We have to involve everyone in these conversations in order to make progress. I felt really empowered making that specific decision, because I am a person who doesn’t naturally like to make others feel uncomfortable. But this is a boat that needs to be rocked! Discomfort is necessary for growth and progress to be made. And so fast forward to now. There is less visibility and there are fewer protests happening, but there has been a higher visibility of the privilege that some people have and feel and the racial tensions, and this whole culture within our country doesn’t align with my values. For me, in this moment, I’m thinking, ‘OK, Gerica, it isn’t over.’ I know it’s really just beginning. Things may have died down a little bit, but the systemic racism, the structures of power and privilege, are all still there. Every time I read a news article about another injustice, it just pierces my soul and reminds me of my responsibility, my purpose: to make a difference, every single day. To fight for justice, equity and inclusion where I am, and in my own unique and authentic way.”