Happy Black History Month 2022!

  

What is your name?

Loretta Stephens-Smith

What is your Title?

Associate Director of Enrollment Systems

What year did you start teaching or working at Wentworth?

2015

What courses do you teach OR what is your role?

Associate Director of Enrollment Systems and Vice-Chair of the Staff Council

Briefly share what led you to the work you do now? (e.g. interests, research, or experiences)

I started as a temp, at Wentworth in 2015. I quickly realized higher education as a field I enjoyed and could see as a career for myself. I have worked my way up in the division of Enrollment and I am currently working on my Masters degree. I love education and learning, being in an environment of higher learning keeps me growing and evolving

Describe why you believe the work you do is important.

The work I do is important because Education is important. Education offers growth, development, opportunity and advancement.

What is something exciting currently happening in either your professional or personal life?

I am currently enrolled at Northeastern University working on my Masters in Higher Education Administration.

Share a quote that guides what you do personally or professionally.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin... People must learn to hate, and if the can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart." -Nelson Mandela

What is one piece of advice you have for Black students and OR students in general at Wentworth?

Your voice is the most powerful tool you have--USE IT--Ask all the questions you need, do not be afraid to speak up when something is difficult academically, if you are having a hard time mentally, or if you are exhausted physically. Ask for what you need when talking with Faculty and Staff--we are here to help.

What is your name?

N Jonathan Unaka

What is your Title?

Adjunct Professor

What year did you start teaching or working at Wentworth?

2016

What courses do you teach OR what is your role?

I teach design graduate and undergraduate studios, lecture course on passive design strategies and environmental controls in buildings, and seminars on ethical design practices and material use.

Briefly share what led you to the work you do now? (e.g. interests, research, or experiences)

I spent a few decades at conventional architecture firms doing conventional projects such as hospitals, universities, libraries and museums. I now work primarily in low-wealth communities, particularly in the global south. I would like to encourage my students to consider such work.

Describe why you believe the work you do is important.

I am very interested in issues of climate justice, including threats to ecology, such as loss of biodiversity, threats to culture, such as loss of languages. My research is at the intersection of ecological and cultural impacts of built spaces. I study material use, and appropriate technology in rural and urban areas predominantly in the global south.

What is something exciting currently happening in either your professional or personal life?

I look forward to a student body near full vaccination, so I can get to know my students again. They inspire to keep going.

Share a quote that guides what you do personally or professionally.

We have not inherited the world from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children.

What is one piece of advice you have for Black students and OR students in general at Wentworth?

If you want to get there fast, go alone, but if you want to get there well, go together. It doesn't get easier, you get better.

Please list any recent publications, awards or achievements you received within the last 3 years.

No recent publications. My research is slow and laborious... and so are my projects. Like this one (still waiting for funding): 

Feel free to express anything else you'd like to share.

I am not sure I should be on here... given the others who you have show before. I am just an adjunct and they seem so accomplished. Anyway, there it is.