The Trotter Distinguished Leadership Series is a student-centered program that promotes civic engagement throughout U-M by inviting speakers from the political and public service sectors of national and international note.
This session will feature panelists who will discuss their experience with student activism, strategy, research, and impacts in their careers today. Attendees will receive Trotter Multicultural Center swag and can enjoy light refreshments and cupcakes!
Dr. Charles H.F. Davis III - A third-generation educator and artist dedicated to the life, love, and liberation of everyday Black people. Dr. Davis is currently an assistant professor in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education and director of the Campus Abolition Research Lab at the University of Michigan. Dr. Davis’ research is broadly concerned with issues of race, racism, and resistance in education and its social context to include a focus on the racialized consequences of higher education on society. His current work examines the ways campus and community organizers work collaboratively to reimagine public safety and security through the divestment of colleges and universities from the institution of policing.
Jon Curtiss - A union organizer and field representative with AFT Michigan. Born in New Jersey, he came to graduate school at the University of Michigan, where he served as president of the Graduate Employees Organization / AFT Local 3550, AFL-CIO (GEO). His experience with GEO led him to his work as a union organizer, and he has helped non-tenure-track faculty and graduate student workers organize unions at UM, Michigan State, EMU, Western, Ferris State, Central, and Wayne State, among others. He has more recently helped workers organize at Michigan Medicine, and he is currently the field representative for the AFT Michigan locals at UM: GEO, the Lecturers’ Employee Organization / AFT local 6244 (LEO), United Physician Assistants of Michigan Medicine /AFT Local 5297(UPAMM) and United Michigan Medicine Allied Professionals/ AFT Local 6739 (UMMAP). His daughter is a student at UM.
