Shemariah J. Arki

Shemariah J. Arki is an educator, activist, and organizer who serves as a professor of Pan-African Studies and director of the Center for Pan African Culture at Kent State University. An intersectional feminist scholar, they specialize in developing and evaluating curricula that promote institutional equity, communication, and access for traditionally marginalized students and families. Arki holds graduate degrees in education and a graduate certificate from the Penn Equity Institute for Doctoral Students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, and has been a certified federal Equal Employment Opportunity investigator since 2017.

Arki is the founder and program director of the Ellipsis Institute for Women of Color in the Academy and has authored academic and creative work centering the lived experiences of women of color in education, including “Ruminations From A #BlackMommyActivist.” They are a co-editor of Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls and have also contributed editorially to related antiracist and social justice projects. Their public work extends to community and nonprofit leadership, including service as board co-chair for Shooting Without Bullets and as Founder and Lead Experience Curator for Sankofa Circle International.[7