Chalet Jean-Baptiste

leadership in higher education, diversity and access, African-American rhetorics, composition pedagogies

Chalet A. Jean-Baptiste was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she first developed her love for issues surrounding Black people and her passion for writing. After graduating from Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, she began her career as a magazine writer for TIAA-CREF in New York City. She published her first book, Black Dresses Stain, in 2005. While working at TIAA, she began teaching at Medgar Evers College as an adjunct instructor. This spurred a newfound passion for teaching. She has been teaching ever since, and currently works at Northern VA Community College, Manassas campus, as an Associate Professor of English, where she is also the Director of W.I.S.E., a mentoring program for female students. She has a MA in English from Long Island University and another MA in Communications from New York Institute of Technology.

She is co-owner and creator of, Black from Scratch, LLC, an organization dedicated to promoting positive rhetoric and images of black people and their lives.Her areas of interests include African-American rhetoric, Black images in the public sphere, Black activism, and pop art’s role in the lives of Black people. In her spare time, she loves to write poetry, travel, attend cultural events, and spend time with her family. She has three beautiful children and lives in Northern Virginia.

Selected Publications

Black Dresses Stain, 2004

Courses Taught

English Composition

English Literature

African-American Literature

Pop Culture

Mythological Literature

World Literature

American and British Literature

Intro to Communication

Education

George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, Doctoral student, Writing and Rhetoric, 2019 (Expected Date of Graduation)

New York Institute of Technology, Masters in Communications. New York, NY 2005

Long Island University, Masters in English. Brooklyn, NY, 2003

Arcadia University (formerly Beaver College), Bachelors in English. Glenside, PA 2001

Recent Presentations

“The Neoteric Intellectual:” A New Wave of the Black Intellectual Movement, The Black Doctoral Network, October 2017

“Empathetic Social Interactions as a Tool for Retaining African-American Students at PWIs for Academia and Beyond.” TYCA-West. Glendale, Arizona. October, 2017.

"Empathetic Social Interactions as a Tool for Retaining Black Students at PWIs for Academia and Beyond." Creating Inclusion and Diversity in Higher Education: The 2017 International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference. Paisley, Scotland. June 2017.

“The Neoteric Intellectual:” A New Wave of the Black Intellectual Movement, Howard University English Department Conference. Washington, D.C. April 2017

“Empathetic Social Interactions” as a tool for retaining African-American Students, American Association for Blacks in Higher Education. Raleigh, North Carolina. March 2017

Rhetoric and the Art of Doing and Making in the Pop Culture and Literature Classroom, Two-Year College Association Conference-SE. Charleston, South, Carolina. February 2017