Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in the U.S. Congress and the first Black woman to run for the U.S. presidential nomination, once said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Women have been a powerful force throughout history. Black women have led and prevailed through the harshest of times. Striving and achieving. Relentless in their quest and resilient in their spirit.
On the pages of this BEHOLD Magazine, you will read about several amazing women. From our new President, Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, to students who are blazing career paths and impacting our everyday lives, to alumni and faculty who are mentoring and developing girls. Women continue to achieve and innovate.
Norfolk State starts a new chapter with the presidency of Dr. Adams- Gaston (page 16), who is affectionately known as “Dr. J.” Throughout her 30 years of higher education experience, President Adams-Gaston often found that when she took her seat at the table, she was the first African American woman to do so. At The Ohio State University, President Adams-Gaston was the first female African American Vice President for Student Life. Prior to that, she served at the University of Maryland, College Park, where among other positions she held, Dr. J was the first African American assistant athletic director (Division 1).
Dr. Angela Reddix (page 12), School of Business adjunct professor, wants to put girls at the head of the table. Dr. Reddix, CEO of Envision Lead Grow, has a goal to create 1,000 girl bosses by 2020. Norfolk State was proud to support this goal by hosting an ELG summer institute on campus for 150 girls. In the same vein, Stephanie Moore ’96 (page 30), a cybersecurity systems engineer with global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, is showing girls and young women that they can succeed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). That’s also the goal of physics professor Dr. Vina Punjabi (page 10), a ground-breaking researcher at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
Kayla Dio Robinson ’20 (page 11) knows that the table where she wants to sit is in space exploration. Robinson, a computer science major, is charting her career path as part of the next generation to explore space through her internship with NASA.
These incredible women have heeded Shirley Chisholm’s words spoken a half century ago. They are not waiting for an invitation, they are taking their seats because as Chisholm also observed — “Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.”
While this issue of BEHOLD highlights several women, Norfolk State University has provided, and always will provide, to all who come through our doors the ability and the foundation necessary to sit at the table. And the confidence, if necessary, to bring a folding chair to sit there.
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