Lisa Pertillar-Brevard

A Walden University Core Faculty member since 2008, Dr. Lisa Pertillar Brevard is currently Lead Fellow and Director of the Walden University Center for Social Change. Previously, she worked as Associate Director of the School of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Studies, where she managed Creative Arts and Humanities courses and related faculty.

Here at Walden, she has taught Creative Writing; Philosophy; World History and Women’s Literature and Social Change. An internationally recognized scholar and creative artist, with professional training in History, Education, and public programming at the Smithsonian Institution, she earned a Ph.D. in African-American Studies, with an emphasis on Women’s Studies, at Emory University’s Institute of the Liberal Arts (1995). Publishing collaborative and solo academic works since 1992, her most recent solo book is Whoopi Goldberg on Stage and Screen (2013), which explores Goldberg’s philosophies and work as an actor-activist.

Since 1996, Dr. Brevard has taught and worked in progressively responsible roles in academic online settings, while also being active in on-ground communities. She contributed the entries, “Humanities Education”, and “Online Poster Sessions,” for The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education (2016).

She is an active member of the Walden University Assessment Working Group.

Prior to joining Walden University, Dr. Brevard served as Graduate Teaching Fellow and visiting instructor at Emory University; visiting faculty at Spelman College; and Course Chair for English and Humanities at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC/formerly UMUC). She also has held several full-time academic appointments, including short- and long-term graduate fellowships; a two-year, full-time Postdoctoral Fellowship/Research Associate post (University of Maryland College Park); a Director of Graduate Studies post (University of Wisconsin Oshkosh); a Dean of Humanities post; and a university wide Program Director post (Dillard University).

Along the way, Dr. Brevard has worked with local and national programs, helping high school youths expand their vistas and access to academic and cultural resources in their respective communities. She also has conducted research projects at major academic institutions and advised graduate students on thesis and dissertation topics, ranging from slavery to Shakespeare.

In 2019, she successfully completed five Harvard Business School professional Certificates: Leading People; Process Improvement; Change Management; Delegating; and Leveraging Your Networks.

Brevard's most recent published work, a book chapter, appears in:
Brevard, L. P. (2023). The Gospel according to Madame Emma Azalia Smith Hackley. In J. Carlacio (Ed.)., Activism in the name of God: Religion and Black feminist public intellectuals from the nineteenth century to the present (pp. 138-163). University Press of Mississippi.

Dr. Brevard’s current research explores connections between African-American and Afro-West Indian philosophies, identities, and arts.

Courses Taught

ENGL 2050 - Women's Literature and Social Change

ENGL 3110 - Creative Writing: Contemporary Nonfiction and Poetry

HMNT 1050 - Humanities Through the Arts

HMNT 3001 - Modern Popular Culture

PHIL 2001 - Ethics

PHIL 3010 - Science and Spirituality

HIST 2005 - World History

HIST 2006 - World History

Education

BA, Smith College

PhD, Emory University

Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Associate, Full-Time Research Faculty, University of Maryland College Park

Public Service

Steering Committee, Walden University Research Conference 2020, Member -

Center for Social Change, Walden University, Other - Minneapolis

Walden University Social Change Working Group, Member - Minneapolis

University of Maryland College Park, Other - College Park

Awards / Honors

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2020

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2017

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2016

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2016

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2013

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2011

Publications

Brevard, L. P. (2023). The Gospel according to Madame Emma Azalia Smith Hackley. .

Brevard, L., Mccormick, L. J. (2023). Catch-Up Plans: "Extra Time and a Ladder to Climb": A Restorative Justice Practice to Foster Undergraduate Student Persistence and Retention.

Pertillar-Brevard, L. A. (2020). Brevard, L.P. The ballad of john henry: A cautionary tale..

Brevard, L. P. (2019). "I LEAVE YOU LOVE": African American women as collectors, in, of, and through, the arts. Collections: A journal for museum and archive professionals

Brevard, L. P. (2016). Book Review: African-American Women Playwrights Confront Violence: A Critical Study of Nine Dramatists. Interdisciplinary Humanities

Brevard, L. P. (2016). Humanities Education. SAGE encyclopedia of online education

Brevard, L. P. (2016). Online Poster Sessions. SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education

Brevard, L. P. (2013). Whoopi Goldberg on stage and screen.

Farmer, V. L., Shepherd-Wynn, E., Brevard, L. P. (2012). Ascending to Higher Ground .

Farmer, V. L., Shepherd-Wynn, E., Brevard, L. P. (2012). In His Hands.

Farmer, V. L., Shepherd-Wynn, E., Brevard, L. P. (2012). Just a Little While Longer.

Presentations

Brevard, L. P. (2020). Polly-Ann and "The Ballad of John Henry": A Cautionary Tale. Office of Continuing Education, Virginia Tech

Brevard, L. P. (2020). "Son Day Blues" and Other Poems. Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)

Workman, O., Arteaga, T., Brevard, L. (2016). Cross-Disciplinary Approaches as a Pathway to Critical Thinking: Spatial Relationships and Patterns in Photography and Mathematics.

Workman, O., Pertillar-Brevard, L., Bundesen, K. (2013). Scholarship in Humanities: Methods and manifestations. . Walden University

Brevard, L. P. (2011). Whoopi's Wisdom: Whoopi Goldberg as Children's Literature Author. Children's Literature Association