Lisa Pertillar-Brevard

Associate Director

Center for General Education

Degree Program General Education

A Walden University Core Faculty member since 2008, Dr. Lisa Pertillar Brevard is currently Associate Director of Walden University’s Center for General Education (CGE), where she manages Composition, Creative Arts, and Humanities courses and related faculty. Here at Walden, she has taught Creative Writing; Philosophy; 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).

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 HarvardManageMentor (Harvard Business School Online) professional Certificates: Leading People; Process Improvement; Change Management; Delegating; and Leveraging Your Networks.

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

Education

BA, Smith College

PhD, Emory University

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

Public Service

Steering Committee, Walden University Research Conference 2020, Member

Center for Social Change, Walden University, Advisory Council Member - Minneapolis, MN United States

Walden University Social Change Working Group, Member - Minneapolis, MN United States

University of Maryland College Park, Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Associate -- Full Time - College Park, MD United States

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, 2013

Research Dissemination Award, Walden University, 2011

Publications

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.