Simone Nicole Durham, M.A.
Hi! My name is Simone Nicole Durham. I am a Black biracial woman who grew up in a suburb of Sacramento, California. I attended Morgan State University, a historically black university (HBCU) for my bachelors and masters degrees in sociology. I also played two seasons of NCAA Division I volleyball for MSU. After completing my masters, I started teaching as an adjunct professor while also working as the coordinator for multiple programs in the Office of Student Success and Retention at MSU. I returned to school for my PhD in 2017.
I am currently a doctoral candidate in the sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. During my time in the program I have held many academic positions. In the department I have been a teaching assistant for many courses, taught my own courses, been a research assistant on a project about Black resistance in the era of slavery, and worked as a graduate assistant for the Critical Race Initiative. I also served as a student editor for Contexts Magazine, the public facing journal of the American Sociological Association for two years. Currently, I serve as a Graduate Student Advocate in the UMD Graduate Student Legal Aid Office and teach undergraduate courses in sociology at both UMD and MSU.
My academic work focuses on race, identity, mental health, meaning making, and social movements. In everything I do, including my teaching and research, my primary objective is to contribute to the fight for racial equity in the U.S., particularly for Black people. In addition to my academic work, I try to engage in public sociology and scholar activism as much as possible, including but not limited to digital activism through social media. I am also deeply passionate about creative writing, and use both Instagram and Vocal to informally publish my work.
SOCY Simone 