Media Contact
Kenya King
Director
Public Relations and Marketing Communications
Perimeter College
[email protected]
DECATUR, Ga – Dr. Dihema Longman, an associate professor of mathematics at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College, has been named a fellow in the fourth cohort of the IAspire Leadership Academy.
The program is aimed at helping science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) faculty from underrepresented backgrounds ascend to leadership roles at colleges and universities. The academy is part of the Aspire Alliance’s Institutional Change Initiative, which the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the University of Georgia lead.
Longman also serves as the interim chair of mathematics on the Decatur Campus.
Her scholarship focuses on exploring race, gender, immigrant, and ethnicity issues in mathematics teaching and learning in higher education. She is chair of the Perimeter College mathematics executive committee and is a peer review member for the Caribbean Education Research Journal and the American Educational Research Association. She also is the founder of Empowering Garrison Girls, a non-profit organization to benefit young girls from Jamaican ‘ghetto’ communities.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see Dr. Longman recognized for her talent and as one of our nation’s emerging STEM leaders,” said Dr. Cynthia Lester, Perimeter College interim dean.
“As a participant in the inaugural cohort for the IAspire program, I personally can vouch for its effectiveness and commitment to supporting and developing the potential of standout educators like Dr. Longman,” Lester said.
“With many pressing challenges facing universities across the country, we’re grateful to see so many institutions supporting the participation of emerging STEM leaders from underrepresented groups in the fourth cohort of the IAspire Leadership Academy,” said Howard Gobstein, director of the National Science Foundation INCLUDES Aspire Alliance and senior vice president at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
“The IAspire fellows are extraordinarily talented, and we’re excited to see the promise that can be realized by supporting and unleashing their potential,” Gobstein said.
“As we have begun to work with the fourth cohort of the academy, we are honored to support the aspirations of leaders from across the country,” said Rochelle Sapp, IAspire Leadership Academy director.
“With each successive cohort, we have seen the benefits of providing these emerging leaders from underrepresented groups in STEM opportunities to focus on their personal leadership skills, goals, and style. As we’ve been able to return to convening in person, we have also been able to see the power of community among the now 89 total IAspire fellows to create a lasting foundation of mutual support to advance their ongoing development and success.”
The academy is one pillar of diversity and inclusion work underway through the NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance. The National Science Foundation-backed alliance is working across post-secondary institutions to develop more inclusive institutional cultures to create a more inclusive and diverse STEM professoriate.
The leadership academy provides an immersive professional development program for academic leaders from underrepresented groups. Working in small groups in monthly meetings combined with three week-long immersive sessions, the fellows will learn effective executive leadership skills for increasingly complex higher education environments as well as strategies for influencing institutional transformation in their current and future leadership positions. IAspire Fellows are also invited to participate in Aspire’s IThrive Collective, a community of support and counterspace designed to amplify the voices of underrepresented group faculty to inform institutional transformation efforts.
The academy is targeted toward mid-career individuals from traditionally underrepresented groups interested in serving in college or university leadership roles in STEM fields.