A complete list of current and past research, service, and professional development activities can be found on my CV.
Research Collaborations
My forthcoming co-authored book, Lifting as We Climb: How Black Faculty Make Professional and Linguistic Choices to Thrive in Higher Education (Teachers College Press, 2026) is based on multiple years of collaborative research with Black scholars of language based in U.S. higher education. The book uses Black scholars’ experiential knowledge to expose the “hidden curriculum” of faculty life and offer practical advice for navigating the academy.
From 2022-2024 I was a research collaborator on the NSF-funded Build and Broaden project, “Linguistic Production, Perception, and Identity in the Career Mobility of Black Faculty in Linguistics and the Language Sciences” (PIs: Charity Hudley and Mallinson)
In 2020, I was a research fellow in the “Disciplining Diversity” Residential Research Group through the University of California Humanities Research Institute. The interdisciplinary research group critically examined the concept of diversity in higher education through our experiences as students, teachers, and scholars.
Academic Affiliations
I’m a member of the Charity Hudley Black Academic Development (BAD) Lab at Stanford University.
I’m an affiliate of the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, a collective of scholars who study the intersections of race, media, and technology from interdisciplinary perspectives grounded in critical theories.
Community Partnerships
At UC Santa Barbara, I participated in the School Kids Investigating Language in Life and Society (SKILLS) program as a graduate teaching fellow, site coordinator, and research assistant. The program is a community-based partnership between graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty at UCSB; local Santa Barbara high schools; and Santa Barbara City College. It provides high school students with the opportunity to take a college-level language and culture course, conduct original linguistic research relevant to their lived experiences, and access resources to prepare for post-secondary education.
I was a partner in the UC-HBCU Scholars in Linguistics Program (2018-2021) as a graduate researcher, teaching fellow, and research mentor to undergraduate participants. Jointly funded by the UC-HBCU Initiative and NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates, the program brought together Black students from UCSB, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and other institutions around the country who were interested in African American language and culture in linguistics and related fields, with the aim of increasing the representation of Black graduate students in language-related fields.
Kendra Calhoun, Ph.D. 