To the ARPC community, Hello!

I am delighted to reach out as this year’s interim executive director and welcome you to the 2025–2026 academic year. 

I would also like to welcome you to the next stage in the life of the Center and invite you to be a part of this year of transition! There will be many opportunities for you to participate in what we feel are exciting and impactful initiatives.

As students, staff, faculty, administrators, and community partners dedicated to the study, analysis, and up-ending of racism and its intersectionally interrelated dynamics, you should know that I am with you on your concerns about the current sociopolitical moment. I am also energized by the possibilities in what the times require of us. I remind myself daily that the scholar-activists I’ve long admired all did their best work—in the community and through the academy—under serious societal pressures: Anzaldúa, Ngũgĩ, Lorde, DeLoria, Chomsky, Said, Emma Gee, Walter Rodney, Jack Forbes, and so many others moved the needle on social justice in tumultuous times. And so, as I settle into my work space at the ARPC, I am placing framed images of such people on my shelves. This act serves as a reminder of what is possible with solidarity, communication, criticality, and unwavering focus. 

Any acknowledgment of important scholar-activists should also include my three predecessors here at the Center. It’s an honor to inhabit a space previously held by such brilliant academics and dedicated social justice workers. What I have of their initiatives will be preserved here and will remain for the foreseeable future. 

The ARPC’s 2025–2026 program will fully roll out by the beginning of October. As the site evolves over the next month, it will likely be a bit of a melange of the incoming and outgoing teams. Please hang in there and check back! There will soon be an updated and future-focused site to explore. Among other research and policy-based initiatives, student participation and engagement will be a focus throughout the year.

In peace, 

Sarah Trembath, EdD  

2025-2026 Interim Director
Senior Professorial Lecturer, Department of Literature, Writing Studies Program