For Professor Pickens's Full CV, click here.

Education

• PhD, Comparative Literature, UCLA (2010)
• MA, Comparative Literature, UCLA (2008)
• AB, Comparative Literature, Princeton (2005)

Publications
Books

• Black Madness :: Mad Blackness. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.
• New Body Politics: Narrating Arab and Black Identity in the Contemporary United States. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014.

Edited Volumes

• Blackness and Disability, The Remix, Special Issue of College Language Association Journal (2021).
  
• Arab American Aesthetics: Literature, Material Culture, Film and Theatre. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018
  
• Blackness and Disability, Spec. Issue of African American Review. 50.2 (2017).

Articles

• “The Echoes of History, A Personal Professional Meditation,” Rapid Response Special Issue. Spec. Issue College Language Association Journal. Dana Williams and Kendra Parker, eds. 63.2 (2020): 141- 148.
  
• Reprint, “Introduction,” “Respirating Resistance: Suheir Hammad’s Invocation of Breath,” Arab American Studies Reader, edited by Amira Jarmakani, Pauline Homsi Vinson, and Louise Cankar. New York: Syracuse UP, 2020.
• “Satire, Scholarship and Sanity; or How to Make Mad Professors.” Negotiating Disability Awareness: Disclosure and Higher Education. Stephanie L. Kerschbaum, Laura T. Eisenman, and James M. Jones eds. Ann Arbor, MI: U of Michigan Press, 2017. 243 – 254.
• “Blue Blackness, Black Blueness: Making Sense of Blackness and Disability.” Blackness and Disability. Spec. Issue African American Review Therí A. Pickens, ed. 50.2 (2017): 93-103.
•  “The Verb is No: Towards A Grammar of Black Women’s Anger.” “We Were Not Invented Yesterday”: Conversations on Being Black Women in the Academy. Spec. Issue College Language Association Journal. Janeen Price and Janise Hudson eds. 60.1 (2017): 14 – 31.
• “Modern Family: Circuits of Transmission Among Black and Arab Americans.” Blackness and Relationality: An ACLA forum. Spec. Issue of Comparative Literature. Keith Feldman ed. 68.2 (2016): 130-140. DOI: 10.1215/00104124-3507912
• “Octavia Butler and the Aesthetics of the Novel.” Feminist Disability Studies Spec. Issue of Hypatia. Kim Q. Hall ed. 30.1 (Winter 2015): 167-180. DOI: 10.1111/hypa.12129
• “Hashtag Black Poetry.” Journal of Ethnic American Literature. Ed. Howard Rambsy II. 4 (2014): 8 – 25.
• “Shoving Aside the Politics of Respectability: Black Women, Reality TV, and the Ratchet Performance.” Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. 24.2 (2014): 1-18.
• " 'You're Supposed to be a Tall, Handsome, Fully Grown White Man': Theorizing Race, Gender, & Disability in Octavia Butler's Fledgling." Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. 9.1 (2014)
• "What Drives Work: A Written Performance Piece." Polymath: An Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Journal. 4.1 (2014).
• " 'It's a Jungle Out There': Disability and Blackness in Monk." Disability Studies Quarterly. 33.3 (2013).
• “Feeling Embodied and Being Displaced: A Phenomenological Exploration of Hospital Scenes in Rabih Alameddine’s Fiction.” MELUS. 38.3 (2013): 1 - 19.
• “To Be or Not to Be: The Question of Having a Body in Ethnic Studies.”  Defying the Global Language: Perspectives in Ethnic Studies. Eds. Cheryl Toman & Gilbert Doho. Amherst, NY: Teneo Press, Ltd., 2013. 19-44.
• “Presently Reading the Past.”  Al-Jadid.  17.63 (2010): 18
• “Pinning Down the Phantasmagorical: Discourse of Pain and the Rupture of Post-humanism in Evelyne Accad’s The Wounded Breast and Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals.”  Blackness and Disability: Critical Examinations and Cultural Interventions.  Ed. Christopher Bell. Germany: Lit Verlag, 2011.  75 – 94. (Published in North America with Michigan State University Press)
• “ ‘Mic Check: Can You Hear Me?’: Suheir Hammad and the Politics of Spoken Word Poetry.”  Al-Raida. 124 (Winter 2009): 8 – 14.

Selected Creative Publications

• "Corpse Pose," Diode, 14th Anniversary Issue, forthcoming in March 2021.
• "Ursa Corregidora Goes to Junior High in the 1990s," The Journal. 44.3 (2020)
• "Here’s the thing: Bats aren’t actually blind,” and “Palimpsestina.” Wordgathering. June 2019. www.wordgathering.com.
• “This is what forgiveness looks like,” Sq*** Valley Journal (2017): 89.
• “Say Cheese,”  Disability Studies Quarterly.  29.2 (2009).  The Society for Disability Studies.  2009.  www.dsq-sds.org.
• “Casino,” “Confessions of a Future Housewife,” “In Situ,” “Like Girls, ” “Living with Ghosts,” and “No Use Crying,” Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire.  7.2 (2007): 73 – 75
• “Letter to America” NOMMO: The Power of the Word.  UCLA, July 2006, 18
• “In With The Tide,” Save the Date.  April – June. 2006: 78
• “The Moment Replays, Mating Game, i can imagine, Without Words and Before and After Moments After and Before,” Acacia Group Conference for Literary Studies Proceedings Journal.  February 17 - 18, 2006, California State University at Fullerton, 2006.
• MysTherí. Unravel Me.  Compact Disc. Newark, NJ. 2005
• “Singin’ the Blues,” Blacklight: Representing Black, Redefining a Culture. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2005, 20
• “Sunday Poets, New Shoes, and Black Girl II,” Acacia Group Conference for Literary Studies Proceedings Journal.  Susan Johnson, Amber Montez and Danna Voth eds., March 12, 2005, California State University of Fullerton., 2005
• Sería Facil.  Dir. Lauren O’Brien.  Perf. Maggie Bofill, Mia Díaz, Lauren O’Brien, Jose Ramos, Boris Ochoa, Steve Mones, Tony Guernica.  State Theatre.  New Brunswick, NJ.  2 May 2000

Public Scholarship

• Podcast Appearance, Busy Being Black (UK), January 23, 2021
  
• “Miya Ponsetto’s apology interview for attacking teen over a lost phone reveals a pattern of behavior,” The Washington Post, About US, January 13, 2021.
  
• Podcast Appearance, Contemporary Black Canvas with host Dr. Pia Deas, Season 2, Episode 7, uploaded December 1, 2020, http://www.contemporaryblackcanvas.com/ep-27-scholar-theri-a-pickens/
• Consultation on Disability, Technology Humans and Taste, October 26, 2020.
•  “Stories Behind the Stories: Queer Eye Season 5,” Medium.com, June 26 – July 20, 2020.
• Radio Appearance, Tonight on Word with host Dr. James Peterson, WURD Radio, June 17, 2020. https://soundcloud.com/onwurd/tonight-on-wurd-61720-dr-theri-a-pickens?fbclid=IwAR1Kj_h3PhjMmTVmg3GSyFXbqUOmSqw7Hdz9uGTNKx9Bf0UO4AIgM5We1mo
•  “Open Letter to the Class of 2020 from a Millennial College Professor,” Medium.com, June 10, 2020.
• “Amy Cooper is Logical,” Medium.com, June 5, 2020.
• “What We’re Reading Now: Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism,” The Root, May 4, 2020.
• “ ‘Doctor Says, “There’s No Textbook for Dealing With a Global Pandemic.’ I Disagree.” Medium.com, March 30, 2020.
• “Love in the Time of Corona; or A Disability Take on Netflix’s Love Is Blind,” Medium.com, March 22, 2020.
• “Black Madness :: Mad Blackness – An Author’s Response,” Roundtable in Black Perspectives, (African American Intellectual History Society), March 12 – 15, 2020, www.aaihs.org
• with Moya Bailey, “Christopher M. Bell: Disability Rights in Black 2020,” National Disability Rights Network, 2/20/2020, https://www.ndrn.org/resource/drib2020-christopher-m-bell/
• “Teaching Playing in the Dark,” “How Black Feminist Scholars Remember Toni Morrison in the Classroom,” Roundtable by Janell Hobson, Ms., 2/18/2020, https://msmagazine.com/2020/02/18/how-black-feminist-scholars-remember-toni-morrison-in-the-classroom/
• Webinar, “How to Manage Chronic Illness and Academic Life,” National Council for Faculty Diversity and Development, January 28, 2020
• “Crip the Met,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, March 29, 2019
• “Left of Black with Therí Pickens,” You Tube. Hosted by Mark Anthony Neal. Season 9, uploaded October 19, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GcNC5v2jJw
• Academic Pathways,” Nepantla Bridge Program, Nevada State College, Las Vegas, NV, June 28, 2016.
• “In search of Asylum.” Huntington Museum, San Marino, CA, May 9, 2016.
• “Contributions of African American Speculative Fiction.” Auburn Public Library. Auburn, ME, February 25, 2013.
• “Modern Day Activism and Being a Change Agent,” Dr. Thema Show. AdrenalineRadio.com. 16 Aug. 2012. Radio.
• “ ‘America is not the Final Word’: An Interview with Diana Abu Jaber.” Solstice Lit Magazine: A Magazine of Diverse Voices. www.solsticelitmag.com Last modified February 6, 2015

Selected Awards and Honors
Pushcart Prize Nominee, The Journal, “Ursa Corregidora Goes to Junior High in the 1990s,” (2020)
Community of Writers (2020)
Breadloaf – Sicily (2019)
Colgate Writers’ Workshop (2019)
Bates College – Phillips Fellowship (2019 – 2020)
Darwin T. Turner Best Essay Award, College Language Association Journal for “The Verb is No” (2018)
Kenyon Review Poetry Workshop (2018)
Community of Writers Poetry Workshop (2017)
Mayers Fellow, Huntington Museum (2015 - 2016)
Whiting Foundation Grant (2014 - 2015)
Woodrow Wilson – Career Enhancement Fellowship (2014 – 2015)
Faculty Discretionary Grant (2012 - 2013)
Publicly Engaged Academic Projects Grant (2012 - 2013)
CBB Mutual Mentoring Micro Grant (2012 - 2013)
Bates Faculty Development Fund Grant (2011 - 2012, 2012 - 2013, 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2016, 2016 - 2017)
NEH Summer Institute – Contemporary African-American Literature (2012)
Summer Research Apprenticeship Grant (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Learning Associates Grant (Short Term 2012, Winter Term 2013, Winter Term 2014, Fall Term 2015, 2 – Winter 2016, Fall 2016, Winter 2017, Short Term 2017)
Woodrow Wilson – Mellon Mays University Dissertation Fellowship (2009)
Will Rogers Memorial Scholarship (2006 – 2009)
Andrew Mellon Pre-dissertation Research Grant (2008)
Graduate Research and Mentorship Fellowship (2008)
Social Science Research Council/Mellon Mays University Fellow Research Grant (2005 – 2008)
Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Fellowship (2008)
Chancellor’s Prize Fellowship (2006 – 2007)
LGBT Travel Grant Winner (2007)
Margaret Porter Troupe Arts Project Poetry Winner (2006)
Eugene Cota Robles Scholar (2005)
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF) (2003)
Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders Resolution (2001)
NJ Senate Resolution (2001)
NJ State Assembly Resolution (2001)
New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival Winner (Spanish Division) (2000)


Academic Service
Bates College

• Mellon Curricular Transformation Grant Committee, 2020
• COVID-19 Planning Team, 2020
• Chair, Mellon Grant Task Force Framing Committee, 2019
• Chair, African American Studies Program, 2017 – 2019, 2020 – 2021
• Chair, Search Committee for Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana, 2018 – 2019
• Chair, Search Committee for Visiting Assistant Professor of English (African American Literature), 2018 – 2019
• Mentor, Second Year Faculty Program, 2018 – 2019
• Search Committee for Lecturer of English (Poetry), 2017 – 2018
• Chair, Search Committee for Assistant Professor of English (Renaissance), 2016 – 2017
• Psychology Internal Review Committee, Winter 2017
• Committee on Faculty Scholarship, 2014 – 2017
• African American Studies/American Cultural Studies Program Committee, 2014 – Present
• Honors Committee, 2012 – 2016
• Dean of Faculty/Vice President of Academic Affairs Search Committee, 2012

External Institutional Service

• Summer Institute on Tenure and Professional Advancement (SITPA), Mentor (2018. - 2020)
• New Suns: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Speculative, Ohio State University Press, Advisory Board, 2016 - Present
• Critical Arab American Book Series, Syracuse University Press, Advisory Board, 2016 – Present
• Calalloo Journal, Review Board, 2016 - Present
• College Language Association Journal, Editorial Board 2014 - Present
• Modern Language Association, Committee on Disability Issues in the Profession, 2013 - 2016, Division on Disability Studies 2014 - Present, Elections Committee 2014 - 2016
• American Studies Association, 2012 - Present
• Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Mentor, 2012 - 2014
• Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville - Black Studies, Contributing Blogger, 2012 - 2014
• Disability Studies Quarterly, Editorial Board, 2011 - 2014
• Ad-hoc Reviewer: University of Michigan Press, A Modern, Hypatia, Signs, Syracuse University Press, Medical Humanities, Ameriasia, Edinburgh University Press, College Literature, NYU Press, Palgrave McMillan UK, Oxford University Press, Disability Studies Quarterly, Feminist Media Studies, Duke University Press, Journal of American Studies, National Women’s Studies Association, University of Minnesota Press, Polymath: An Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Journal, Women and Performance, African American Review, Culture, Theory & Critique, Modern Language Studies, MELUS, New German Review
• Arab American National Museum, Arab American Book Award Judge, 2010 - 2014, 2016 - 2017
• Mester, Editorial Board, 2008 - 2010
• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, Lifetime Member, 2002 - Present