Livingstone College News Service

SALISBURY  — Livingstone College Professor Da’Tarvia Parrish has received Young, Gifted and Black Award presented by the International Ministers and Lay Association of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

The award was presented at the 41st annual Cameron W. Jackson Awards and Recognition Banquet on Feb. 19 in Greensboro.

As a member of New Hope AME Zion Church in Salisbury and the current Miss New Hope, Parrish says she feels honored and blessed to be considered for an award by the international body of her church.

She feels proud that her great-grandfather, the Rev. Rufus Lester Rogers, and grandmother, Hazel Rogers Phillips, are looking down on her in heavenly bliss. “All praises be to God,” she says.

Since 2005, Parrish has been a professor of humanities, English and history at Livingstone. She developed the honors program and serves as coordinating chairwoman for the department of history. Her teaching areas include African-American history and literature and Southern history and literature with an emphasis on issues of race and gender.

Her research interests are interdisciplinary: geography and African-American writers; photography and Southern women; film and historical fiction; visual culture and the black church; civil rights law and narrative fiction.

Parrish has lectured and facilitated workshops including Religion in Literature, Children With Imprisoned Mothers, Caretakers of Imprisoned Children, College Access and Success, Self-worth and Cultural Identity, and Christian Education.

Her two published works, “Seven’s Heaven” and “Jailbirds Don’t Fly,” explore themes affiliated with her community initiatives. Her favorite hobby is volunteering with youth summer reading programs across the nation.

She participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities institute at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as an Ernest Gaines Research Fellow. She was selected as a Teaching and Learning Faculty Institute finalist with the United Negro College Fund and Mellon Foundation.

As the 2018 president of the National Association of African-American Honors Programs, Parrish created and implemented EdTALK, Equity and Diversity in Teaching – Assessing – Learning — Kinships,  a conference designed for administrators, curriculum and instruction developers, and educators at the nine-12 and postsecondary levels to promote effective instruction and innovative ways to engage African-American students, enhance curriculum and increase productivity.

At Livingstone, Parrish has been adviser to academic organizations such as the English Society, Honda Campus All-Star Challenge Club, Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society, Ralph Bunche Society, Ethics Bowl, and the honors program.

Her non-academic activities include adviser to campus organizations such as Nexx Leval Modeling Troupe, Honey Bears Marching Band Auxiliary unit, La-La Cheerleading Coach, and athletics senior women’s administrator.

In the community, Parrish has volunteered at J.C. Price Head Start, hosted community empowerment sessions such as Girls Rock With Docs, served as a Girl Scouts Troop leader, engaged in community literacy initiatives, and worked in human relations projects.

Parrish has active membership in many professional academic organizations and is a member of the American Association of University Women and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She lives in Salisbury with her 10-year-old daughter, Seven-Hazel.