Oct. 20 lecture to look at black women in reality TV

Jervette R. Ward, an assistant professor of English at the University of Alaska Anchorage, will speak about her research on black women in reality television at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Miller Hall Room 152.

Ward earned her Ph.D. in English – Literary & Cultural Studies from the University of Memphis. Her research and teaching areas focus on American Literature with an emphasis in African American Women's Literature. She has taught and published on Zora Neale Hurston, the addition of African American characters to the Dick and Jane series, and Black women in reality television. She is the editor of "Real Sister: Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV" (Rutgers University Press, November 2015). Currently, she is writing a book in response to the book and film "The Help."

Ward's visit to Western is sponsored by the Department of History; the Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; the Department of English; and the Diversity Fund. Refreshments will be provided.