2025 Conference Plenaries
The 2025 ELATE Summer Conference plenaries will all take place in Room 129 of the School of Sciences and Mathematics Building, 202 Calhoun St.
Friday, July 11, 9:00–10:15 a.m. ET
For almost 40 years, Natalie Daise has developed and facilitated interactive learning experiences for educators, students, and audiences in schools, universities, conferences, and other venues. Her belief in the positive power of stories is demonstrated in her speaking as well as in the performing and visual arts. A self taught, visionary artist, Natalie’s painting and functional art pieces arise from the tradition of storytelling.
While best known as “Ms. Natalie” on Nick Jr.’s award-winning television program, Gullah Gullah Island, Natalie’s theatrical work has opened other doors. Her portrayal of Harriet Tubman in her one-woman show “Becoming Harriet Tubman” has received accolades throughout the country and has educated audiences of all ages about this cultural icon. In addition, Natalie’s work as an artist has continued to expand her reach. Her art, celebrating the people and culture of the community, has been shown throughout the region. In 2023, her mural of Septima Clark was installed at the College of Charleston, and her series, Matriarchs of the Lowcountry — a collection of eight portraits commemorating Gullah Geechee women who are the mothers of Lowcountry cuisine — was acquired as part of the South Carolina State Museum’s permanent collection. Her current work, “When I See Myself I See,” in collaboration with Voorhees University, the GEAR UP project, the SC State Museum, and SCETV, features the portraits of South Carolina 8th graders. It is a a celebration and homage to the youth who are our future.
Roni Nicole Henderson is a Columbia, SC-based writer, film and television producer, and photographer. She earned her B.A. in English Education from Clark Atlanta University and taught in both traditional and nontraditional settings for nearly 20 years. Roni left the classroom last year to become Director of Education Productions at South Carolina ETV, where teaching and learning remain at the center of her practice. In 2008, Roni earned a Master of Fine Art in Film and Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and film festivals across the country and internationally including Spelman Museum, Atlanta, GA, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA, Blackstar Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA, New Orleans Film Festival, and the Columbia Museum of Art. Roni’s photography was published in the 2018 release, MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora and in 2017, she self-published a memoir entitled Of Grace and Moons: The Making of Grace. Roni was recently awarded a Columbia Mellon Monuments Fellowship by Wideman-Davis Dance in 2024 and had her first solo art exhibition, Solace, at the Sumter County Gallery of Art. She is currently working to accomplish two creative milestones, publishing her first book of poetry with photographs as well as producing her first feature film.
Friday, July 11, 4:15–5:30 p.m. ET
Dr. Valerie Kinloch became the 15th president of Johnson C. Smith University on August 3, 2023. With nearly three decades of experience in higher education, Kinloch has distinguished herself as a passionate educator who has taught and/or served in administrative roles at The Ohio State University, Columbia University’s Teachers College, the University of Houston-Downtown, and, most recently, the University of Pittsburgh.
In addition to her professorships and administrative tenures, Kinloch is the author or editor of numerous books and publications on race, place, identities, literacies, and justice, including her most recent coauthored book, Where Is the Justice? Engaged Pedagogies in Schools and Communities.
Saturday, July 12, 9:00–10:15 a.m. ET
Melanie M. Acosta, PhD, works for the educational well-being of Black folks through careful study of teacher practice. Dr. Acosta is an associate professor of education at Florida Atlantic University and co-organizer of Liberate Literacyä, an African American family literacy program. In these spaces, Dr. Acosta centers African American ways of teaching and teacher education. Previously, Dr. Acosta was an elementary school teacher and community organizer for a grassroots parent empowerment group.
Saturday, July 12, 4:30–5:30 p.m. ET
Stephanie R. Toliver is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In her research, Toliver employs creativity and imagination as tools to confront systemic inequities and promote more equitable education environments. Specifically, her scholarship focuses on three main areas: (1) investigating Black storytelling as a mechanism of social critique and transformation; (2) examining the applicability of speculative fiction (i.e., science fiction, horror, fantasy, etc.) as a tool to assist Black youth in articulating and challenging social injustice; and (3) exploring the use of creative and arts-based literacy pedagogies to help preservice English teachers develop strategies to address racial injustice in their future classrooms.