ESU Welcomes Two Frederick Douglass Scholars for the 2021-2022 Academic Year

East Stroudsburg University will welcome two Frederick Douglass Scholars to campus this academic year, Hanif M. Bey, DSW, instructor of social work in the Department of Sociology, Social Work & Criminal Justice and Wesley T. Brown, instructor of ceramics in the Department of Art + Design.

Dr. Bey is a licensed social worker with a Doctor of Social Work degree from the joint program at Kutztown-Millersville Universities. He has taught part-time at ESU for the past seven years, which has included coursework in Crisis Intervention, Child Welfare Services, Helping Philosophies and Methods for Social Work, and Human Behavior & the Social Environment. Dr. Bey’s research interests and passions include dismantling white supremacy and racism, social and economic justice, and social work education. In addition, for the last 17 years, he has been a full-time hospital social worker at Lehigh Valley Health Network-Pocono. His three decades of practice experiences include the NYC Child Welfare Administration, specializing in child sexual abuse protection, NYC Legal Aid Society-Criminal Defense Division as a forensic social worker, and preventive services supervisor at the Lower East Side Family Union. He is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and a member of the Emerging Baccalaureate Social Work Educator-Scholars Initiative with the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD). He was born and raised in the South Bronx, is a husband, father, and loves to read and cook.

Brown is a ceramic artist from Dayton, Ohio. He holds an Associate of Arts degree from Sinclair Community College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University, and a Master of Fine Art from Indiana University-Bloomington. During his schooling, Brown sought out and worked for such potters as Mark Goertzen, Daniel Johnston, Alex Matisse, and Daniel Evans. Since graduating from Indiana University, Brown has worked to develop bodies of work from large-scale ceramic sculptures weighing several hundred pounds to everyday functional pottery. He has exhibited work both at the national and international levels. He has been a long-term resident at Baltimore Clayworks and a short-term resident at East Mitchell Clay. Through clay, Brown conveys both struggles and triumph through cracked surfaces, striking silhouettes, and bold compositions.

The Frederick Douglass Institute (FDI) at ESU is a collaborative organization with a mission to enhance and support diversity through the recruitment of graduate students from underrepresented populations. It also provides opportunities for FDI graduate student scholars to participate in diversity research, outreach, to involve the greater community in diversity programming, and to sponsor an annual diversity forum. In addition, FDI encourages faculty diversity through collaborative initiatives to recruit visiting scholars/artists who are committed to the ideals of the institute.

For more information about the Frederick Douglass Institute at ESU contact the office of the provost by calling (570) 422-3539.

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