Norka Blackman-Richards
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
After decades of working in higher education, Norka Blackman-Richards is a curator of anti-racist equity-needing spaces and movements. This work is aligned in her over twenty years of supporting student success in higher education at Queens College of the City University of New York. Her role as a recognized advocate, curator, and leader, is further manifested in the achievement of the following: (2023) Presidential Award for Diversity and Inclusion, (2019) Presidential Award for Excellence in Service, and (2014) The Jewel of Queens College Award. A published writer and presenter in topics on microaggressions, JDEI (Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), and first generation student success in higher education, Norka is completing a degree in Higher Administration (Ed.D). She has completed degrees in Nonfiction Writing (M.F. A), English Language Teaching Education (M. Ed), and Business Administration with a minor in Personnel Administration (B. Sc). Norka is the director of the Percy E Sutton SEEK Program at Queens College, one of the oldest opportunity programs in the United States; she also lectures in English Composition.
