Mia Henry to lead Arcus Center at Kalamazoo College

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, July 17, 2014

Mia Henry

Mia Henry has a passion for social justice advocacy and now she has a chance to share it with Kalamazoo College students.

Following a national search, Henry has been named executive director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, beginning Aug. 11.

She has experience as a nonprofit administrator, education program developer, public school and university instructor, and social justice leader at the local and national level.

Henry says she looks forward to sharing her passion for social justice advocacy with Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff, as well as people in Kalamazoo.

"Kalamazoo College’s commitment to connecting academia to the study and practice of social justice aligns with my own professional mission and personal values," Henry says. "I look forward to helping the Arcus Center continue to embrace practices that support collaboration, transparency, and bold programming."

At K College she will develop programming and partnerships with local, national, and international organizations, raise the profile of the Center and Kalamazoo college, and work with K faculty, staff and students on projects and practices in social justice leadership. She will collaborate with Arcus Center Academic Director Lisa Brock.

For the past four years, Henry has served on the national leadership team for Black Space, an initiative of Safe Places for the Advancement of Community and Equity (SPACEs) that supports intergenerational groups of community leaders working for racial equity across the United States.

She currently serves on the boards of directors for the Community Justice for Youth Institute and the Worker’s Center for Racial Justice, both in Chicago, and has been a consultant with the Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Schools, the University of Chicago Hospital, and the University of Chicago Oriental Institute.

She founded Reclaiming South Shore for All, a diverse grassroots group of residents committed to mobilizing Chicago’s South Shore community by institutionalizing systems that promote peace, youth leadership, and political accountability. She also owns and operates Freedom Lifted, a small business dedicated to providing civil rights tours for people of all ages.

From 2007 to 2012, Henry served as the founding director of the Chicago Freedom School, overseeing most aspects of the nonprofit school dedicated to developing students aged 14 to 21 to be leaders in their schools and communities and to training adults to support youth-led social change.

Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran says Henry will build upon the work of Arcus Center's inaugural director Jaime Grant, who led the Center for four years.

"We are thrilled to welcome Mia Henry to Kalamazoo College," says Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. "She is a strategic, thoughtful leader with wide experience in social justice, education, and leadership development. She’s served as an executive, educator, entrepreneur, and supervisor. I’m convinced she will help us build on the multifaceted collaborative efforts that have helped shape K’s social justice leadership center into the first of its kind in higher education."

Source: Jeff Palmer, Kalamazoo College