Jeanette Snider: On the Move

Smith Undergrad Staff Spotlight
Jeanette Snider, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs

Recently, Jeanette Snider, assistant director of undergraduate programs at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, co-presented with her College of Education classmates Julia Anderson and Benjamin Beltran on the challenges student affairs practitioners may face engaging and incorporating multiracial students, an important, often invisible student population. Their presentation, “Complicating Race: Multiraciality and Navigating the Collegiate Experience,” explored the increasing awareness of this population and explained critical terminology as well as challenges to data collection. They also discussed the concepts of collective identity and how multiracial students my experience multiracial microaggressions on campus. Finally, they offered a number of recommendations for higher education professionals to support those students who feel comfortable claiming their mixed racial (and ethnic) heritage and who desire ways to connect on college campuses.

Jeanette also presented at the Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) Conference at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2017.  “Explorations in Transgender, Transgressions, Transmigrations, Transracial: Fifty Years After Loving v. Virginia,” brought together scholars, academics and artists from multiple fields, including sociology, psychology, philosophy, history, education, women’s studies, linguistics, ethnic studies, and many others. The conference provided an opportunity to analyze and explore the past, present and future of multiraciality and mixedness as it is studied across disciplines and around the world with presenters traveling from across the U.S., South Africa and Canada.   The presentation, entitled “It Takes a Village: Building the 2018 CMRS Conference at the University of Maryland” draws from Jeanette’s current role planning the 2018 CRMS conference coming to the University of Maryland March 1-3, 2018. In her talk, Jeanette shared her on-campus experiences as an administrator and doctoral student in education particularly regarding increased concerns and anxieties among students in marginalized and minoritized communities arising from their proximity to the Capitol. Additionally, Jeanette and her colleagues heard from conference attendees about their hopes for the 2018 conference, how it fits into the current political climate, and what perspectives, connections and expertise various constituents might offer.  Jeanette had the privilege to attend various sessions centered on the historical foundations of mixed race, “Black lives, black bodies and social justice,” “Visual, Rhetorical, and Cultural Theorizations of Mixed-Race Bodies,” and finally “Mulattoes, Mestizos and Free People of Color: Historical Classification and the Lived Experience of Mixed-Heritage Peoples.” Lastly, Jeanette attended a talk from the founding scholar of critical mixed race studies, Maria P. Root. Jeanette is excited to share the scholarship she encountered with the UMD community, in particular, in her everyday interactions with undergraduate students, as she continues to pursue her doctoral degree and plan the 2018 conference. 

If you have any questions about Jeanette’s experience, please contact her at jsnider@rhsmith.umd.edu.

Find out more about the undergraduate program at Smith: www.rhsmith.umd.edu/undergrad.