OTC June 2023 Webinar: Social Innovators Activate!

Join us as Dr. Serenity Wright discusses the activation of Social Innovation at UK with a panel of UK Social Innovators. Topics will include social innovation in practice, sharing success and telling the story. 

Speaker/Moderator:

• Dr. Serenity Wright, Associate Director, Social Innovation, Office of Technology Commercialization

Panelists:

• Jaleesa Wells, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, College of Fine Arts and Founder and CEO, BossiRainbow™ LLC
• Melinda Ickes, Ph.D., Associate Professor, College of Education and College of Nursing
• ZaDonna M. Slay, DSW, Clinical Instructor, College of Social Work

Bios:

Serenity Wright, Ed.D. is the Associate Director for Social Innovation for the Office of Technology and Commercialization where she develops and manages new innovation and entrepreneurship programs focused on inclusive innovation and creating equitable access to entrepreneurship and innovation training for underrepresented innovators at UK and in Kentucky. Serenity earned her doctorate from the University of Kentucky in policy, measurement and evaluation. Her research interests include equity and access to opportunities. Serenity employs a hard science approach through a lens of cultural competency for her theoretical orientation. She is passionate about advocating for those who struggle to access opportunities available for them. Serenity taught high school for eight years, served as the Associate Dean for Diversity and International Students Services at Transylvania University, worked in city government, and served as the Gatton Honors Pathway Director and Co-Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Gatton College of Business and Economics.

Jaleesa Renee Wells Ph.D. is an artist, entrepreneur, and scholar investigating the intersections between culture, society, and enterprise. Her current research projects focus on the development of creative and cultural social enterprise ecologies; anthropologies of Black women’s cultural organizing; and phenomenologies of work, art, and gender in the academy. In practice, Dr. Wells is the founder and CEO of her family-run funky wearable art social enterprise: BossiRainbow™ LLC, learn more at bossirainbow.com.

Melinda Ickes received her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 2010. Dr. Ickes is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Kinesiology within the College of Education. She has a joint appointment in the College of Nursing and is a Faculty Associate of the BREATHE (Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments) research team, serving as Co-Director of the Tobacco Policy Research Program and Director of Go Tobacco-free. Dr. Ickes and her colleagues have assisted over 400 campuses and organizations work toward tobacco-free policies. Dr. Ickes has extensive experience in college and youth health promotion, including tobacco prevention, and has worked with university and community partners to reduce the prevalence of emerging tobacco products among at-risk youth and young adults. Dr. Ickes also works closely with community and state partners on youth policy advocacy initiatives. Dr. Ickes is currently the Co-Chair of University of Kentucky's Tobacco-free Campus Committee. She is also very active in professional organizations, including Chair of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) University Faculty Community of Practice and SOPHE State Health Policy Expert. 

ZaDonna M. Slay, DSW, has over a decade of professional experience in youth development, social welfare policy issues, and non-profit management. She has experience teaching graduate and undergraduate courses such as Social Welfare Policy, Field Experience, Social Work Groups, and Advanced Macro Practice. Her research interests include voting rights and empowerment, and disparity among Black women. Her dissertation explored the psychological stress among Black women faculty. She is an active member of her sorority, a member of Lexington Urban League Young Professionals and the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education. Additionally, Dr. Slay volunteers as a United State of Women (USOW) Ambassador working toward gender equality and advocacy. In her spare time, she is a flautist with the Madison County Community Band and continues her passion for dance through barre and Pilates.