Sostieni Dr. Reagan Nicole

I'm a racial justice researcher who just completed a PhD in Communication at Stanford University. That's "Communication" not "Communications" — we’re sticklers about the fact that there’s no “s” in our department name. Before starting the PhD, I simultaneously completed a bachelor’s degree with honors in African and African American Studies and a Master’s degree in Communication at Stanford. I then worked as a researcher for the civil rights non-profit, Color Of Change. As a PhD candidate, I worked with professors Jay Hamilton, Angele Christin, and Jeremy Bailenson, using ethnographic methods to explore racial justice in criminal legal systems and corporate virtual reality programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion. My dissertation “Calling for Phone Justice: Mass Incarceration, Media Activism, and the Martha Wright-Reed Act” documents the 20+ years of organizing undertaken to regulate the cost of phone calls for people in U.S. jails and prisons.

During my PhD program, I served as Vice President of the Stanford University Black Graduate Student Association, a position from which I advocated for transitioning Stanford’s long-running Program in African and African American Studies (AAAS) into a full-fledged Department, which was finally established in 2023. I am also proud to have been a participant in Stanford’s historic 120-day long student sit-in for justice in Palestine.

This year, I won the Science Technology and Society Director’s Award for Advancing Social in STEM, the Stanford Alumni Association’s Community Impact Award, and the Black Community Services Center’s Community Service Award. I intend to turn my dissertation into a book and continue engaging in research and advocacy work.

This is a celebratory time for me, but it's also a tough time given the state of things *gestures wildly at the contracting job market*. Your donations will help me cover the financial costs of moving to a more affordable state while I search for a job that will leave me enough time to keep writing. Thank you for celebrating me!