JOHNSON CITY (Aug. 28, 2020) – Change is certain, and the ability to embrace change and transform it into opportunities for growth can redefine a person’s future in ways unimagined. Deidra Rogers will discuss her own experiences with embracing change in “Braving MY Own Wilderness,” a free virtual talk in East Tennessee State University’s “Women on Wednesdays” series, on Sept. 2.
Sponsored by ETSU’s Women’s Studies Program, the talk will be livestreamed via Zoom at noon. The Zoom ID number is 964 0123 2165.
In her talk, Rogers will share life lessons learned during COVID and working in academia while reflecting on her heart of service and her civic involvement in the nonprofit world. She will highlight social injustices, womanhood, parenting, learning the beauty of vulnerability, and growing pains. She will also explore the work of research professor and author Brené Brown, which focuses on vulnerability, courage and shame.
Rogers’ passion for service led her to complete a year of AmeriCorps Vista service in 2018 with the National Corporation for Community Service in Knoxville. This program allows its members to serve as catalysts for change, living and working alongside community members to meet their most pressing needs and to work toward local solutions. She has also served as a missionary in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Rogers, who earned a master’s degree in human services counseling with a concentration in life coaching from Liberty University in 2015, is a lecturer in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at ETSU. She has over 13 years of experience in the non-profit sector serving the local community at large, including adults with mental and physical disabilities.
The “Women on Wednesdays” series is designed to raise awareness about the research, scholarship and community engagement conducted by women at ETSU; to provide a venue where women on campus and in the community can discuss and support each other’s work; and to give students an opportunity to meet faculty who could become mentors for their studies.
For more information, call Dr. Phyllis Thompson, director of Women’s Studies, at 423-439-4125.