To mark this eventful school year, DAAS celebrates the achievements of our students, alumni, faculty and staff in stride with the obstacles they have overcome. To share these achievements with a wider audience, we’ve decided to begin a spotlight series to highlight those special members of our community who are doing important work in the world around us, and spreading academic and socially conscious excellence wherever they go.
At the end of last semester, we sat down with 2020 alumnus Emmanuel Saint-Phard (BA Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience, Minor in Afroamerican & African Studies) to discuss his years at Michigan and what DAAS has meant to him. In addition to this, Saint-Phard shared what’s ahead as he looks forward to completing a Master’s at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in Public Health. We congratulate Emmanuel on his achievements and graduation! Read more to see what he’s been up to.
Clara Scott, DAAS Student Writer
How are you doing with everything? I know you graduated this year.
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
Yeah, yeah, I just graduated. It was a bit difficult in the beginning to adjust, but now I've just kind of fallen into a new routine. So I've adjusted much better now. I'm just kind of going with the flow waiting to see when things let out, when things get better.
Clara Scott
Mmhmm. Yeah. Where are you staying for now?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
I'm still in Ann Arbor. I'm still in my house. I'll be here for the foreseeable future until I have to move down to North Carolina for my graduate program.
Clara Scott
Oh, what are you studying?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
I'll be studying public health at Chapel Hill.
Clara Scott
Oh, that's great, because I know your major was BCN here ... what made you make the decision to study public health?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
It was kind of a combination of things, probably the most driving factor in that choice was my work in my public health lab. I worked in a research lab, studying chronic disease management at the School of Public Health here at Michigan. I'm still working remotely part of the time but that was probably one of the major factors that went into that decision, just because I was able to learn more about public health ― I was pre-med before, and I still wanted to stay in some type of health area ― so I shifted my focus onto public health, which is still focusing on more of the preventative health side of things.
Clara Scott
It's interesting to me because you eventually chose such a hard-STEM major that you decided to pick up the DAAS minor ― what went into that decision?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
I originally took the intro course, like, AAS 111. I took that just to facilitate distribution. But I really enjoyed the class a lot. And then I ended up taking another course to fill out another distribution. And then I was like, “Oh, I don't have time for this anywhere because of all my pre-med courses.” But when I decided not to do pre-med anymore, I realized I had more time in my schedule and was like, “Oh, I enjoyed these classes. I might as well see if I can get a minor through this to take more classes that are interesting.” And honestly, the classes that I took through DAAS are probably my favorite classes that I've taken.
Clara Scott
Are there any in particular that you remember or any professors that really stood out to you?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
Yeah. I want to say I took a course with Professor Boyd, it was about Black films. It was really interesting because we watched these films that portrayed prominent Black stories. And we discussed them, dissected them, wrote papers on them, and it was just really enjoyable for me. Typically, when I take any type of courses here, they don't really portray Black stories in Black history, unless it's through DAAS, but this one in particular struck me because I really love film. I love movies. So it was really great to watch these movies, and some of them I had already seen, I was able to see them through a different lens. I was watching with a group of other people in the course and then we would discuss after so it really had me think more critically on what was happening in the film, both the plotline and the different techniques that directors use. So that was probably one of my favorite courses here. Definitely one of my favorites that I took with DAAS.
Clara Scott
Now, reflecting on your undergrad ― how do you think that your minor and your involvement with DAAS has influenced your engagement with public health, if at all?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
I definitely think that me getting involved with DAAS and taking courses has influenced me in many different areas. I just completed my thesis through the psychology department and I actually focused that topic on disparities about, racial disparities specifically, between Black and white students in higher education, and that's definitely something that I don't think I would have come up with or would have decided to pursue if I didn't get involved with DAAS courses.
For the final thesis you have to write for the minor, yeah, I also focused on something that was similar to that, specifically at Michigan, like the racial disparities here and what went into that since, I think, the 1970s to now, which is really interesting. I did a lot of work with the Bentley and looked at historical documents to see what was happening through different time periods and see how Black enrollment specifically has taken shape. That was definitely something that I don't think would have been interested in maybe even three years ago.
So definitely in that regard, I think it's affected my thinking and the things that I decided to pursue. And then I guess specifically for public health, I mean, I've always obviously been interested in different disparities. But this is, it's kind of influenced me to focus on health disparities. That’s opened up my eyes or whatever. I don't know how to phrase it, but just to see that the different disparities that go on and how different issues that people face, not just in the US but also abroad have impact on people's health. Whether it's disparities in education, health services, representation in government, like all of that really feeds into being healthy and having good health or general like public health. So, it's something that's definitely been a driving point of focus for me as I pursue public health.
Clara Scott
Specifically about your thesis, it's really interesting to me ― did you focus on a specific group of students - you said you were talking about disparities and in public health. Did you narrow it down from there?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
For the thesis specifically, I was looking at the CSP program. Just because I know, since I'm in CSP, I know that there's a large proportion of Black students in the program. So I figured it would be interesting to see if CSP was having an impact on improving life outcomes for Black students. So I looked at CSP, Black CSP students and non-CSP Black students, and then just compared them throughout. So I didn't do a direct comparison between Black and white students. But I did do a lot of background research that did show that there was a disparity between Black and white students at predominantly white institutions like U of M. So that was kind of what inspired me to look into CSP and look and see if programs like CSP could help improve that gap.
Clara Scott
Yeah, that's really interesting. And so did you find that they did improve it?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
It was definitely not exactly what I was looking for. But it did seem to improve specifically, Black students' future aspirations, what positions they aspire to, if they want to pursue more leadership positions in whatever career they pursued, or choose to pursue more higher education, like graduate degrees or PhDs, etc. So in that regard, it did seem to improve Black students' sense of belonging on campus. Which is really good because I think we're around 4% of the students. So not much. So it's definitely hard to kind of see yourself represented on campus. And that can lead to feelings of social isolation and lack of belonging. So we were seeing that CSP did tend to improve racial belonging for Black students. So yeah, those are like some good findings that I was able to take from the study, which is really great. It did seem to improve some outcomes for Black students.
Clara Scott
I know that you did research with the Bentley library and looked into enrollment with Black students in the past, how do you think that the Black presence on campus has influenced how Black students identify and connect today? Has it changed a lot as a change with, you know, affirmative action, that kind of thing, especially since the enrollment is so low? Do you see any connection there?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
I definitely think there's still a push for, I guess more representation for Black students on campus. It was really interesting to see, because 1970 was the first Black student movement or Black Action Movement. So that was like the first full push. So they're really pushing for things like affirmative action that would force the institution to focus on enrolling Black students. And, it was interesting to see how, through the years,, even after well, even before affirmative action was repealed or ruled unconstitutional or whatever, in Michigan, the rates were declining because it seemed that a lot of people reported that a lot of schools that represented Black populations were not up to par with the academic rigor at Michigan.
So even if they did enroll, a larger supply of Black students wouldn't be fully prepared to succeed at the school and the things that they were seeing. And this was in the ‘80s and the early ‘90s, so that's something that I didn't think of. I was like, “Why don't they just admit more Black students?” And so there's a lot that goes into that. So definitely, it showed that there were even more disparities not just in higher education, but elementary and high school, which are really formative years for students. That was one major thing that unlocked.
Clara Scott
No, no, it makes a lot of sense. Especially in connection with your project with CSP, especially looking at whether that prepared students, whether having that community helps students a lot more to kind of deal with the intensity of Michigan.. That is interesting because I can see how that also informs something like your understanding of public health, kind of like widening the aperture of public health to include an understanding of minority structure. Do you think that you're going to go into your masters with that angle for your thesis or your dissertation? Do you think that you'll focus on minority displacement and disparity as well?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
Yeah, I definitely think so. Just because that's been the driving force of most of the work that I've done in the past few years. And that's something that I'm really passionate about. So even now as I look for positions, like research positions there with faculty and looking for research that kind of aligns with health, health disparities, but obviously, like, I'm always open. If I wasn't open to there shaping how I think of things and receiving my future plans, I wouldn't have even been able to stumble upon public health and get into what I'm passionate about now. So definitely still open. But, I really hope to do work in health disparities, specifically in education.
Clara Scott
Do you think that your own identity has influenced the decisions you make and the research that you're focusing on in terms of your academic background?
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
Yeah, I definitely think so. My parents are immigrants from Haiti. So though I grew up in the US, I grew up in a different community than many other Black students here. So I think that my understanding of the issues that a lot of people who look like me face, I didn't really fully understand until I started taking these classes and getting to know other Black students on campus. So definitely, I think that those experiences helped shape who I am now in the passions that I have now. And without that, I don't think I would have really been on the course that I am.
Clara ScottThat's interesting. I'm sure DAAS served as a community for that as well.
Emmanuel Saint-Phard
Well, for sure, so much; so many people in my classes, obviously, literally any other class I take, there might be one or two Black students, maybe most of the time not. So definitely whenever I took a DAAS course that was really great to see representation. See people who look like me. So that was definitely very helpful in getting me through these four years.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
