I’m Torrence.

I am an PhD student in Educational Theory, Organization, and Policy at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. My research interests is in exploring how schools operate as sites of anti-Blackness, as well as how they shape Black adolescents racial and political consciousness

CV

  • M.A., Education with an emphasis in Learning Sciences & Human Development,

    University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO

    Alternative Teacher License (secondary ELA),

    Public Education and Business Coalition, Denver, CO

    B.A., Sociology with a minor in Africana Studies,

    University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO


  • Book review

    Brown-Smith, T.G. (2026), Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve. By RoseannLiu, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2024. 208 pp. . Anthropol. Educ. Q, 57: e70082. https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.70082

    Peer-reviewed

    Brown-Smith, T. (2023). "It gets tiring. It affects different parts of your life.": Examining racial battle fatigue among Black college students' at a historically White college and university. Journal of Negro Education92(4), 448-459.  https://muse-jhu-edu.colorado.idm.oclc.org/article/954122.

  • Graduate Student Researcher (PI: Dr. Ben Kirshner), Transform Student Voice (TSV) Research Team, 2025-Present

    Undergraduate Research Assistant (PI: Dr. Rebecca Beals), Evaluation of the National Science Foundation’s Bridge to the Doctorate Program, 2019-2020


  • Select Conferences

    Brown-Smith, T. (2025, July). Learning Liberation Through Literacy in a Middle School Classroom. Teaching Black History Conference at University at Buffalo. Buffalo, NY.


    Brown-Smith, T., Jewell, R., Satterwhite, K. (2024, November). Understanding Atrocities and Their Language: (Awkwardly) Navigating Injustice from a Middle School Classroom. Teachers of Color and Allies (TOCA) Summit at University of Colorado Boulder. Boulder, CO.


    Brown-Smith, T. (2019, October). "It gets tiring. It affects different parts of your life." Examining Racial Battle Fatigue among Black College Students at a Historically White University. UNM McNair Scholars Research Conference at Albuquerque, NM.

    Brown-Smith, T. (2019, October). "It gets tiring. It affects different parts of your life." Examining Racial Battle Fatigue among Black College Students at a Historically White University. National McNair Scholars Conference at UCLA. Los Angeles, CA.

    Brown-Smith, T. (2019, July). "It gets tiring. It affects different parts of your life." Examining Racial Battle Fatigue among Black College Students at a Historically White University. University at Buffalo McNair-Sponsored Research Conference. Buffalo, NY.