I’m Torrence.

I am a public school educator currently finishing my Masters in the Learning Sciences and Human Development program at CU Boulder. 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

  • University of Colorado Boulder

    M.A., Learning Sciences & Human Development

    Public Education and Business Coalition

    Alternative Teacher License (secondary ELA)          

    University of Northern Colorado

    B.A., Sociology; Minor: Africana Studies + McNair Scholar


  • 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 Education 92(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.