The Public Affairs Playlist: Meet Professor Nadine Wedderburn

This excerpt is taken from “A Deep Dive With Nadine Wedderburn.” Read the full story.

Professor of Public Affairs and Policy Nadine Wedderburn joined Empire State University in 2010, witnessing the university’s transitions in the last sixteen years and delivering course material throughout it all. Wedderburn teaches in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences while simultaneously conducting research focused on the Caribbean, sociology, and criminal justice, among other topics. 

Wedderburn’s vibrant background populates the screen; a large map of the Caribbean displayed behind her head. Her braids drape neatly over her shoulder as she smiles.

Can you tell me about your hometown and upbringing?

Wedderburn: I was born in the parish of St. Ann in Jamaica of the West Indies in the Caribbean. My hometown is Salem, a small district. We refer to what the United States would call towns or villages as districts in Jamaica. It is a small fishing village. I live right by the sea, and that has also made a lifelong impression on who I am today.

I look forward to going home because it’s sort of a ritual for me. My mother is still there, so we go to the beach every morning to begin the day. Being from Jamaica, the country is known for tourism, and people go to the beach as part of their vacations. For me, it’s a little different. I like to commune with the fisher people on the beach, find out how things are going with them.

It’s also a remembrance of how my ancestors got to the island in the first place—knowing that people of African ancestry came to the island by way of the transatlantic slave trade, on ships. I always have thoughts of what that must have been like and how that has changed the landscape over time.

What were some of your early interests and passions?

Wedderburn: I’ve always loved to learn. I learned to play the piano at a very young age, so I developed a deep love for music early on. For me, music is more than the genre, it’s a language. I like to think that it’s also helped develop my critical and analytical mind.

I also developed a love for math early on. And perhaps, just interesting people. Growing up in Salem, I was constantly around people of all walks of life. From early on, I was always seeing people from other parts of the world coming to my little town. I’ve always been curious about what other people’s lives are like. I also love to read. I developed a rabid appetite for reading early on.

Let’s talk about your professional trajectory. What drew you to Empire State University, and what are some of the courses you teach?

I started a degree in mathematics at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. At the time, my father thought that getting a degree in math wasn’t promising professionally, so he encouraged me to look into engineering.

It took me to Rochester Institute of Technology, and I completed a degree there in civil engineering technology. For a number of years, I worked in construction management and then went back to school and did a master’s in engineering management at Florida Institute of Technology. I worked following that degree as well. Then, around the September 11 attacks, I was in Florida working in construction management, and we were laid off because the company was based in New York.

I started looking at a doctorate in urban planning because that’s what I really wanted to do to begin with. I had hopes of going back to Jamaica to get involved in land planning and urban development. At the time I entered Florida International University and started looking at the urban planning program, it wasn’t quite turning out to be what I wanted, so I moved into the public administration program, and I graduated with a Ph.D. in public affairs.

The common advice when you have a Ph.D. is to go into teaching. I took the advice about teaching quite seriously and started pursuing jobs in higher education.

I went to Latham—at the time—for my interview with SUNY Empire, got hired, and haven’t looked back since. I teach in the public affairs program. Some of my courses are Public Policy, Public Administration, and Social Welfare Policy.

I’ve also taught courses like Cultural Diversity Competence, Diversity in the Workplace, and more recently, I’ve been teaching Race, Crime, and Justice. And, of course, with my love of the Caribbean, if the need arises, I may also teach a course in Caribbean Studies. In higher education, the assumption is that you specialize in one area, but my life has been quite interdisciplinary, and I believe in bringing that to my teaching.

What topics does your research center on?

Wedderburn: My teaching informs my research, and I believe in keeping my teaching as current as possible. I find myself researching sociology, criminal justice, and politics a lot.

On a more direct level, I spend a lot of time looking at slavery archives in Jamaica, because my current research wants to get at the origins of education policy in Jamaica.

In a few days, you’re presenting “A Soundtrack for Liberation.” What can you share about this project?

Wedderburn: Thanks to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, I received a grant to prepare this multimedia presentation. I had read Ruha Benjamin’s “Imagination: A Manifesto,” and it’s a powerful book to me. What it says is that imagination is liberating, yet many people’s ability to imagine, or their being granted permission to even imagine, has been restricted.

There is a sense that we think of imagination as this sort of illusory, magical thing, right? That, if all we’re going to do is sit and imagine all day long, we’re not going to get very far. But she points to the fact that everything begins with that—imagination—good and bad. Imagination is power.

And then, of course, I shared my love of music earlier. As a Jamaican, logically, I always fall back on Bob Marley. I thought, what if I put together a soundtrack for Ruha Benjamin’s book to make the presentation more engaging?

How do you encourage your students to think about their roles as future public administrators in creating change?

Wedderburn: I would like to think that my teaching inspires students to be changemakers. What I try to do is find real-life situations that match the curriculum and talk about that—whether in a reflection, paper, or discussion post—so they get to share and learn from each other in that way.

Beyond Bob Marley, what is on your personal soundtrack? What music inspires your work?

Wedderburn: My playlist is a mixture of classic reggae, up to the 1980s, then dancehall. I also love African music, what’s known as Afrobeats, which is sort of a misleading term. To me, all the music of the diaspora is Afrobeats, because how are you going to listen to salsa and not hear the drums in that? Where do you think that came from?

And finally, what is one thing you feel is important to share this Black History Month?

Wedderburn: Though we set aside a month to recognize the achievements and history, Black history is celebrated every month in many households across the country. Black people celebrate achievements every day; Black people’s history is ever-present with them. It’s important for others to recognize that fact, because this country’s successes and failures have a lot to do with how Black history is celebrated.