Featured image for post: Barton Professor Trinette Boone-Langley Among 24 North Carolinians Named William C. Friday Fellows

Barton Professor Trinette Boone-Langley Among 24 North Carolinians Named William C. Friday Fellows

William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations begins eleventh class

June 16, 2020 —The William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations, the flagship program of Wildacres Leadership Initiative (WLI), has named its 2020-2022 class. Trinette Boone-Langley, assistant professor and director of the Barton College Social Work program, was among the 24 North Carolinians named to 2020-2022 Class of Friday Fellows.

The William C. Friday Fellowship is a competitive statewide program for cross-sector leaders that seats fewer than 30 individuals across North Carolina every two-year cycle. Nineteen North Carolina counties are represented in this 11th Class of Friday Fellows.

A 2020 Lincoln Financial Excellence in Teaching Award recipient at Barton College, Boone-Langley sets the example for her students as she focuses on developing future social workers who can practice ethically and effectively with integrity, cultural sensitivity, and empathy. She volunteers yearly with her students at various locations in Wilson County, including Imagination Station, the Sallie B. Howard School, the Boys & Girls Club, the Salvation Army, Jackson Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, and the Hope Station.

Boone-Langley received her Bachelor of Science degree and her Master of Social Work degree from East Carolina University. She has been a full-time assistant professor at Barton College since 2014; she has served as an adjunct instructor for the social work major in the Professional Studies program since 2008. Her professional social work experience includes 15 years of practice in juvenile delinquency, prevention, child abuse and neglect investigations, school social work, health disparities amongst minorities, and social work staff development. Her passion and main areas of research are child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, and adult learners.

She also serves as secretary and board member of Especially For You, a non-profit in Rocky Mount. In addition, she is a lecturer for the School of Social Work at North Carolina State University.

Boone-Langley is the daughter of Ruth and Haywood Boone of Enfield. She is married to Pernell Langley, with whom she has two sons: Jaylen Langley and Airman First Class Jhaqez Langley, U.S. Air Force. Boone-Langley shares that she is thankful to each of her professional mentors who have sowed into her life, and she gives all the glory to God for her many accomplishments.

James Mills of Rocky Mount, a Friday Fellow from the Class of 2008 and WLI’s current board chair, shared, “I was amazed at the quality of candidates we interviewed. It was tough deciding who to seat.”

Selection chair Danny Ellis who is also a Friday Fellow from the Class of 2008 expressed his feelings, stating, “Wow, NC! This year-long journey across this great state has culminated with a slate of incredible souls and personalities. Their presentations and revealed purposes has me excited and thankful for the opportunity to have led this effort.”

William C. Friday Fellows are committed to leadership in North Carolina, model humility and continuous learning, and are courageous risk-takers seeking to create innovation through their work in the world.

The 2020-2022 Class of Friday Fellows will share in a two-year experience that uses stories and objects to question, examine, and transform the places we inherit and inhabit in the world. Words and things alike will become pathways for question-framing, relationship-building, and world-shifting.

WLI Deputy Director and Lead Faculty Meredith Doster describes the fellowship’s proposed arc and impact, “The learning technologies of the 2020-22 fellowship are deceptively simple: Tell and hear stories. Remember and share things. Journey alone and in community. To grow leadership capacities, Fellows will practice being present to one another. Together, Fellows will make and hold space for deep learning and collective transformation.”

As with previous classes, the Friday Fellowship will immerse these North Carolina leaders in this unique free program held in locations throughout the state for six four-day development seminars. Before and after each seminar weekend are guided practices designed for class members to embrace new pathways to build and sustain relationships across lines of difference.

WLI Director Hunter Corn added, “Each of these individuals has made a choice to step into something not fully known and to be in relationship with those different than themselves. It is these choices that make communities stronger and more resilient. I am grateful for their choices.”

The 2020-2022 Friday Fellowship class is listed alphabetically below. A class directory page with more information and a photo of each new class member is available at this link.

About the William C. Friday Fellowship

The William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations is a program of the Wildacres Leadership Initiative. The fellowship honors the legacy of longtime UNC system president Bill Friday, who charged the first class of fellows in 1995 with embracing personal growth and learning in the service of all North Carolinians. Responding to Bill Friday’s call for leadership marked by both courage and grace, the fellowship has equipped over 200 North Carolinians with opportunities for deep engagement with their own—and others’—leadership practices. With human relations at the core of the fellowship’s mission and design, fellows step into relationship with one another while evaluating their power, place, and purpose in a changing world.

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