Our Stories Matter

Robert J. Nash has been a professor in the College of Education and Social Services, University of Vermont, Burlington, for 44 years. Since 1996 he has published 13 books, several of them national award winners, along with over 100 articles, numerous book chapters, and several book reviews. In 2003 he was named the Official University Scholar in the Social Sciences and the Humanities at the University of Vermont, only the third faculty member in the history of the College of Education and Social Services to be so honored.Sydnee Viray is a highly respected student services administrator at the University of Vermont. She is a social worker, consultant/scholar in the areas of diversity and inclusion and financial management for mission-driven non-profits and for government bodies. She has spent the last 10 years as a community social worker advocating for, and with, economically and racially marginalized community members. She is currently a Scholarly Personal Narrative writing co-instructor (with Robert) at UVM.

«There are few books in life that will leave a lasting impression on those readers who want to become writers. This is one of those exceptional books, because it gives the reader an opportunity to fully understand SPN writing. SPN is a writer’s way of liberating the soul, mind, and person. By sharing their own, and others’, narratives throughout, the authors lead by example. Any undergraduate or graduate student, faculty member, and/or administrator reading this book will immediately want to run to a computer in order to liberate their voices and enrich their lives!» (Richard Greggory Johnson III, Associate Professor, University of San Francisco)«‘Our Stories Matter’ is a comprehensive and inspiring guide to SPN writing. This is an innovative research methodology that both informs and liberates. Like Participatory Action Research, SPN writing creates essential ways for marginalized peoples to relate to research, writing, and publication as a source of empowerment, not conquest. This book offers tangible tools for Scholarly Personal Narrators and celebrates those who have the courage, strength, and resilience to document their own liberatory stories in academic forums.» (Owen Daniel-McCarter, J.D., founding collective member of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois; Instructor, DePaul University)