Kayla Boyden
ODI Graduate Intern
Kayla Boyden is currently a PhD student in the English Graduate Program at Northwestern University. Her research explores Black contemporary poetry and poetics, Black feminist thought, and critical theory. While Kayla was an undergraduate student at the University of California: Irvine she began working with various student organizations focused on outreach and retention of BIPOC students. There she realized that along with her academic passions, she was invested in supporting marginalized students like herself in their academic pursuits. During her master’s degree at the University of California: Los Angeles, Kayla served as the 2020-2021 graduate mentor for the Ronald E. McNair Research Scholars program where she supported 14 undergraduate students of color in their journey towards graduate school. Currently, Kayla is a Poetry and Poetics Mellon Cluster Fellow. She is also a First-Generation Low Income (FGLI) graduate mentor at Northwestern.