(NASHVILLE) An MTSU alumna, December graduate Sociology major Nailah Herbert, captured the "Best Thesis Award" at the Tennessee Conference for Graduate Schools' 2020 spring meeting at Meharry Medical College in Nashville.

"I am honored to have received this award," Herbert said. "It means a lot to receive recognition for work that I am passionate about."

Herbert's thesis is titled "I Do Not Weep at the World: Examining Black Women's Expressions of Selfhood and the Revolutionary Act of Claiming Experiences and Identity."

Herbert, a master's degree candidate from Antioch, Tennessee, conducted interviews with 15 people who self-identified as black women and a small focus group that included three of the original interviewees.

"In this study, I explore black women's self-defined interpretations of media and literature that portray black womanhood," Herbert writes in the abstract of her paper. "Additionally, I consider how black women's perceptions of such portrayals affect their impressions about popular media in general."

The Tennessee Conference for Graduate Schools "represents more than 40 member institutions and serves the purpose of considering topics of mutual interest related to graduate education and research," according to www.tcgsnet.org.

The members of Herbert's MTSU thesis committee are the chair, Ashleigh McKinzie, assistant professor of sociology; Vicky MacLean, sociology professor; and Roberta Chevrette, assistant professor of communication studies.