I am so glad you’re here! My name is Terza Alice Silva Lima-Neves and I am a proud Kriola (Kree-Oh-Luh) or Cabo Verdean woman, dedicated wife, mother, award-winning student-centered educator, scholar, Black African feminist, and advocate for the rights of those who self-identify as Black women and girls.

I was born in the Cabo Verde Islands, West Africa. When I was a teenager, my parents, Cesar and Ivone made the ultimate sacrifice of leaving behind their homeland for the United States, in search of better educational opportunities for my siblings and me.

As a newly arrived immigrant student in Pawtucket, RI, with limited English skills but a whole lot of passion for learning, I met the most dedicated and outstanding E.S.L. (English as a Second Language) teachers who inspired me to pursue education as a career. With the support of my parents and these teachers, I earned an academic scholarship to attend an independent single-sex school in Providence, RI. My parents worked tirelessly in Rhode Island factories, sacrificing their health and bodies so my sisters and I could have all we needed to excel in school.

I earned my undergraduate degree in political science from Providence College and my M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Clark Atlanta University.

I work very hard to carve out time and space for myself and do the things I really enjoy including quiet time at my favorite coffee shop while watching life happen. I love spending time with my husband and children, documenting our many activities through photography. I’m also a junkie for true crime shows and Hallmark movies (don’t judge me).

My research, and published scholarship focus on Cabo Verdean women and gender studies, global gender studies, and the modern Black African diasporas. My book, Cabo Verdean Women Writing Remembrance, Resistance, and Revolution: Kriolas Poderozas was published in 2021 by Lexington Books. My identity as an African woman, fluent in multiple languages (Cabo Verdean Kriolu, Spanish, and Portuguese) with background experience in immigration law, I pride myself on being able to offer culturally competent advising and mentoring to my students. I am also an active advocate for policies that center on life-work balance and the lived experiences of Black women and women of color at institutions of higher education. Currently, I am a professor of political science and department chair.

I earned a leadership foundation certification from the Harvard Business School for Executive Education as well as held fellowships from the International Women’s Forum (IWF), the Paul Cuffee Memorial Program with the Munson Institute for the Study of Minorities in Maritime History, the James Bradford Ames Research Fellowship, the Ford Foundation (Clark Atlanta University), the Consortium of Faculty Diversity (Brown Fellow at the University of the South) and the Five Colleges Consortium (Mendenhall Fellow at Smith College). 

I am the co-founder of Poderoza: International Conference on Cabo Verdean Women, founding President of the Cape Verdeans of the Carolinas Association (CVC) and the 2019-20 President of the North Carolina Political Science Association, the first Black woman/person to serve in this role.