Michele Simpson is a modern Renaissance Woman. She has a philosophy degree from Virginia State University and a jurisprudence degree from Indiana University. She teaches a variety of courses here in CU Boulder, both during the fall and spring semesters and over the summer. She also hosts and produces “Black Talk“—a podcast radio show centered around the Black community—and, despite her already full plate, Professor Simpson still finds the time to volunteer. Her skills and experience set her apart, but her humility and openness truly make her a remarkable woman.
Interestingly, her life goal was not to be a Renaissance Woman; she didn’t even plan on becoming a professor until much later in her career. She did have a love for teaching that accompanied her throughout her life—as a little girl playing school, and as a teenager tutoring during the summer. She actually fell into teaching while in law school. A nationally-known poet and undergraduate instructor, Mari Evans asked her and a classmate to take over the class during her sabbatical.
We were young enough to be stupid enough to say yes.
Michele Simpson, J.D.
After completing her degree, rather than going into teaching, Simpson applied her knowledge to the real world. Her education and what she considers her own privilege granted her seats at tables, and a voice in conversations many people were left out of. However, rather than speak for others, Simpson used her position to bring myriad voices to others and allow individuals and communities to use their own voices to tell their own stories.
For instance, last October, she moderated a Boulder City Council forum amidst local elections. She used this as an opportunity to have other people’s voices heard. So, instead of simply asking questions, she and a like-minded team arranged for community members to come and share their stories with the candidates. Rather than bring in statistics about the housing situation or the lack of diversity in Boulder, people were asked to share their lived experiences with the candidates and community.
I’m not the last voice. I don’t think I should ever be.
Michele D. Simpson, J.D.
Dr. Simpson has never been afraid to push boundaries, to create change. Long before the Women’s Studies program (now the Women and Gender Studies Department) was established in CU, she was the head of the Women’s Line after years of volunteering. The Women’s Line was an organization at CU that ran a 24/7 hotline for women. It was open to anyone with access to a phone, and, through their connections with various nonprofits, they connected them to physicians and therapists. Simpson, ever the problem-solver, designed a course at CU where a certain number of volunteer hours at the organization were required, which allowed them to have a steady influx of volunteers throughout the academic year. This brought her into teaching at a college level and into CU Boulder, where she was invited to join the Women’s Studies program not long after it first came into being.
Inside her classroom, no topic is off the table. Simpson creates a safe environment where her students and herself are encouraged to be vulnerable and to get uncomfortable. The classroom is her happy place, and she believes that difficult questions and difficult topics can only be efficiently discussed through vulnerability and respect. In a predominantly white institution, Simpson encourages students to be aware of the social injustices that the marginalized and chronically oppressed face. As a Black woman, she acknowledges that her experiences aren’t always common with those of her students and colleagues, but she opens herself to share her experiences in the name of education and progress.
I get a sense of the world through [my students’] perspectives.
Michele D. Simpson, J.D.
I met Dr. Simpson during my summer bridge program in 2021, Program for Excellence in Academics & Community (PEAC), where she taught Ethical Puzzles & Moral Conflicts, and it was honestly the best way I could have begun my college career. In each class, we discussed recent events, how they relate to ethical and moral issues, and what we thought of them. She guided our conversations but didn’t tell us what to think, or what to say. She let us discover that ourselves. She let us create our own thoughts and opinions and express them in the best way we could. Her classes are the kind that you look forward to going to every day, and she is the kind of professor you never forget. Dr. Michele Simpson is, without a doubt, an amazing woman and educator, both inside and outside of the classroom.