Ben Vinson III was named as the next dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University in the nation’s capital. The college, the largest at the university, includes more than 40 academic departments and 27 centers. The college enrolls more than 5,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students and employs more than 1,000 faculty members. Dr. Vinson’s appointment is effective on August 1
Dr. Vinson currently serves as vice dean for centers, interdepartmental programs, and graduate programs at the Zanvyl School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is also the Herbert Baxter Adams Professor of Latin American History. Dr. Vinson joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 2006 and is the former director of the university’s Center for Africana Studies. Before joining the Johns Hopkins faculty, Professor Vinson taught at Pennsylvania State University and Barnard College in New York City.
Professor Vinson’s research focuses on the African presence in colonial Mexico. He is the author of Bearing Arms for His Majesty: The Free-Colored Militia in Colonial Mexico (Stanford University Press, 2002) and Black Mexico: Race and Society from Colonial to Modern Times (University of New Mexico Press, 2009).
Professor Vinson is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University.
