Summer Program Aims to Encourage Students to Become Professors of African American Literature

moodyThis June eight college juniors from across the nation will participate in the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The institute was established in 2009 by Joycelyn Moody, who holds the Sue E. Denman Distinguished Chair in American Literature at the university. The purpose of the institute is to encourage young scholars to consider careers as professors in the field of African American literature.

“The study of African-American literature will die if there are no scholars. Thanks to funding through my UTSA endowment, I am hoping to create a pipeline across the nation’s universities, so that the subfield of African-American studies within English departments remains vibrant,” said Dr. Moody.

Dr. Moody is the author of Sentimental Confessions: Spiritual Narratives of Nineteenth-Century African American Women (University of Georgia Press, 2001). Professor Moody is a graduate of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas. She joined the faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2007. She previously served on the faculty at Saint Louis University and the University of Washington.

Students accepted as fellows of the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute will spend several weeks in San Antonio meeting with leading national scholars in the field of African American literature. They will also travel to New York City to conduct academic research. Participants receive housing and course materials, as well as a Kevin Morris$2,000 stipend. More information on the institute is available here.

One of this year’s participants will be Kevin P. Morris II, a junior at the University of Arkansas, who hopes to earn a Ph.D. in African American studies. “Being awarded this fellowship is a great opportunity to develop more as a researcher, writer, and overall scholar,” Morris said.

Related Articles

2 COMMENTS

  1. I have no doubt Morris II will represent himself and the African American Literatures and Cultures Institute in a professional and intellectually sound manner. You are the future in the field of African American literature – I believe in you.

    Daddy…..

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

North Carolina A&T State University Mounts Effort to Educate Heirs Property Owners

Heirs property is land passed down through a family, often over multiple generations and to numerous descendants, without the use of wills or probate courts. In North Carolina, the value of land owned as heirs property is estimated at nearly $1.9 billion. Heirs property is disproportionately held by Black landowners.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

New Legislation Aims to Boost Entrepreneurial Efforts of HBCU Students

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) has introduced the Minority Entrepreneurship Grant Program Act, bipartisan legislation that creates a grant program with the Small Business Administration for entrepreneurs at minority-serving institutions like historically Black colleges and universities.

Featured Jobs