James Perkins was appointed to a tenured position as professor of chemistry at Clark Atlanta University. He will also serve as vice president for research and sponsored programs. Dr. Perkins has served for the past seven years as director of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Translational Research Network Data and Technology Coordinating Center at Jackson State University in Mississippi.
Dr. Perkins is a graduate of Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He holds a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.
Lynette Stephenson was promoted from associate professor to full professor of art and art history at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Before joining the faculty at Colgate University, she was an assistant professor and associate professor at Jackson State University in Mississippi from 1985 to 1998.
Professor Stephenson is a graduate of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. She holds a master of fine arts degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Emilie M. Townes was named to the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a professor of ethics and society and the 16th dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School. Before coming to Vanderbilt last year, Dr. Townes was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School.
Dr. Townes holds a bachelor’s degree and a master degree in divinity, and a doctorate of divinity from the University of Chicago. She holds a second doctorate from the joint Northwestern University/Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary program.
