Five Black Women Scholars Appointed to New Posts

Melissa Gilliam, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical School, has been given the added duties of vice provost for academic leadership, advancement, and diversity at the university. Previously, she served as dean for diversity and inclusion in the Biological Sciences Division and as director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health at the university,

Dr. Gilliam is a graduate of Yale University. She holds a master’s degree in philosophy and politics from the University of Oxford in England, a master of public health degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a medical doctorate from Harvard University.

June Manning Thomas was named the Mary Frances Berry Distinguished University Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. She is also a professor of urban planning in the university’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning. She joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2007 after teaching at Michigan State University.

Professor Thomas is a magna cum laude graduate of Michigan State University, where she majored in sociology. She holds a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of Michigan.

Yolanda Banks Anderson, professor of environmental science at North Carolina Central University in Durham has been given the additional role as the associate vice chancellor for faculty development/resources. Dr. Anderson joined the faculty at the university in 1996 and was promoted to full professor in 2010.

Professor Anderson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She earned a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Cynthia A. Nance, the Nathan G. Gordon Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas, has been given the added duties as the inaugural director of pro bono and community engagement initiatives at the law school. Professor Nance has taught at the law school since 1994 and served as dean from 2006 to 2011.

Professor Nance is a graduate of Chicago State University. She holds a master’s degree in business and a juris doctorate from the University of Iowa.

Tomisha Brock was named an assistant professor of music and associate director of bands at Mississippi Valley State University. She has been serving as director of university bands at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina.

Brock is a graduate of Virginia State University, where she majored in music education. She holds a master’s degree in music education from Norfolk State University in Virginia and currently is pursuing a doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.