Davene M. White, a clinical assistant professor in the department of pediatrics and child health at Howard University in Washington, D.C., is the inaugural recipient of the Director’s Award from the Office of Research on Women’s Health of the National Institutes of Health. She also serves as the director of the Howard University Hospital CARES public health program.
White earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Howard University. She holds a neonatal nurse practitioner degree from Georgetown University and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Lester Spence, an associate professor of political science and an associate professor of Africana studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, received the Provost’s Prize for Faculty Excellence in Diversity. The prize, which includes a $50,000 honorarium, recognizes a full-time faculty member who has made scholarly or creative contributions related to diversity.
Dr. Spence is the author of Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-Hop and Black Politics (University of Minnesota Press, 2011) and Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics (Punctum Books, 2015). Dr. Spence holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.
