Three African American Women Faculty Taking on New Assignments

Namandje Bumpus has been appointed director of the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is the first African-American director of a department in the basic sciences at the medical school.

Professor Bumpus is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Michigan.

Cassandra Extavour, a professor of organismic and evolutionary biology and of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard University, was named a Harvard College Professor. The designation is a five-year appointment recognizing the scholar’s’ contributions to undergraduate teaching.

Dr. Extavour joined the Harvard faculty in 2007 and was promoted to full professor in 2014. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she majored in molecular biology and genetics. Dr. Extavour holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain.

Amoaba Gooden, an associate professor and chair of the department of Pan-African studies at Kent State University in Ohio, has been assigned the added duties of interim vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, effective June 1. Dr. Gooden joined the Kent State University faculty in 2006.

Dr. Gooden received bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in history, from the University of Guelph in Canada. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in African-American studies from Temple University in Philadelphia.