Four Black Scholars Who Have Been Assigned New Duties

Anderson Sunda-Meya, a Norwood Endowed Professor of Physics, at Xavier University in New Orleans, will take on a new role as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. He joined the faculty at the university 13 years ago. Dr. Sunda-Meya will continue to serve as the director of the dual-degree engineering program.

Dr. Sunda-Meya is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, where he majored in physics. He holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter and materials physics from North Carolina State University.

Julianne Vernon, a research assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has been appointed interim associate dean for academic success in the university’s School of Engineering. She will continue serving as assistant dean for academic programs and manage the initiatives on first-year experience, study abroad, and international recruitment.

Dr. Vernon received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the City College of New York. She holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Florida.

Malika Jeffries-EL, an associate professor of chemistry at Boston University, has been given the added duties of associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Her research focuses on the development of organic semiconductors and their use in optical and electronic devices. Prior to joining the chemistry faculty at Boston University in 2016, Dr. Jeffries-EL was an associate professor at Iowa State University.

Dr. Jeffries-EL is a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she majored in chemistry and Africana studies. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

John Brown, director of the Duke University Jazz Program and professor of the practice of music, has been named vice provost for the arts at the university. Brown joined Duke University’s music department as an adjunct instructor in 2001 and was appointed an assistant professor in 2003.

Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

HBCUs Receive Major Funding From Blue Meridian Partners

The HBCU Transformation Project is a collaboration between the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), and Partnership for Education Advancement. Forty HBCUs are currently working with the project and additional campuses are expected to join this year. The partnership recently received a $124 million investment from Blue Meridian Partners.

Four African American Scholars Who Are Taking on New Duties

Channon Miller is a new assistant professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and Quienton L. Nichols is the new associate dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. M. D. Lovett has joined Clark Atlanta University as an associate professor of psychology and associate professor Robyn Autry was named director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

U.S. News and World Report’s Latest Rankings of the Nation’s Top HBCUs

Spelman College in Atlanta was ranked as the best HBCU and Howard University in Washington, D.C., was second. This was the same as a year ago. This was the 17th year in a row that Spelman College has topped the U.S. News rankings for HBCUs.

University of Georgia’s J. Marshall Shepherd Honored by the Environmental Law Institute

Dr. Shepherd is a professor of geography, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor, and the director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia. Before joining the faculty at the University of Georgia, he was a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Dr. Shepherd is an expert in the fields of weather, climate, and remote sensing.

Featured Jobs