Four Black Men Who Are Taking on New Faculty Assignments

Calvin Nobles was named chair of the department of information technology and management at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. A retired United States Navy officer, Dr. Nobles comes to Illinois Tech after serving as a vice president at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Nobles’ academic experience includes teaching university courses at Arizona State University and the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Dr. Nobles holds an MBA and a Ph.D. in management from Northcentral University. He earned a Ph.D. at Capital Technology University in Laurel, Maryland, and a doctorate in business administration from Temple University in Philadephia.

Jeffrey Wray, professor and associate chair of undergraduate studies in the English department at Michigan State University, was appointed to the Timnick Chair in the Humanities. He is the second holder of the endowed chair. Filmmaker, screenwriter, and educator, Wray has served as a core faculty member in the university’s film studies program since 2002.

Professor Wray is a graduate of Hiram College in Ohio, where he majored in communication. He earned a master of fine art degree in filmmaking from Ohio University.

Dexter Gordon, the Dolliver NEH Distinguished Professor at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, was selected to serve as executive vice president at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Dr. Gordon also has been serving as director of the University of Puget Sound’s African American studies program and the founding director of the university’s Race and Pedagogy Institute.

Professor Gordon is a graduate of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. He earned a Ph.D. in rhetoric, culture, and African American studies from Indiana University Bloomington.

Chris Walker has been named the new director of the Division of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a professor in the School of Education’s department of dance.

Walker attended Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica, where he completed a professional diploma in dance and theatre production before receiving both bachelor and master of fine arts degrees in dance from the State University of New York at Brockport.

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