A Pair of Black Women Who Have Been Appointed to Provost Positions

Donna Bradley is the new provost at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois. Dr. Bradley has served as vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln College since January 2021.

Lincoln College enrolls just under 1,000 undergraduate students and about 30 graduate students according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 42 percent of the undergraduate student body.

Dr. Bradley was the first African American student to attend St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, Tennessee. As a young girl in a class of just 42 students, she began her schooling in August 1968, four months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “For many of the wealthy students, the maids, butlers, and gardeners were the only African American people they knew. Many of the girls didn’t want to include me or their parents wouldn’t allow them to invite me over,” recalled Bradley. Now the school has an award named in her honor.

Dr. Bradley holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Brown University, a master’s degree in criminal justice from Columbia College, a juris doctorate from Howard University School of Law, and a doctorate degree in public safety and criminal justice from Capella University.

Kathy Littles was named provost at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. She is returning to the institute where she had worked from 2006 to 2019.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, the California Institute of Integral Studies enrolls less than 100 undergraduate students, mostly women. There are more than 1,400 graduate students.

Dr. Littles first came to CIIS in 2006 as an adjunct associate professor in the School of Undergraduate Studies. Four years later she assumed the position of director of the transformative inquiry department, and four years after that she became director of online learning. In 2017, Dr. Littles was appointed dean of the School of Consciousness and Transformation. In 2019, she left the institute to become associate provost for faculty affairs and senior diversity officer at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California.

Dr. Littles is a graduate of St. Mary’s College, where she majored in anthropology and art. She holds a master’s degree in anthropology from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the University of California, Davis.

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