A Trio of African American Women Who Have Been Appointed Provosts

Barbara J. Johnson is the new executive vice president and provost at Talladega College in Alabama. Dr. Johnson will also hold the rank of a tenured professor.

Dr. Johnson had been serving as vice president for academic affairs at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. Earlier, Dr. Johnson served as vice president for accreditation relations for the Higher Learning Commission, one of six regional institutional accreditors. Previously, Dr. Johnson was a senior vice president and tenured professor at Meharry Medical College, a department chair and tenured professor at Northern Illinois University, and also taught full-time at the University of New Orleans and Jackson State University in Mississippi.

Dr. Johnson is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University n North Carolina, where she majored in accounting. She holds an MBA from Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. in education and human development from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Nicola Blake was appointed interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College in New York City. She will serve in this role at least for the 2022-23 academic year. Dr. Blake has had a 22-year career with the City University of New York and has been at Guttman Community College since 2011.

Dr. Blake is an associate professor of English at Guttman, where she has also served as dean of faculty and academic affairs, faculty advisor to the provost, and chair of the Faculty Personnel Committee, the College Personnel Committee, and the Curriculum Committee.

Dr. Blake’s research focuses on the role of narrators and narrative structure in medieval and modern literature, while her teaching and learning scholarship focuses on collaborative practices and pedagogies of engagement. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology from the City University of New York and a Ph.D. in medieval literature from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Yolanda W. Page was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at Savannah State University in Georgia, effective September 6. She has been serving as a professor of English and vice president in the Division of Academic Affairs at Dillard University in New Orleans.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Page served as dean of arts and sciences at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and as director of student success at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Dr. Page is a graduate of Dillard University, where she majored in English and business management.  She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American and African American literature from Louisiana State University.

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