Three African American Scholars Taking on New Faculty Roles at Universities

Darrell Hudson, an associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, will become director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity at the university, effective July 1. Hudson has served as associate director of the center since July 2022. Dr. Hudson’s current work focuses on how upward social mobility affects the health and well-being of Black Americans. He is also investigating the integration of mental and physical health.

Dr. Hudson is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he majored in psychology. He holds a master of public health degree and a Ph.D. in health behavior and health education from the University of Michigan.

Brenda Jacobs was appointed interim chair of the nursing department at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She previously worked as an academic coach and taught at the University of Arkansas at Monticello before joining the faculty at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in the fall of 2022.

Dr. Jacobs is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Monticello, where she majored in nursing. She holds a doctor of nursing practice degree from Samford University in Homewood, Alabama.

Julia Steed will become the academic director of the family nurse practitioner program in the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, effective August 1. Dr. Steed has been a member of the family nurse practitioner faculty since 2017. She specializes in internal medicine/primary care and is trained to deliver evidence-based interventions for smoking cessation.

Dr. Steed is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. She earned a master’s degree in nursing and a Ph.D. in nursing science from Vanderbilt University.

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