Five Black Scholars Selected for New Faculty Appointments

Ishion Hutchinson has been named the W.E.B. DuBois Professor in the Humanities at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He serves as a professor in the university’s department of English language and literature, centering his academic pursuits around creative writing, American and British poetry, and postcolonial and anglophone literature. He is the author of two poetry collections: Far District (Peepal Tree Press, 2010) and House of Lords and Commons (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2016).

A native of Jamaica, Dr. Hutchinson holds a Ph.D. in English and creative writing from the University of Utah.

Martha Hurley has been named associate provost of faculty affairs at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. She has previously served the community college as dean of liberal arts, communication, and social sciences. Prior to joining the Sinclair Community College faculty, she served as a professor and chair of the criminal justice and security studies department at the University of Dayton.

Dr. Hurley is a graduate of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where she majored in sociology. She holds a master’s degree in sociology and a Ph.D. in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.

Sandy Alexendre has been appointed co-head of the literature section at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an associate professor whose research centers around late nineteenth century to present-day Black American literature and culture. She is the author of The Properties of Violence: Claims to Ownership in Representations of Lynching (University Press of Mississippi, 2012)

Dr. Alexendre is a graduate of Dartmouth College, where she majored in English language and literature. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English language and literature from the University of Virginia.

Marcia Chatelain has been named Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In her faculty position, she conducts research on African American history and migration, women’s studies, and race and food. She has authored several scholarly publications including her most recent book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America (Liveright, 2020).

Dr. Chatelain is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where she double-majored in journalism and religious studies. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in American civilization from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Dwight A. McBride has been appointed director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He joined the university’s faculty last year, currently serving as the Gerald Early Distinguished Professor in Arts and Sciences, senior advisor to the chancellor, and co-director of the American Leadership Institute.

Dr. McBride is a graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in English with a concentration in African American studies. He holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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