Natalie Sowell has been named chair of the department of theatre and performance at Spelman College, a historically Black liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, Georgia. Most recently, she served as director of the School of Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Earlier, she spent 16 years on the faculty at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her academic work specializes in applied theatre for social change, creative drama, critical literacy, and oral storytelling.
Professor Sowell holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Creighton University and her master of fine arts degree in theatre for youth from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Cheryl D. Jenkins has been promoted to associate professor in the division of humanities and fine arts at Talladega College in Alabama. She is is chair of the college’s mass media studies department.
Dr. Jenkins earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Southern Mississippi. She holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Isaiah Wooden has been promoted to associate professor of theatre with tenure at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. His scholarship focuses on how Black art, drama, and performance have helped reimagine cultural politics, norms, and meanings. He is the author of Reclaiming Time: Race, Temporality, and Black Expressive Culture (Northwestern University Press, 2025).
Dr. Wooden received his bachelor’s degree in government from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. in theatre and performance studies from Stanford University.
