Edward L. Hill, Jr. has been granted tenure at Talladega College in Alabama. He currently serves as the HBCU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. Prior to his current role, he was associate provost and vice president of strategic initiatives. In 2024, Dr. Hill had a brief stint as Talladega’s interim president.
Dr. Hill is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he majored in elementary education. He holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Columbia College and a doctorate in educational leadership from South Carolina State University.
George Johnson has been promoted from acting chair to permanent chair of the department of education at South Carolina State University. A faculty member at the HBCU since 2007, he most recently served as program coordinator for special education. Earlier, he was an assistant professor of special education at the University of West Georgia.
Dr. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in government and political theory from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and his master of education degree in management from Cambridge College in Massachusetts. He holds a second master’s degree in teaching in education of students with emotional and behavioral disorders and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of South Carolina.
Melissa Bonds has been promoted to associate professor of education at Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She first joined the Alverno faculty in 2018 and has served as director of the doctor of education degree program since 2022. Earlier in her career, she spent more than a decade on the staff of Milwaukee Public Schools.
Dr. Bonds is a graduate of what is now Carroll University in Wisconsin, where she majored in elementary education and teaching. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in educational leadership from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee.
Lee Baker has been appointed vice provost for undergraduate education at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. A faculty member for three decades, he currently teaches as a professor in the departments of cultural anthropology and African and African American studies. His research has led to several scholarly publications, including Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture (Duke University Press, 2010).
Dr. Baker holds a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University in Oregon and a doctorate in anthropology from Temple University in Philadelphia.
