Sherine O. Obare, professor of chemistry and interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, is being given the added duties of associate vice president for research at the university. Professor Obare has been a member of the faculty at Western Michigan since 2004.
A graduate of West Virginia State University, Dr. Obare earned a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of South Carolina and then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Jay Hoggard, professor of music at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, was granted tenure. For over 20 years, he has been the director of the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra. Professor Hoggard is a composer and jazz vibraphonist. He has recorded 21 albums and worked on more than 50 others.
A native of Washington, D.C., Professor Hoggard is a 1976 graduate of Wesleyan University.
Tarell Alvin McCraney was appointed chair of the department of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. Professor McCraney will also serve as playwright-in-residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre. Since 2015, he has been serving as a professor of theater and civic engagement at the University of Miami in Florida.
A graduate of the New World School of the Arts High School in Miami, McCraney earned a bachelor of fine arts degree at DePaul University in Chicago and a master of fine arts degree in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. In 2013, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.