Honors and Awards for Four African American Scholars

Hortense Spillers, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, has been selected to receive the Nicolas Guillen Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association. Dr. Spillers joined the faculty at Vanderbilt in 2006. She is the author of several books including Black, White, and in Color: Essays on American Literature and Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2003).

Professor Spillers is a graduate of the University of Memphis. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Bettye M. Clark, who retired recently after 30 years on the mathematics faculty at Clark Atlanta University, has been recognized by the university by having the Graduate Resource Center on campus named in her honor. She is the founder of the center and also served as dean of graduate studies and interim provost.

Dr. Clark is a graduate of Fort Valley State University in Georgia. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Georgia and a doctorate from the University of Houston.

Fenice Boyd, professor of learning and instruction in the Graduate School of Education of the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System, received the Albert J. Kingston Award from the Literacy Research Association. She was recognized for outstanding contributions to the association and the academic community.

Dr. Boyd holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. She earned a Ph.D. in curriculum, teaching, and educational policy at Michigan State University.

Derek D. Bardell, professor of business administration and teaching and learning at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, received the 2017 Higher Education Professional of the Year Award from the Louisiana Council for Exceptional Children.

Professor Bardell is a graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans, where he majored in business management and urban studies and public policy. He holds two master’s degrees from Tulane University in New Orleans.