Faculty

Leon Prieto, Kofi Afrifah, and Andrea Moore have been appointed to new academic positions at Clayton University, Bowie State University, and Savannah State University, respectively.

Appointments include new leadership roles for Aherial Polite at Augusta Technical College in Georgia and TaKeia N. Anthony at Edward Waters College.

Reginald Ellis was appointed an inaugural Provost Professor at Florida A&M University. Mediget Teshome is the new chief of breast surgery and director of breast health for the University of California, Los Angeles Health System and Professor Ezemenari Obasi was named vice president for research at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Cynthia Oliver has been named to a Gutgsell Endowed Chair at the University of Illinois. Najja Baptist was named director of African and African-American Studies Program in the history department at the University of Arkansas and associate professor BJ Arnett was appointed chair of the department of art and fashion at Clark Atlanta University.

The three Black scholars in new roles are Nikia A. Laurie at North Carolina Central University, Christopher Freeburg at the University of Illinois, and Dawn M. Turner at Oakwood University in Alabama.

Professor Rosemarie Wesson was named associate vice chancellor and university vice provost for research at the City of New York. Charles E. Menifield was named a University Professor at Rutgers University–Newark and Sonya Grier was named to the Eminent Scholar Chair in Marketing at the Kogod School of Business of American University in Washington, D.C.

The three Black scholars who have been appointed to named professorships are Karen Flynn at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ruth Blake at Yale University, and Baron Kelly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, recently established Connecting the Community of Tufts Scholars (CCTS), a new university-wide faculty hiring initiative. Its aim is to recruit and increase the impact of faculty whose work contributes to Tufts’ pursuit of racial equity in its research, scholarship, and curriculum.

Taking on new positions are Gregory E. Triplett Jr. at Saint Louis University, Tracey Sharpley-Whiting at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and Julie Simmons Ivy at the University of Michigan.

Darian Longmire is a new assistant professor of art practice at the University of California, Berkeley. Associate professor Michelle Richardson was named faculty athletics representative at Coppin State University in Baltimore and Jallicia A. Jolly is a new assistant professor of American studies and Black studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Jordan Ealey is a new assistant professor of Black studies at the University of Rochester in New York. G. Preston Wilson Jr. was appointed director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers at Fisk University in Nashville and Linda Greene, who became the inaugural dean of the Michigan State University College of Law in 2020, is stepping down from her post to take a faculty position at the university.

Taking on new positions or duties are Carol Y. Bailey at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Ebonya L. Washington of Columbia University, Philip V. McHarris at the University of Rochester in New York, Fayron Epps at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, and Mya Roberson in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A review by the university's Civil Rights Investigation Office indicates that race was inappropriately considered and used in a way that is inconsistent with university policy in the hiring process for an assistant professor position in the psychology department. Race was inappropriately considered in the hiring process even after some faculty received guidance from College of Arts & Sciences and university leadership that such considerations are inappropriate.

Taking on new roles are Taofeek K. Owonikoko at the University of Maryland, Felicia Jefferson at the University of Nevada Reno, Amanda Awadey at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and Tomisha Brock at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The four Black scholars in new roles are Fred D. Archer, III at the University at Buffalo, Jennifer Joe in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, Mesmin Destin at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Stephanie Harris at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

Christopher Emdin was named to the Maxine Greene Chair for Distinguished Contributions to Education at Teachers College at Columbia University and Karen Cook-Bell, a professor in Bowie State University’s history and government department, has been awarded a University System of Maryland Wilson H. Elkins Professorship.

The faculty members in new roles are Earl Graham, Jr. at Philander Smith University in Little Rock, Arkansas, Sharon Uwanyuze at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Stephen M. Avery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Antron Mahoney at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and Carmen Lanos Williams at Arkansas State University.

Michael Steele has been appointed to the Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Chair Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University. Jamel K. Donnor was appointed the Fred Huby Memorial Professor of Education at the College of William and Mary and Sheila Otieno has been honored with the Distinguished Emerging Scholar in Religious Studies professorship at Elon University in North Carolina.

Alton B. Pollard III will re join the faculty of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he taught from 1988 to 1998. Renata Arrington Sanders was named chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a teaching facility for the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Kristina Kersey is a new assistant professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law.

The City College of New York has appointed Jervette R. Ward as director of the Black Studies Program. Scotti Branton is a new assistant professor of communication at the University of Arkansas, and professor Danille Taylor was appointed director of the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum.