Appointments

• Thomas F. DeFrantz was granted tenure and promoted to full professor of music and theater arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A historian of African-American dance, Professor DeFrantz has been on the MIT faculty since 1997.

Dr. DeFrantz is a graduate of Yale University. He holds a master’s degree from the City University of New York and a Ph.D. from New York University.

• John Henderson was appointed interim president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. Dr. Henderson served for 14 years as president of Wilberforce University.

Dr. Henderson is a graduate of Hampton University and holds a master’s degree and an educational doctorate from the University of Cincinnati.

• Phyllis Worthy Dawkins was promoted to interim vice president for academic affairs at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dawkins was the dean of the College of Professional Studies and a professor of physical education.

A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Dawkins holds a master’s degree from Michigan State University and a doctorate in adapted physical education from Ohio State University.

• Gary Allen McGaha Sr. was named president of Atlanta Metropolitan College in Georgia. Dr. McGaha had been serving as interim president since the beginning of 2007. Previously he was vice president for academic affairs at the college.

McGaha is a graduate of Mississippi Valley State University and holds a master’s degree in political science from Bowling Green University. In 1976 Dr. McGaha was the first African American in history to earn a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Mississippi.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.