Kevin Gaines Named to a New Endowed Professorship at the University of Virginia

Kevin GainesKevin K. Gaines has been named the inaugural Julian Bond Professor of Civil Rights and Social Justice at the University of Virginia. His position comes with a joint appointment in the Corcoran Department of History and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and Africana Studies. The new professorship was established to honor the legacy of Julian Bond, a longtime social justice activist and professor at the university. Professor Bond died in 2015. (See JBHE post.)

Dr. Gaines comes to the University of Virginia from Cornell University where he was the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Africana Studies and History. Previously he has taught at Princeton University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Michigan. He was the president of the American Studies Association during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Currently, Dr. Gaines is taking a semester off to finish his next book, which covers a global history of African Americans. He is the author of Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century (University of North Carolina Press, 1996) and American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2006).

“It’s a great honor to be the inaugural holder of the Julian Bond Professorship. It’s a really exciting time to be at UVA, when the institution is redoubling efforts to strengthen Africana studies,” said Dr. Gaines. “I look forward to working with the many outstanding colleagues in history and at the Woodson Institute.”

Dr. Gaines holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in American studies from Brown University.

Related Articles

1 COMMENT

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

California State University Sacramento Launches Black Honors College

Officially launching for the fall 2024 semester, the Black Honors College will support students from all backgrounds who study Black history, life, and culture by providing them with a specialized curriculum and mentoring opportunities.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024

Dr. Anderson was the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at Florida State University at the time of his death. He had an extensive career in clinical psychology, which led him to become the first African American chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association.

Georgia State University Launches Program to Support Black Women in Tech

While Black women account for roughly 29 percent of the Georgia State University undergradaute student body, they represent only 10 percent of the university's computer science majors and 18 percent of the computer information systems majors.

Featured Jobs