Three African American Scholars Appointed to New Faculty Roles

Eletra Gilchrist-Petty was promoted to full professor of communication at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. She joined the faculty at the university as an assistant professor of communication arts in 2008 and subsequently was promoted and earned tenure in 2013.

Professor Gilchrist-Petty received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication studies from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. from the University of Memphis.

George C. Wright has accepted an appointment as a distinguished university scholar and senior faculty fellow for institutional diversity at the University of Kentucky. In his new position, Dr. Wright will be involved in special assignments at both the administrative level and in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Wright served as the seventh president of Prairie View A&M University in Texas from 2003 to  2017. Dr. Wright is the author of three books including Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings” (Louisiana State University Press, 1990).

Dr. Wright received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Kentucky. He earned a Ph.D. in history from Duke University.

David Walton was hired as an assistant professor of history at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. He will also serve as the director of the university’s African American studies minor program. Dr. Walton was an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Dr. Walton received a bachelor’s degree in African American studies and a master’s degree in U.S. and world history from Eastern Michigan University. He earned a Ph.D. in history and African American and African studies from Michigan State University.

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