Five Black Scholars Taking on New Assignments in Higher Education

N’Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba, a professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, was named director of the university’s Institute for African Development.

A native of Côte d’Ivoire, Professor Assié-Lumumba holds two bachelor’s degrees and two master’s degrees from the University of Lyon in France. She earned a Ph.D. in comparative education from the University of Chicago.

Lolita Buckner Inniss, senior associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at the Dedman School of Law of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has been named University Distinguished Professor. She joined the faculty in 2017 after serving as a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.

Professor Inniss is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey. She holds a juris doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master of laws degree and Ph.D. in law both from York University in Canada.

Lee H. Butler, Jr. was appointed the William Tabbernee Professor of the History of Religions and Africana Pastoral Theology at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He will also serve as vice president of academic affairs and academic dean. He has been serving as the Distinguished Service Professor of Theology and Psychology at the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Professor Butler is a graduate of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he majored in religion. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in religion and psychology from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.

Teresa A. Nance, an associate professor of communication at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, was given the added duties of vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the university.

Dr. Nance holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Emerson College in Boston. She earned a Ph.D. at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Angela Jordan Davis, professor at the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, D.C., was recently confirmed by the board of trustees to the rank of Distinguished Professor of Law. The rank of Distinguished Professor is “reserved for the rare faculty member who has achieved national and international recognition as a premier scholar in her field,” according to the university.

Professor Davis is a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University in Washington. D.C. She earned a juris doctorate at Harvard Law School.

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