A Trio of African American Scholars Taking on New Duties in Academia

Karsonya Whitehead, a professor of communications and African American studies at Loyola University of Maryland, will serve as the inaugural director of the university’s Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice. She joined the faculty at the university in 2009.

Professor Whitehead is a graduate of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree in international peace studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in language literature and culture from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Tomaz Cunningham, an associate professor of foreign languages at Jackson State University in Mississippi, was given the added duties as interim director of JSU Global in the Division of Academic Affairs.

Dr. Cunningham received a bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where he studied physiology and French. After serving eight years in the United States Army, he completed a dual master’s degree in foreign languages and literatures and teaching English as a second language at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He earned a doctorate in romance language from the University of Missouri.

Rhamin Ligon, a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Maryland, was named executive director of the Maryland Emergency Medicine Network. She has been on the faculty at the university’s School of Medicine since 1994.

Dr. Rigon earned her medical degree at Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

In Memoriam: O. Jerome Green, 1954-2024

President of historically Black Shorter College O. Jerome Green passed way unexpectedly on April 8. Since he became president in 2012, the college has experienced record-breaking enrollment and graduation rates, created new academic programs, and established the STEM Center for Academic Excellence.

Federal Report Uncovers Lack of Faculty Diversity and Delay in Federal Discrimination Complaint Processing

In addition to a lack of diversity in higher education faculty, the report revealed a frequent delay by the Department of Education when referring discrimination complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Christopher Span Appointed Dean of Rutgers University Graduate School of Education

Dr. Span, professor of education policy, organization, and leadership at the University of Illinois, is a scholar of African American educational history. He has experience in both academic and administrative leadership positions.

Lingering Mistrust From Tuskegee Syphilis Study Connected to COVID-19 Vaccine Reluctance

African Americans who lived within 750 miles of Tuskegee, Alabama, were more reluctant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than their White neighbors, as well as Black Americans from other United States regions. The authors attribute this finding to lingering mistrust of public health services as a result of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study which ran from the 1930s to 1972.

Featured Jobs