Tag: University of Chicago

Yale Library Acquires Digital Collection of Langston Hughes Papers

In a recent December upload, the Yale University Library added a collection of papers from Black poet Langston Hughes to the school's online archive. The collection contains correspondence between Hughes and other authors and civil rights activists of his time.

In Memoriam: Julie Saville, 1947-2023

Dr. Saville was hired to the faculty at the University of Chicago in 1994, joining the founding generation of scholars of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture. She was a scholar of slavery, emancipation, and plantation societies in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

In Memoriam: William Pope.L, 1955-2023

William Pope.L was an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist and professor in the department of visual arts at the University of Chicago. Before coming to the University of Chicago in 2010, Pope.L was a lecturer in theater and rhetoric at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

The First Black Dean of Loyola Law School in California

Brietta Clark is the new Fritz B. Burns Dean of Loyola Marymount University Law School in California. Clark, who is the nineteenth dean of the law school, is the first woman to hold the position and also the first Black dean in the law school's history.

University of Chicago’s Tina Post Wins Best Book Prize

Tina Post, an assistant professor of English at the University of Chicago, recently received the Best Book Prize from the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present.

Jamila Michener to Lead the Cornell Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures

Dr. Michener is an associate professor of government in the College of Arts and Sciences and senior associate dean of public engagement at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She will begin her new duties in September.

White and Black Children Categorize Racially Ambiguous Faces Differently

New research by psychologists at Duke University and the University of Chicago finds that Black and White children and adults categorize racially ambiguous faces differently. White people more often see multiracial faces as Black, whereas Black people more often see multiracial faces as White.

Melissa Gilliam Will Be the First African American President of Boston University

Dr. Gilliam has been provost at Ohio State University since July 2021. Earlier, she was vice provost, the Ellen H. Block Distinguished Service Professor of Health Justice, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics at the University of Chicago. She will become president of Boston University on July 1, 2024.

Professor Michael Dawson Wins Award From the American Political Science Association

Michael C. Dawson, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity Studies and professor of political science at the University of Chicago, received the Charles E. Merriam Award from the American Political Science Association. The award is given to a person whose published work and career represent a significant contribution to the art of government through the application of social science research.

The Next Leader of the School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago

Nadya Mason has been serving as the Rosalyn S. Yalow Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has also served as the director of the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. 

Lorrie Frasure to Lead the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA

Dr. Frasure joined the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2007. She was the first woman of color and the first Black woman to earn tenure and promotion to full professor in the political science department at the university. As the new director of the center, she will hold the inaugural Ralph J. Bunche Endowed Chair.

Six African Americans Who Have Been Appointed to Administrative Posts in Higher Education

The African Americans in new administrative roles are John Girton Jr. at Martin University in Indianapolis, Delisle Warden at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, Rhonda Owens at the University of Chicago, Juan McGruder at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Sandra D. Yates at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, and W. Franklin Evans at Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina.

In Memoriam: Christopher Smith, 1968-2023

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California in 2002. Earlier, he served as the director of primary research for Ruder Finn Public Relations in New York City.

In Memoriam: Christopher Smith, 1968-2023

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California in 2002. Earlier, he served as the director of primary research for Ruder Finn Public Relations in New York City.

New Administrative Roles in Higher Education for Five Black Americans

Taking on new administrative duties are Kafui Kouakou at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, Rashonda Austin at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Teriya Richardson at Texas Southern University in Houston, Troy Miller at the University of Southern Indiana, and Christian Mitchell at the University of Chicago.

University of Chicago Report Finds Racial Bias in Federal Pretrial Detention

In 37 percent of cases, federal judges imposed monetary bail conditions, including bail bonds, and over one third of those people remained in jail because they were too poor to make bail. Black and Latino people were much more likely to face financial burdens than White people.

African Americans Are Overrepresented in Law Enforcement’s Crime Posts on Social Media

Researchers at the law schools of Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago examined close to 100,000 crime-related posts from 14,000 Facebook pages maintained by U.S. law enforcement agencies between 2010 and 2019. They found that these posts overrepresented Black suspects by 25 percentage points relative to local arrest rates.

Four Black Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Assignments in Higher Education

Tracey Denean Sharpley-Whiting was named vice provost at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Nontsikelelo Mutiti was named director of graduate studies at the Yale School of Art. Noémie Ndiaye was named to an endowed assistant professorship at the University of Chicago and Shola K. Roberts is joining the faculty at Arizona State University.

In Memoriam: Thomas Winston Cole Jr., 1941-2022

In 1987, Dr. Cole was named president of both Atlanta University and Clark College, to simultaneously manage both institutions and create a consolidation plan. President Cole was appointed the founding president of Clark Atlanta University in 1988. He served in that role until 2002.

In Memoriam: Elsie Gloria Jean Moore Smith, 1949-2022

In 1981, Dr. Smith was hired as an assistant professor of counselor education at Arizona State University. She remained on the faculty there for more than 40 years.

Black Patients More Likely Than Whites to Be Described by Physicians in Negative Terms

Researchers at the University of Chicago searched the electronic health records of over 18,000 adult patients, including over 40,000 history and physical notes. They found that Black patients were 2.54 times as likely to have at least one negative descriptor in their medical records compared to White patients.

Three African American Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Named Professorships

The three African Americans appointed to named chairs are Kamia Chavis at the law school of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Williams Clemons at the California Institute of Technology, and Monica Peek at the University of Chicago Medical School.

Four African American Scholars Who Are Taking on New Assignments

Taking on new duties or assigned to new positions are Lisa M. Anderson at the Graduate School at Arizona State University, Eve Dunbar at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, David Staten at South Carolina State University, and Monica Peek at the University of Chicago.

Benjamin Talton Named Director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University

The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center houses one of the most comprehensive collections of African-American, African, and Africana history and memorabilia found anywhere in the world. Its collections include hundreds of thousands of pamphlets, books, periodicals, photographs, personal papers, manuscripts, music, artifacts, and other materials.

University of Pennsylvania’s Elijah Anderson Wins the 2021 Stockholm Prize in Criminology

The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is an international prize established under the aegis of the Swedish Ministry of Justice. First awarded in 2006, the prize recognizes outstanding achievements in criminological research or the application of research results to reduce crime and advance human rights.

In Memoriam: Timuel Dixon Black Jr., 1918-2021

Timuel Black, a noted American historian, educator, and civil rights activist, died on October 13 at his home in Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. He was 102 years old.

The American Political Science Association Honors the University of Chicago’s Cathy Cohen

Cathy J. Cohen, the David and Mary Winton Green Distinguished Service Professor in the department of political science at the University of Chicago, received the 2021 Hanes Walton, Jr. Career Award from the American Political Science Association. The award honors a political scientist whose lifetime of distinguished scholarship has made significant contributions to the understanding of racial and ethnic politics.

New Study Finds That Property Tax Rates Unfairly Burden Black Homeowners

A new study by Christopher Berry, the William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, finds that properties located in neighborhoods that are 90 to 100 percent Black experience assessment levels that are more than 1.5 times the average for their county.

Two African American Faculty Members Win the Pulitzer Prize

Marcia Chatelain, a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., won the Pulitzer Prize in history and Mitchell S. Jackson, an assistant professor of English at the University of Chicago, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing

Kiki Petrosino of the University of Virginia Wins the 2021 Rilke Prize

Professor Petrosino was honored for her poetry collection that weaves together a variety of poetic forms – villanelles, a heroic crown and erasure – to explore her Black heritage and larger societal issues with the legacy of slavery and race relations in America.

University of Chicago Appoints Five Black Scholars to Named Professorships

Twenty-three University of Chicago faculty members have received named professorships or have been appointed distinguished service professors. Five of these appointments went to Black scholars: Melissa L. Gilliam, Selwyn O. Rogers, Salikoko S. Mufwene, Margaret Beale Spencer, and Herschella G. Conyers.

In Memoriam: Leith Patricia Mullings, 1945-2020

After teaching for six years at Columbia University, Dr. Mullings joined the faculty at the City University of New York in 1983. There she eventually became a distinguished professor of anthropology at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.

Northwestern University’s Carol D. Lee Selected to Lead the National Academy of Education

Dr. Lee served as Edwina S. Tarry Professor of Education and Social Policy and as a professor of African American studies at Northwestern University. She became professor emerita in 2019. Professor Lee will serve a four-year term as president of the National Academy of Education beginning in November 2021.

University of Chicago’s Eve Ewing Honored at the Iowa City Book Festival

Eve Ewing is an assistant professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. The Paul Engle Prize honors writers who demonstrate a pioneering spirit in the world of literature and a commitment to engaging with the issues of the day.

University of Chicago English Department to Only Accept Grad Students Focused on Black Studies

The department announced that "for the 2020-2021 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English department is accepting only applicants interested in working in and with Black Studies.” The department is planning to admit five new Ph.D. students.

Harvard’s Danielle Allen Awarded the $500,000 Kluge Prize From the Library of Congress

Danielle S. Allen, a University professor and professor of government who also serves as director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, has been awarded the John W. Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress. The prize recognizes scholarly achievement in disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prizes.

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