Five African Americans Who Have Been Appointed Deans at Universities

Monika Williams Shealey was appointed dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Temple University in Philadelphia. She previously served as senior vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion and dean of the College of Education at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. Earlier, Dr. Williams Shealey served as associate dean for teacher education at the School of Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Dr. Williams Shealey holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of South Florida in Tampa. She earned her doctorate at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Kenyatta R. Gilbert has been named dean of the School of Divinity at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Since 2006, Dr. Gilbert has been a professor of homiletics at the divinity school. He is a nationally-recognized expert on African American preaching. He is the author of four books including A Pursued Justice: Black Preaching from the Great Migration to Civil Rights (Baylor University Press, 2017).

Dr. Gilbert earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He holds a master of divinity degree and a Ph.D. in practical theology from the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

Jonathan Bailey Holland has been named dean of the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, effective September 1. He has been serving as the Jack G. Buncher Head of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music in Pittsburgh. Earlier, he served on the faculties of the Berklee College of Music, the Boston Conservatory, and the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Dr. Holland received a bachelor’s degree in music from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He earned a Ph.D. in music from Harvard University.

Sharonda Ragland will serve as the acting dean for the School of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Union University in Richmond. She is an assistant professor of mathematics and interim chair of mass communications at the university. Earlier, she was assistant dean for undergraduate studies in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Ragland holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in applied and computational mathematics from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She is completing work on a doctorate in education from Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Twinette Johnson was named dean of the David A. Clarke School of Law at the University of the District of Columbia. She has been interim dean since August 2022. Prior to joining the faculty in 2017, Professor Johnson was an associate professor of law and director of the Academic Success Program at Southern Illinois University School of Law. Professor Johnson’s research interests include higher education access policy and learning theory models in legal education.

Dr. Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University. She earned a juris doctorate at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Leon Forrest: “Make a Way Out of No Way”

"He regarded with skepticism and clarity the temptations to make racial identity the foundation of our humanity."

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RUMPUS POETRY BOOK CLUB EXCERPT: HAPPY WARRIOR by Michael Chang

An excerpt from The Rumpus Poetry Book Club‘s March selection,
SYNTHETIC JUNGLE by Michael Chang
forthcoming from Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press on March 15, 2023

Subscribe by February 15 to the Poetry Book Club to receive this title and an invitation to an exclusive conversation with the author via Crowdcast

 

HAPPY WARRIOR

she fell off her scooter staring at me, determined as a drillbit

don’t trust anyone who doesn’t drink soda, we want lots & lots of pop

write poems in my head how other azns do math

u don’t need my help dazzling co-eds

my mouth pretty for when u come to town

so hot u cook an egg on it

so hot sunglasses come out all warped

so hot u get the chili pepper on ratemyprofessor

my mother knew better than to pretend-leave me someplace

i would’ve said ok peace i’ll let u know either way

discerning as shibboleth, daylight savings can’t buy shit

i hate that most memoirs are abt other ppl

see how they huddle, pretending to be something they’re not … beefsteak tomatoes

unpitying boy im going to love u like sweet corn congee

teach u different ways to say calves like cantaloupes

make u mushroom soup from scratch

caress u furry creature

ditch our umbrellas in a rainstorm, get soaked like last week’s dishes

dog & bone is a lazy name for a restaurant

try: the rooster, reluctant poet, & little halfwit who invented the universe

the same grave, the height of ridiculousness

ur lime jello, im fruit suspended in u

we hear the excited cries, think: he looks good out there

***

Excerpted from SYNTHETIC JUNGLE by Michael Chang. Copyright © 2022 by Northwestern University. Reprinted by permission, courtesy of Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press.