2010 Conference Speakers

Dr. Johnnella Butler

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Spelman College

Johnnella E. Butler arrived at Spelman as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2005. Prior to her appointment at Spelman, Dr. Butler was Professor of American Ethnic Studies with appointments in English and Women’s Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle, holding various administrative positions, including Associate Dean and Associate Provost of the Graduate School, where she established an award-winning program. A pioneer in the transformation of the undergraduate curriculum to include content and pedagogy on people of color, Dr. Butler has delivered numerous addresses and conducted over 80 workshops with faculty throughout the U.S. on interdisciplinarity and inclusivity. She has also taught and held administrative positions at Smith College and Towson State University.

While her writing spans pedagogy and African American literary theory, focusing on identity and interdisciplinarity, most of her writing includes issues of the relationships among democracy, diversity, and civic engagement, and she has served on various advisory boards of national organizations addressing that topic in liberal education. Among her most recent publications are the edited volume, Color Line to Borderlands: the Matrix of American Ethnic Studies (2001), the articles, "African American Literature and Realist Theory: Seeking the ‘true-true,’" in Identity Politics Reconsidered ( 2006, Alcoff, Hames-García, Mohanty, and Moya), and "Ethnic Studies and Interdisciplinarity" in Research Methods in Ethnic Studies (2008, Timothy Fong, ed.); and forthcoming May, 2010, "Humanities and Arts as Wellspring for Democratic Participation and the Common Good" in Diversity and Democracy, an American Association of Colleges and Universities’ publication. She is most proud of the 25 graduate students whose Ph.D. work she has guided and directed.